Well this happened ...

I'm usually touched when people either in the states or here tell me to stay safe, to drive carefully, that they've prayed for my safety on the roads, etc. (Notice I said usually ... sometimes my reaction is more of an eye roll than gratitude that someone cares about my well-being) I'm not a reckless motorcyclist, I know and understand road rules, I wear a helmet and in almost 2 years of doing this I haven't been in an accident.

My Chiang Mai tattoo as it was healing

I have gotten a "Chiang Mai tattoo" (a burned calf from a hot motorcycle exhaust pipe), but that's nothing compared to the accidents you hear about here.

But right before my family arrived, I was in a small motorcycle accident. I wiped out. I believe I hit an uneven patch on this road that’s under construction, so there’s a lot of loose gravel on the road.  Hitting the uneven patch upset my balance and the gravel made it difficult for me to regain control – so I went down.  I had already been driving on part of the shoulder, so I was thankfully out of traffic’s way.

As the dust settled I was ready to hop on my bike to go to the hospital I passed not even a kilometer away and my mind racing through people I could call (if needed).  My elbow was pretty torn up and I had other scrapes on my hands, legs and feet.  Nothing deep, but I was covered in dust.

Before I was able to get to my bike, a car stopped and a man poured water over some of my scrapes to wash the dirt away.  Another man came running out of his shop.  This second man ended up taking me into his shop to further try and clean my wounds.  He made a valiant effort to clean the worst ones, but decided to take me to the hospital.  By this point the shock and adrenaline is wearing off and my pain levels ramping up. 

He loaded me into his truck and off we went to the hospital.  He dropped me off at the emergency room door.  By the time he parked and came in, I whimpering (ok, so maybe I was flat out crying) on a hospital bed as a nurse cleaned my wounds.  A doctor checked my wounds, ensured that I hadn’t hit my head (I hadn’t and I was wearing my helmet), and ordered a tetanus shot for me because I couldn’t remember that last time I had one. Then a friend of mine arrived just in time to distract me from the shot, pick up pain and antibiotic medication, and help me pay – I was still in so much pain!

One day post accident, all wrapped up in gauze

Talk about painful dressing changing!

I got back on my motorcycle pretty quickly though, as in as soon as we got back to the shop.  I think I wasn't as shaken up because I just wiped out.  If I had hit someone or someone had hit me I think it would have been a whole lot harder for me to drive away on my bike at that point.

So for those who have ever prayed for my safety here (especially on my motorcycle), it hasn't been in vain.  I've been in only one small accident that could have easily been a lot worse.  God also provided a compassionate shopkeeper, friends, and community to look after my abrasions.  I had to have the dressing changed on my elbow a couple times before I could let it air out.  Man, that was painful! But a nurse in the neighborhood and my neighbors looked after it, and you wouldn't know by looking at my arm that I had such a bad scrap ... it healed that well.