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Jumping-on-Bed Accident And Medical Help in Argentina

We were in Mendoza the past couple of days. We had a good time (more on that later…). As we waited for the elevator at night, I hugged Feng. “I’m happy,” I said.

Problem is, every time I dare to be happy and to relax, something happens.

Case in point.

Earlier in the evening, clouds came from the Andes and it was stormy in the mountains. I knew it was going to rain, I just didn’t know how and when. The weather was still nice and hot when we came back from our walk along San Martín so we stopped by the supermarket, took pictures of the many souvenir stores and dropped off the yogurts and bananas at the hotel.

It was only 7:30 p.m., a bit early to eat dinner in Argentina, but we were hungry and tired. We found a restaurant, ordered and relax… or tried to, Mark was tired as well and the more tired he is, the more he moves. Go figure.

The food was good and it still wasn’t raining. We walked back to the hotel and Feng called his parents on Skype while I was helping Mark in the shower. Then I wanted to call my parents as well. I clicked on the phone number, adjusted the volume and got ready. Mark was jumping on the bed behind me as Feng was trying to get him to put his t-shirt on. I hate it when Mark makes every single simple task complicated. It should be easy: put t-shirt on, watch TV and relax. But with Mark, it turns into fight for ten minutes to put t-shirt on, jump around, run away, cry, watch TV, cry some more.

My mom answered the phone, I said “hi” and suddenly I heard a big “bang.” I didn’t turn around right away, Feng and Mark are always banging on stuff. Two guys.

A split second later, Feng shouted “there is blood everywhere!”

That time, I turned around.

Mark was on the bed and there was a lot of blood on the white sheets.

“Oh fuck!” I screamed. “Call you back!” I told my mom.

I couldn’t see where Mark was hurt at first. Head, yes. Where? Feng had wrapped it into the white towel we had just used after his shower to stop the bleeding and it was turning crimson red. Where, how big, how deep?

It was hard to see through the blood and the hair.

I asked one of the hotel employees for ice and a doctor.

Mark was fully conscious, crying and talking so I wasn’t too worried about head trauma. Stitches may have been needed, though, I couldn’t tell how deep the cut was. Mostly, I was mad at both Feng and Mark who keep on wrestling all the time. Mark thinks he is the “dragon warrior,” yeah, great. See, now?

“I told you to stop playing games with him!” I shouted. “You two always get hurt, I’m sick of it!”

We all calmed down and waited for the doctors. At one point, we went downstairs. The doctors arrived, one older guy with a cane, House MD style, and one younger one, ER style. They were friendly and gentle. They mostly checked for signs of head trauma and declared the injury was superficial, no stitches needed. Great!

We went back to the room, cleaned the bed and the blood with Mark half-sleepy sitting on the chair muttering “blood…” and eventually went to sleep. There was a thunderstorm, more loud bangs. Not a quiet night.

We were lucky it happened in a clean and modern hotel room. Would have been a different story if he had bumped his head on metal or if cockroaches were hanging around…

Cost of the medical services? Only 150 pesos, about US$15.

No more jumping on beds.

Seriously, guys…

Dinner
Dinner
Storm
Storm
Blood
Blood (taken after we saw the doctors, as we were cleaning the bed)
The injury the day after
The injury the day after
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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