In Reply to: Doctor posted by addy on Tuesday, 20. May 2008 at 17:22 Bali Time:
4 years ago my then 18 year old daughter dived into the pool at the jayakarta (after a surf) without thinking of the consequences (she has spent her whole life swimming training and lifeguarding so knows how stupid this is!!) and split her chin open!
in no time a nurse in white suit with doctors bag was by her side looking at the wound and told her to go back to our room and the hotel doctor would be there very soon. we did this without thinking of alternatives (im a nurse and should have just taken her to bmic for peace of mind as it was evident that there were no other injuries despite the cut chin which would require sutures.)
a doctor (and the nurse) arrived within 5 minutes, had another look and asked us to take her to the hotel clinic at the front entrance of the jayakarta-we got there quickly and walked up 3 flights of stairs to the non airconditioned clinic and looked around and then realised i had made a mistake-it looked very disorganised and dirty-with old dressings hanging out of a pedal bin in the corner.
i then advised the doctor i was a nurse in australia and was watching to make sure all instruments etc were sterile and that the proceedure was carried out properly.
throughout the proceedure the doctor showed me each instrument, dish, needle suture etc as he opened the sterile packaging-this reassured me a little but when he got the needle out it resembled a huge gauged fish hook!!! i freaked and he saw my horrror and i said that i did not want my beautiful daughters face (chin) scarred-he said dont worry-this will be ok for chin!! i was just dumbfounded but allowed him to proceed!
i then woke some time later lying on the couch that my daughter was being sutured on and she was sitting on the chair beside me holding my hand with a dressing on her chin.
she then told me i had fainted-told you i was stressed!!!
the outcome-no more surfing or swimming for daughter that holiday-only 4 days to go anyway! i recovered quickly after a sleep and few cocktails around the pool later that day.
daughters chin healed beautifully with no scar whatsoever (after 6 stitches)-much better than another scar she has on her nose from stitches by our aussie doctor after she was chopped by the fin of her surfboard.
i think she was lucky not to scar and if we need a doctor next time in bali will just go to bmic and save the stress!!!!!!!!