THE SURYA HUSADHA HOSPITAL, DENPASSAR, BALI

I was admitted on the morning of February 24th 2010, (not a well boy)! After the admittance procedure we were ushered straight up onto a ward for connection to a Saline drip and oxygen mask. In the meantime blood samples were taken for analysis and over the next few days five blood transfusions were needed to try and restore my low blood levels to something approaching normal. Scared…yes. Not happy…. Yes.

But look on the bright side, if you’re ill, scared and unhappy, where better to be than inside a modern hospital being treated by the very Head of Gastro-enterology himself, yes the big cheese in our case is Professor I Dewa Nyoman Wibawa MD, PHD, a very important man. We spent as comfortable a night as our situation allowed and waited patiently for the prof to come on his rounds with my test results the next morning. He arrived looking serious (oh dear). Expecting the worst I told him not to sugar coat the pill and to give it to us straight.

Scared… yes. Not happy…. Oh Yes, but what can you do. Despite all these negative emotions, I somehow also felt strangely calm, as if resigned to whatever his judgement on my fate might turn out to be. He started hesitantly, as if looking for a way to minimise the weight of whatever news he had to impart in a language that wasn’t his native tongue. By now both Vivien and I were a captive audience, holding hands, and mentally saying goodbye to each other. “Well Mr and Mrs Marshall, I’m afraid to tell you that Mr Marshall has Hepatitis C”. This statement was issued in a way that had more than a hint of its being only a part of some impending good news/bad news story. And I can’t work out which bit of the news this is, because I know nothing about Hepatitis C. Has he started with the good news? Or the bad? And what is still to come? My brain was in turmoil, but before I could gather my thoughts he continued. “As well as Hepatitis C Mr Marshall, you also have decompensated liver cirrhosis, chronic liver disease, Hematemesis-Melena, a Hiatal hernia, Reflux oesophagitis, a polypoid lesion on the fundic gaster, Portal hypertensive gastropathy and Erosive gastritis”!!!! Now I’m proper confused, and Vivien is crying uncontrollably beside me. I mean, what the f*** is going on here!!!