An Answer!

Time for the answer to our quiz, for those of you who participated:

This man needed sixteen (very small) stitches because … a sudden thunderstorm threw a plastic “Caution – Wet Floor” sign with enough force to shatter a half-inch-thick glass door in his face.


A month ago Patrick decided to go home from work a little early because he was fighting a cold and wanted to get some rest. He was about halfway home when a big thunderstorm blew up – it’s the rainy season here in Thailand. He took shelter under the awning of an office building, which (like most office buildings here) has a glass window façade. Two custodial workers put out extra doormats and a plastic “Caution – Wet Floor” sign. He was facing the building, with his back to the storm, when a gust of wind blew past the building, picked up the sign and threw it into the glass door directly in front of him. The door shattered, and the top two-thirds of the door fell out of the wall and hit Patrick in the face.

After their initial panic, the management of the building where Patrick was hurt were very good about the whole incident. They called a cab for him while he was bleeding all over their lobby and sent someone with him to Bumrungrad Hospital, which is about 10 minutes’ walk from our apartment building’s front door. He was shown immediately into the ER and saw one of the attending physicians within 20 minutes. After the doctor cleaned up Patrick’s forehead, he asked him, “You want to see?” Patrick said he did and was handed a mirror. He figures he must have turned his head at the last moment before the door hit him, because all of the cuts were on the left side of his head. “I think you need some stitch,” the doctor said. Fortunately, they didn't have to shave the side of his head to sew him up. (We don't think Patrick’s the Mohawk type.) The doctor and nurses were excellent and did a fantastic job. The scars will probably be invisible this time next year.

All in all, the whole business cost around $300 – which the building management paid directly to the hospital. They even had someone meet Patrick when he had his stitches out to pay that bill, too. So, if you’re planning on a sudden head injury, we recommend Bangkok.

In all seriousness, it’s scary in retrospect – Patrick could’ve been wearing a non-ironic eyepatch on a permanent basis. The Thais in the office told him he should buy a lottery ticket, in the belief that if something bad happens to a person, the universe makes up for it by granting them good luck immediately afterward. We think he was pretty lucky as it was, so Patrick and the universe have agreed to call it even.

(For the record, Melanie is the big quiz winner. We’ll probably manage to think of an appropriate prize by the next time we see her.)