The faint heard 'round the temple...

It's amazing how fast you can fall from heaven to hell.

When Brian didn't show up the morning on the last day of meditation, I figured he was doing his camera interview. When I ran into Ped, a retreat staff member, a couple hours later, he said Brian wasn't feeling good and slept in... very un-Brian like. So I ninja'd my way down to the men's living quarters and got into Brian's room. He hadn't even packed yet! He was still sleeping... and burning up! He slept all the way to the end of lunch. We loaded up on buses after lunch for the 8 hour bus ride back to civilization. He must have packed fast.

He slept the entire 8 hours back. If you were to touch his skin he was scolding hot. I don't know what his temperature could have been, but it was not good. I was slowly becoming aware how serious this could be... as long as he kept breaking his fevers... that's good, right?

We were suppose to stay the night at the temple hotel, but it was overbooked. While they were looking for another place for us, we sat with an ex-monk. He was certain that Brian had Dangy Fever. Apparently, it's like Malaria and active in Northern Thailand. It took a little bit longer to get situated, and you could tell it was wearing on Brian. We finally made it to a nice room at about 11:00 P.M.

Earlier, we had decided to stay 2 extra days in Pathum Thani, where the temple is located in Northern Bangkok. The first day was a huge event because it was the founders birthday. There would be thousands and thousands of people there for the event. They always say meditating in a group that large is profound. We were curious about this profoundness... Anyway, after that day we were going to take a temple tour with one of our teaching monks. However, after deliberations, we decided to just stay the 1 day and try to tour the temple the same day as the event. So we brought our bags with us to the temple that morning and left them in the international building.

When Brian woke up that morning he felt better! We went for breakfast, bought some proper temple clothing to get us into a special temple, and made our way to the main hall afterwards. We sat at the international table. They have little headsets so you can tune into English. We ran into one of our friends from the retreat. He had come back to experience the event too.

We had just been walking around taking pictures of the masses, and got back to the international table just before it started. I sat next to my purse which was in the back left side of the row. Brian sat at an empty chair a row in front of me at the end of the right side.

Monks

Some of the masses with the stage in the left corner

Parking spots for your slippers.

The view wasn't that spectacular from the international booth. During our prior photo taking of the masses, we were offered to sit front and center. I was all for it! However, Brian didn't want to sit on the floor that long. It's probably a good thing he persuaded me, otherwise I'm sure it would have be an unavoidable catastrophe.
They started off with meditation first thing. As soon as I closed my eyes they were flying open. A girl had let out a small scream in front of us. I looked over to Brian who was leaning over on a small Thai girl. He wasn't moving.

Everyone moved at once. Two fellow farang men where pulling him up, and I was trying to wake up the unconscious Brian. It took less than 10 seconds to wake him up. He was completely unaware of what just happened. The Thai's insisted that he lay down, so with a farang man on either side they pulled him out of his chair and tried to walk him to the mats to lay down.

He fainted again. He was clutching onto the Nikon camera bag the entire time. It took some prying of fingers to get him to release it while he was still fainted. We finally got him laid down. They got him pillows and fans - he even had two people on either leg giving him a leg massage. Luckily, we were right by the first-aid station. We had someone monitoring his blood pressure almost immediately. Brian just keep saying how tired he was and he was going to take a nap.

When we had dropped off our bags earlier at the international hall. I decided to make my purse lighter since we would be walking around alot. I took out my makeup-bag, some other odds and ends, and my Thai-English dictionary. I'm thinking - for future reference -that should stick like glue in my purse for the duration of my time in Thailand.

Alot of Thai's can speak a little bit of English. It wasn't hard to communicate per say, but anyone who knows me knows I ask alot of questions and like details. His blood pressure had returned to normal. The best doctor in Patumn Thani was meditating right now. They had an ambulance on the way, but it couldn't come in during meditation. I think if I wouldn't have gone to the retreat, I would have thought these people were off their rocker! MOVE!!

We had to wait about 20 more minutes. Brian was just sleeping anyway. It wasn't a dire emergency... I guess. The Thai's surrounding Brian started to meditate where they sat. Brian felt awful that he interrupted so many people's meditations. After all, I'm sure they were looking forward to this day. They never let any disappointment show on their face. They continuously tried to comfort the sobbing farang girl and make jokes.

As soon as the meditation concluded, the ambulance appeared out of nowhere and Thai men were helping Brian walk to the stretcher. Brian fought trying to be put on the stretcher, but he got loaded up in the ambulance the stereotypical way :)

I rode in the ambulance with a fellow Thai woman that had drove us to our accommodations late last night. So many people in this congregation... word must travel fast.

When we went to Breakfast that morning, the ex-monk had pointed out a hospital at the temple. It was a small building, but said we should maybe go there later to get Brian tested for Dangy Fever. Great Idea! Though... later would be too late....

I had told Brian the plan when we were still laying on the mats waiting for the meditation to end. His only concern was, "How much is all of this going to cost?" It's true. That question did enter my mind a couple times. How much do Thai's charge for an ambulance... surely not as much as America! I hope not as much as America.

There is a huge labyrinth of parking underneath the main meditation hall. Who would have known there was another hospital underneath there too. That's right, these Buddhist are prepared. I guess having that many people in one spot does constitute the need for medical attention should anything happen. Did I forget to mention this is the rich sect of Buddhism too. I think they said they have over 30,000 toilets or something too and can facilitate 1 million people plus.

We had to answer a little bit of questions at the reception area when we arrived. We had to stop intermittently while the abbot of the church was speaking. They have TV sets all over this place so you never miss a minute! They have their own cable TV channel too - remember... rich sect of Buddhism.

