A good friend of mine was rushed into Bangkok Phuket hospital on Saturday morning after collapsing at home, and it transpires that he had a stroke.

 

He was put in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at Bangkok Phuket hospital and intubated and sedated until the neurosurgeon could check him out and operate, which he did. He removed part of my friend's skull because the brain was swelling and bandaged him up and fitted him with all sorts of drips and wires to be able to monitor his condition.

 

I went along with my friend's wife to talk to the neurosurgeon and this young man (probably in his 30s) was absolutely excellent, explaining everything in great detail, what the next steps were and what we could expect to happen in the near future. In addition the nurses were also excellent and I really can't fault any aspect of hospital care or the staff, and I've been back to see him three times, and although he is still unconscious, there are some positive signs.

 

I've got to say that there have been times when I've been critical of Bangkok Phuket hospital, but this has restored my faith in the hospital, and also in the medical profession in general, because not only was the young neurosurgeon absolutely excellent, the two other neurosurgeons I spoke to were also great.....and the nurses were just fabulous.

 

Unfortunately the outlook doesn't look brilliant for my friend as it appears that the stroke on the right side of his brain has resulted in some brain death and it seems unlikely that he will be able to use the left side of his body again. Having said that I'm always hopeful that something more positive will come out of it, as it appears that when part of the brain dies, on some occasions the other functioning part of the brain can take over some of the "duties" of the non-functioning part.

 

Anyway, I really want to sing the praises of the fantastic doctors and nurses at Bangkok Phuket hospital.

I agree. My experience at BHP has also been very good.

I had cataracts and needed replacement lenses in my eyes. When I looked around, I found that BHP was able to provide tri focal lenses at their Bright View department.

It is one of the most professional and pleasant departments that I have come across anywhere in Thailand (and I have have been to a few over the last thirty years).

Doctor Captain was excellent in his explanations and just gave one confidence. The nurses and other staff were just as professional in their attitude and work.

The new 'eyes' are great. I do not need to wear glasses any more.

Well done BHP and thank you.

Out of interest, how old is your friend?  Are there any attributing causes (eg smoker, drinker etc). 

 

Don't comment if you prefer.

2 hours ago, simon43 said:

Out of interest, how old is your friend?  Are there any attributing causes (eg smoker, drinker etc). 

 

Don't comment if you prefer.

No problem with replying Simon.............my friend is 89 yrs old and has never been a smoker and doesn't drink, with only an occasional wine or beer, but rarely so. In summary his condition is probably caused by "old age". 

 

 He is in very good hands and IMO he couldn't be receiving better care.

I agree that all the BKK Group hospitals are first class. However they charge 5 star prices fully loaded. We have always had heath insurance to pay all the inpatient bills. My last procedure just in September I was shocked to see the final price when i signed the paper work. 

3 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

I agree. My experience at BHP has also been very good.

I had cataracts and needed replacement lenses in my eyes. When I looked around, I found that BHP was able to provide tri focal lenses at their Bright View department.

It is one of the most professional and pleasant departments that I have come across anywhere in Thailand (and I have have been to a few over the last thirty years).

Doctor Captain was excellent in his explanations and just gave one confidence. The nurses and other staff were just as professional in their attitude and work.

The new 'eyes' are great. I do not need to wear glasses any more.

Well done BHP and thank you.

 

Yes. Dr Captain is excellent. Last year I had cataract removal and implant lens. And I have only one working eye so I put all my trust in him to retain my sight. Been my eye doctor for over 10 years now. Not cheap but he is the best on Phuket Island.  

Xylophone

Happy your friend is doing ok for now and hope he recovers to enjoythe rest of his life.

You sound like a very good friend to him

I must also add that I am a regular patient of BPH for the last 8 years. I’ve had 2 heart attacks

and one motorcycle accident since living in Thailand. I’m. Very blessed to have survived all three incidents

and very grateful for all the medical attention I have had.

 

I see my heart doctor every 4 months for my checkup now to make sure all is good with me.

 

Good luck with your friend and hope he comes out of this on the bright side.

6 hours ago, Chefgno said:

Xylophone

Happy your friend is doing ok for now and hope he recovers to enjoythe rest of his life.

You sound like a very good friend to him

I must also add that I am a regular patient of BPH for the last 8 years. I’ve had 2 heart attacks

and one motorcycle accident since living in Thailand. I’m. Very blessed to have survived all three incidents

and very grateful for all the medical attention I have had.

 

I see my heart doctor every 4 months for my checkup now to make sure all is good with me.

 

Good luck with your friend and hope he comes out of this on the bright side.

Thank you for your kind comments and I wish you all the very best for the future.

If you recall, was the stroke caused by a blood clot that broke free or a chunk of calcium broken off of the plaque on the artery walls? Blood thinners are one preventative method for blood clots caused by afib. Apparently low dose aspirin will help with the broken off plaque. 

4 hours ago, gargamon said:

If you recall, was the stroke caused by a blood clot that broke free or a chunk of calcium broken off of the plaque on the artery walls? Blood thinners are one preventative method for blood clots caused by afib. Apparently low dose aspirin will help with the broken off plaque. 

