Emergency in Malaysia

We had just finished our second long day at Legoland.  We were back at the hostel around 8:30 pm and getting showered and packing up to fly to Kuala Lumpur the next morning.  I was in the bathroom when I heard screaming and my oldest ran in to tell me that my 4 year old had just fallen off the bed. The hostel we were staying at was our first experience with a hostel.  It was just a very basic room with a bunk bed. Britton went up on the top bed, which was about 6 feet off the ground, to see what his old brothers were doing.  He misjudged where the ladder was and ended up falling head first onto the cement floor.

Now, I am a mom of 3 boys and it takes a lot to get me worried.  The boys are always falling, get bumps & bruises, and crying then hopping back up to play. When I walked in the room, I was worried.  Britton had a massive bump on his head and a bloody nose.  He was not nauseous or unconscious, but after crying as hard as he was and spending all day out in the heat at Legoland, he was getting very tired and we were trying our best to keep him awake.

The staff at the hostel first drove us to an after hours clinic.  The doctor at the clinic did an assessment on him and did not feel that his brain was bleeding, but wanted us to get to the nearby hospital.  We raced to Columbia Asia Hospital where we were taken to the emergency room.  The emergency doctor agreed that she did not think Britton's brain was bleeding, but he needed to have an MRI.  The MRI showed that Britton had a skull fracture and they wanted to admit him for the night.

We ended up spending the night at the hosptial.  The pediatrician wanted Britton to start on very strong antibiotics that could only be administered by injection.  The reason was to keep him from contracting meningitis.  He needed to get this medicine every 24 hours for the next 7 days.  He also was not able to fly for the next 7 days.  This meant we lost our flight to Kuala Lumpur and would also be losing our flights back to Bangkok two days later.

We stayed in Johor Bahru for two extra nights, for the doctor to keep an eye on Britton. We ended up changing hotels to a much nicer and more comfortable place.  Amazingly, Britton never once complained about pain or having a headache.  The staff at Columbia Asia released us with all the antibiotics and the x-rays, so we could drive to Kuala Lumur and stay there for the next week.  There really isn't that much to do in Johor Bahru and we wanted to get to the city.

We found a driver to drive us to Kuala Lumpur.  I sent a message to a blogger that lived in Malaysia and asked her for some suggestions on hospitals to take Britton to.  She suggested Prince Court Medical Centre.  The minute I stepped inside that hospital, I was at ease.  The entire staff was amazing with Britton.  By the end of the week they knew us by name.  The doctors we spoke to were on top of everything, calling specialists to make sure Britton was given the very best care.  Every morning, we would head over to the hospital for Britton to be injected and then be off on our adventure for the day.

So, what did I learn through this experience?

• Make sure you have all you emergency numbers and insurance cards with you. 
• Do not be afraid to call or email others in the country you're in to ask for help. 
• Doctors in other countries may do things differently than your home country, but they did go to school to be a doctor, so they do know what they are doing.
• Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion if needed.  
• Ask as many questions as you need to until you understand what is going on.  The language barrier can be a problem sometimes. 
• Don't be afraid to switch hospitals if you find one your are more comfortable with. 
• Plans may not go as you wanted them to, but it doesn't have to make it a bad experience. 
• I also learned that I have grown a lot after living abroad and did not have a nervous breakdown during this like I probably would have before we moved 3 year ago.  

Thankfully, my sweet little guy was back to his normal self by the time left Malaysia 6 days later than we planned.  But, he was healthy and happy and that is all that mattered.