Four things the last week has taught me...

1.  Bangkok is the place to come for health care, Phnom Penh isn't.  We've racked up well over $4,000 in bills already and this looks set to rise with the ongoing post-operation care.  This is covered by insurance and is more than worth it, assuming it reverses Gilly's close shave with the prospect of living the rest of her life with a pseudo-claw hand deformity of her ring finger and a deviation (i.e. sticking out of her hand at an unpleasant angle) in her pinkie.

2.  Gilly's one hand typing technique has come into its own.  She always looked a bit funny when she had two working hands but now it looks completely natural.  Tap tap tap, what's the sound of one hand typing?

3.  Pins (three in each finger, six in total) and stitches (eight in each finger) aren't too pleasant to look at.  Gilly had her bandages off yesterday for general clean and checkup and the sight was something like a cross between pinhead in Hellraiser (they were sticking out) and Frankenstein.  Add to this the swelling and general bruising and we had to take the doctor's word for it that she is recovering as expected and can have the stitches out on Tuesday.

4.  I'm pretty squeemish.  Looking at the state of Gilly's hand during yesterday's checkup (see point 3 above) made me break out into a cold sweat, feel a bit faint and nauscious.  It was a bit like the time I nearly fainted in Lisbon after a guy tripped and cut his neck on the counter of a patiserrie shop.

All in all it's been a fairly boring week of Gilly being practically knocked out half the time after her general anesthetic/drowse-inducing painkillers and me taking lessons in pinning her hair, folding over the waistline of her sarong, opening bottles of water for her, and generally working those marriage vows to the bone (oops!).  Fortunately Gilly's parents arrive next Sunday and so we can share out some of the caring responsibilities while they're here, I could do with a break.  (No pun intended!)

The other good news is that movement is gradually coming back to the broken fingers and so we're optimistic for a full recovery in time for our next visit to Thailand in April where she will hopefully be able to go swimming in the sea off Koh Tao...