The Silence is Broken

Many thanks to you all for your messages, prayers and thoughts. I got out of the hosp. today and feel fine. Two days in the hosp., emergency rooom treatment, medications inc. those I took with me when I left, everything, cost $1500. The dr. wants to change my bandages every two days so I'm staying close to the hospital for awhile. I can see why many foreigners come here for treatment.
Now, to catch you up a bit with the story. The morning after getting stitched up in Laos I didn't like the looks of my knee. There was a light rain falling as I left my guesthouse. I paused a moment to take in the scene; across the misty Mekong I could see Nakon Phnom, Thailand, on the near shore trucks from Viet Nam were lined up to take the ferry, next door was the fancy new hotel I was headed to for breakfast. I took one step and my foot shot out from under me on the rained slicked tile steps. Crashing like a ton of bricks I scaped my left forearm, cut my left index finger(7 stitches) and put a bruise on my upper left backside the size of a dinner plate.
I scrubbed out my wounds with soap and water, plastered them with antibiotic ointment and made a decision. I need the medical care of Bkk. My finger needed stitches but I didn't want the local treatment again. Heading for the bus depot I caught a bus to Svannakhet, Laos, where there is a major crossing to Thailand.
At Svannakhet I was waiting for the bus to Mukadhan, Thailand, where I could catch the overnight bus to Bkk. A Thai woman pointed at my bandages and said something in Thai. I pantomined the two great Al falls and pointed to Bkk. From that moment on she took me under her wing. She save a front bus seat for me, got me in the right lines both at the Laos and Thai borders and again saved a seat for me after the border.
By this time I wasn't walking very well. The infection in my knee was very painfull and it was hard to sit on one side. At the station in Mukadhan I got a ticket to Bkk. for a bus that left in 3 hrs. I sent some e-mail, had two plates of fried rice and boarded a the bus at 6pm due to arrive in Bkk at 5am. Without going into detail I'll say that may have been the longest ride of my life.
From the bus I caught a taxi to the Bkk Christian Guesthouse, which is just around the corner from the hospital, got a room, had breakfsast, walked over the hospital emergency room and was admitted. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
That's the broad outline. I'll fill in the details later.