The doctor doubted it was Dangy Fever. Brian showed no other signs of the illness a.k.a. vomiting or diarrhea. I, on the other hand, pushed for blood tests. Why not? We're here all ready... just add it to the bill :)

I'm happy Brian was still coherent. I always forget he is allergic to Penicillin. I practically live off the stuff... but I don't know what happens if he takes it. He doesn't know either. So we said death to make sure they wouldn't give him any. And for some reason, I kept saying he had Gangy Fever. Brian had to keep correcting me. Though the actual name is Dang Fever. The ex-monk was English and added a "y" to it. I'm Misty and switched it to a "g" instead of a "d," probably because I was thinking Gangrene... I dunno.

They wheeled him over to take his blood. Once they were starting the process, I ran back to collect my purse, camera, ect and relocate the items to our new location. When I got back, someone was giving Brian soy milk, and explaining how to take each pill. Brian didn't look too good. I rushed over and tried to listen to the instructions while supporting Brian's head. He was fainting again. Typical given the circumstances. It took a little pantomime to make them understand he needed to lay down. Or rather I just started wheeling him to a bed before they got the idea and directed me to the right place. I probably looked like a mad woman wheeling around Brian, and not letting anyone touch him. I have very protective instincts... kinda like Michael Oher in the Blind Side but a little more hostile. Such a good movie...

Nap Time Teacher...

Anyway, he finally got to lay down. He was given 4 different pills... all bright pretty colors. Two, believe it or not, were for a sore throat that he didn't have. However, the doctor said it would come eventually because he saw some inflammation in his throat. One was a strong Tylenol. And the last one was an anti-biotic of some sort.

The hospital workers came with a handful of waters, OJ, and more soy milk to his bedside table. The doctor came by and said that the blood results were in. It showed that Brian had a virus, but they couldn't pin point at this time specifically what it was. He also said that lunch would be coming to us shortly.

Given my numerous disappointing trips to the hospital when I was younger, I knew you can't take medicine for a virus. You have to let it run its course.

Ped and one of the monks came to see Brian. The nurse brought two trays of food for Brian and me. Brian actually had a bit of an appetite. He didn't want anything for breakfast earlier, and hadn't eaten all day.

After the monk left, Ped took me on a mini-tour of the temple. Brian wanted to sleep, and I think this was Ped's way to getting me to leave the hospital. We had bought proper temple clothes this morning to go into a temple they only open on specific days. Ped took me there and around for a bit.

When we got back, Brian was still sleeping. Ped had set up accommodations closer to the Temple this time so I could easily walk to get food/supplies. We had to wait on a driver. Since alot of the staff live at the temple, they ride bicycles and do not have cars. This special event at the temple required alot of people to relocate to another temple 2 hours away. Alot of the available cars were gone. I offered to pay for a taxi. Ped was back on the phone.

As we were getting ready to go, I asked Ped about paying the bill. He gave me a curious look and said hold on a minute. When he came back he had an affirmed look on his face. He said everything in the hospital is donation based. There is no bill.

... and I'm pretty sure that's why they didn't want to do the blood test. I'm sure that costs a pretty Baht and they thought it unnecessary... but they didn't want to fight with a crazy white girl :)

Getting ready to leave

When the car arrived, Brian was able to walk out of the hospital. We said our thank you's to all the staff as we left. I had money ready to drop into a donation box, but never found one. I tried to tell Ped, but he was more concerned with getting us to the room than taking the donation. He didn't even call a taxi. He was able to call upon another 'church' member to come and take us.

They got us settled, and Brian just slept. Unfortunately, we were temple grounds and nothing but the temples channel would play on the TV.  Yay.

I walked to the market to get dinner, snacks, and laundry detergent. Might as well do all our laundry with all my idle time....

The next day Brian was feeling better... so he said.

This was the official start of our backpacking trip, and I was continually scared that Brian would faint on me again. I like to believe that given the circumstances my adrenaline would run and I could carry Brian if it came down to it. But he's alot bigger than me. Not just weight wise. He's a big boy. I think I would have more luck lifting a car off a child.

I tried to plan our route out of Pathum Thani with fainting in mind and minimize the walking. After all, we were backpacking and carrying alot of weight on our backs. We took a taxi instead of the city bus to the mall - minimize time in the sun waiting for a bus. From the mall we had to walk across the street to catch a bus to Ayutthaya. There were alot of steep stairs, but Brian did fine. We had good timing and helpful Thai's and jumped on a departing bus to Ayutthaya within a few seconds. 30 Baht. 1 hour bus ride.

On our way to Ayutthaya.

I will always be grateful to the people at the temple for their help, hospitality, comfort, and overall kindness. You always think places like this don't exist. Living in our world, you might loose faith in the goodness of humanity. Regardless of our differences in religion, the people of that temple treated us like family and made sure we were okay. If this would have happened anywhere else, I'm sure our backpacking trip money would have been completely spent, and I would be phoning home to America for money. I'm a big believer in fate... everything happens for a reason... luckily, this time it was in our favor.

Brian is doing much better now. I must say since coming to Thailand, Mr. I never get sick, has a new aliment every month. He has gotten mysterious headaches, mysterious blisters which I think was a type of Staph infection, and he needs 12 cavities filled. Perhaps all that time not getting sick, finally caught up with him Thailand :) But honestly, he is doing much better. He started feeling 100% toward the end of our backpacking trip. Since getting back to Pattaya, he has been going to train Muay Thai everyday.  I think he dropped below 200 lbs. when he was sick. He had no appetite. Now, he's slightly above 200 lbs and has a healthy appetite. He's been on a pastry fixation :)