The last 20 days have been
the most challenging of our lives, but I am writing this entry with hope, as
today my father will be med-evac’ed to Bangkok within the next couple of hours.
The best analogy I can use
to describe our mental state is that of a bowling pin. Every time we seem to be
making progress we are knocked down, only to pick each other up again to try to
explore another avenue to get our father home.
It has been an extremely
draining journey to get to this point. Although there have been many lows
during the last three weeks, I have come out of this experience with a restored
faith in mankind. Without the support of our friends and family I’m sure we
would not have been able to accomplish all that we have so far, but it has been
the good faith and kindness of strangers that has really made the difference.
Arriving in Dhaka
Upon arrival and once we
digested the magnitude of our father’s injuries, our priority was to get him
home ASAP. Bangladesh has developed vastly from my childhood memories, but in
all honesty there is no comparison between the medical treatment available here
to that available in Australia.
My father is of the same
opinion. In a conversation I had we him before he left he said that he had no
intention of moving back to the subcontinent — primarily because his sons are
both in Australia, but also because he has no faith in the medical treatment
available here. The main purpose of his journey was to commence wrapping things
up, so he didn’t have a need to return. The irony of this is has been very
difficult to digest.
If I could use two words
to describe my father it would be stubborn and determined. Since retiring five
years ago, he’d spend on average three months a year in Bangladesh. So when I
suggested travel insurance last year it wasn’t something that he thought he
required.
If you’re going away,
please buy travel insurance!
On our second day in the
country we were given the contact details of a young Australian, Victoria, who
is in Bangladesh on a humanitarian mission. She’s an occupational therapist who
works with people who have spinal injuries. Luckily she had a few days off and
was coming into Dhaka. She easily spent 60 hours with us the first week alone
running around, talking to doctors and helping us get dad home. My brother and
I have been so humbled by her efforts and will never forget all that she has
done for us. I’m not a religious person, but I believe that her being in the
right place at the right time was nothing short of a miracle.
My father was in an ICU
ward. We could only see him for 15 minutes a day. But we were meant to find
solace in the fact that he was supposedly under the care of the best
neurologist in the subcontinent Dr Chanday. But he has not made getting dad
home easy for us. It is my personal opinion that us wanting to take our father
back to Australia hurt his ego. I’m not in a position to judge the medical
treatment they have provided dad, but certainly this doctor’s bedside manner
has been terrible.
Victoria was able to get
in touch with a contact of hers at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Dr
Lee. He too has worked tirelessly, spending several hours assessing all of dad’s
scan, results and tests and ultimately trying to get him home and under his
care. On many occasions he has tried to contact Dr Chanday, but this has
failed due to the fact that Chanday is an egomaniac and refuses foreign
assistance. @!!#$% #%$T^$ ^%#$^$$#%
We were told originally by
the Australian Consulate that the med-evacuation would cost roughly $100K, so
we started preparing. The next day the official quote came in. It was going to
cost $273K, to be paid upfront, which is out of our means seeing we’re overseas
and every minute counts. We were built up only to be crushed again!
Dr Lee then contacted many
of his colleagues around the world. He also asked an Australian not-for-profit
organisation, CareFlight, for a quote. This came back at $203K which was still
out of our reach, but it later put together a package for $100K: this involved
sending their doctors and equipment to travel with dad, purchasing eight seats
on a commercial airline. So we got the ball rolling to make that happen and
accept the latter quote. We sent them all of dad’s reports, scans and a
detailed case summary.
The medical maze
We were put in touch with
Dr Walker who would be travelling with dad. In 10 minutes we learnt more from
him regarding dad’s situation and what he’d be up against than we did from
Chanday in a week. Once again Dr Walker tried tirelessly to get in touch with
Chanday, but had no luck. All was ready to go, all we needed was Chanday to
fill up a form from Singapore Airlines regarding dad’s condition and the
doctors would be on their way, but he refused. Once again built up only to be
crushed!
After this, for the first
time in almost two weeks Dr Chanday decided to speak to my father. He told him
about the magnitude about his injuries and his potential outlook. I went into
see my father not long after that conversation and it was the most difficult 15
minutes of my life. The accident did not injure his brain, his ability to
communicate or his stubbornness and determination, but I’m 100% certain that
that conversation changed him forever.
At this point an article
was written about dad and our situation. An organisation called Medical Wings
read the story and contacted the Australian Consulate offering to provide its
services at 0% profit — but even so, the quote exceeded our means. Medical
Wings then reduced its costs by a further $20K, but the amount was still
difficult for us to arrange here and time was running out.
Thailand and what’s next
Although Dr Walker could
no longer help us in terms of the evacuation, he has been in constant contact
and provided us with the details of an Australian Doctor, Dr Morley, in Bangkok
who heads a team of neuro/spinal surgeons in world class hospital in Bangkok.
Karen, a staff member at
Australian Consulate, also provided us with the details of Dr Morley, who with
the help of Dr Unuk in Bangkok helped get to the point where we are today.
The progress we have made
towards getting dad home has come mainly from the help of others, people who we
have never met, but are helping us out of the goodness of their heart. This
whole experience has humbled me and made me want to become a better person so
that one day when needed, I am able to help others in need as we have been
helped.
It is a long journey home,
and a longer journey for my father still, but I am certain that his
stubbornness and determination will get him through this.
With lots of love,
Tauseef and Tan.