Sorry I can't answer your question reliably because I didn't ask the neurosurgeon, although thinking about it I did see something that looked like a piece of plaque in the artery which was blocked??? 

 

My friend has been on blood thinners for quite some time and has a pacemaker fitted, and to be honest it all doesn't look very well at all, even before this episode, because his legs, arms and hands were dark blue where he was bleeding under the skin from the capillaries by the looks of things.

 

I have just spoken to his wife today and he has had the intubation tube removed, so things are progressing, albeit slowly and I will know more when I probably go to visit him tomorrow.

 

Thank you for your concern and the information.

Good that things are looking a bit better. Always a good sign.

 

If they had a pic of the blockage, if it was calcium it would be a fairly bright white. 

 

 

47 minutes ago, gargamon said:

Good that things are looking a bit better. Always a good sign.

 

If they had a pic of the blockage, if it was calcium it would be a fairly bright white. 

 

 

Thinking about it.........I believe you are right as I did see a bright white "something" in the artery on the scan.

23 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

I agree that all the BKK Group hospitals are first class. However they charge 5 star prices fully loaded. We have always had heath insurance to pay all the inpatient bills. My last procedure just in September I was shocked to see the final price when i signed the paper work. 

Totally agree.

My new eyes were just over 200,000 baht. Expensive, but to me, worth it.

I self insure and I have a pink id card. Lived in Thailand permanently for 23 years.

At all other Bangkok Hospitals I get a discount. Not in Phuket.

A friend who lives in Phuket had the same procedure for 140,000 baht.

Having said all of that, I am still very happy with my new 'eyes'.

It is a well known fact that hospitals bump up the charges significantly when dealing with insurance companies.

Here on Samui, another friend could not get insurance if he used Bangkok Hospital Samui. If he used other hospitals here - no problem.

Bluntly, how much was it or how much is insurance going to pay?

23 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

I agree that all the BKK Group hospitals are first class. However they charge 5 star prices fully loaded. We have always had heath insurance to pay all the inpatient bills. My last procedure just in September I was shocked to see the final price when i signed the paper work. 

 

Yes , the Bangkok Pattaya hospital definitely saved my life where our local hospital in Bangkok dropped the ball and left me at deaths door.

 I just managed to drive to Pattaya as I was expecting  to die and had good friends  there who would help my wife in her hour of need.

The BPH got straight to it and pulled me back from the brink. They even made a video of my case as it was so rare.

It's a pity that they had to pad the bill when I checked out. I had paid for everything ever day and never went to sleep without being paid up. Nonetheless, the next morning  they presented me with a final bill of some 30,000 baht ?

I asked for a breakdown of how they arrived at this amount which threw the cat amongst the pigeons. 30 minutes later they gave me the breakdown with inflated prices for the most trivial of things. I was still too weak to argue so left it at that.

 

In the balance , they definitely  saved my bacon and all the medical staff were top notch so no complaints. In fact my bed baths by two pretty nurses handling my wedding tackle under the wife's supervision was probably worth 30,000.

3 hours ago, Denim said:

Yes , the Bangkok Pattaya hospital definitely saved my life

Glad that you recovered OK.

I will second the OP's opinion of BPH. In the 11 years I resided in Phuket went there:

 

-Motorbike accident about ended up under a car, they cleaned me up, wrapped me like a mummy and I was back partying with friends 3 hours later. Ankle bone showing and when they scrubbed that, well, glad I had some beers under my belt.

 

-Kidney stones. Showed up frothing white foam, thought something inside me was going to burst, first guy who saw me diagnosed it, stayed the night, was fine next day.

 

-Laparoscopic hernia surgery. Purple egg sticking out below my beltline, doc said I was lucky I didn't burst it diving on the volleyball court. They went through my belly button, meshed me up, back on the VB court 6 weeks later.

 

-Dental implant. Spaghetti bolognese at a local restaurant Rawai, meat sauce had mini bones in it, anvil split two of my teeth. One in my front grill, so had the implant procedure, could not have gone better.

 

Sorry to hear about your friend OP, hope he recovers.

On 11/28/2023 at 12:57 AM, grumpyoldman said:

Sorry to hear about your friend OP, hope he recovers.

Thank you, and I thought I would give you (and other readers) an update.....

 

My friend spent a few weeks in ICU and they didn't put part of his skull back, so the top of his head looks like it's been sliced off at an angle, but they have sewn the skin back in place, and don't know what's going to happen from here on in?

 

I last went to see him on Friday 22nd December, mainly because his Norwegian insurance company had arranged to fly him back to Norway by air ambulance, a fantastic service which I really wasn't aware of until now, whereby something akin to a Learjet is used, only this time it is stopping off in Laos to pick up another Norwegian guy, before coming to Phuket to pick up my friend.

 

Unfortunately I think this will be the last I see of him, because he still cannot eat or drink, is still on strong and rare antibiotics and other IV medications, and can't really speak although he does shout out various almost intelligible things from time to time, interspersed with the occasional word or two. Very sad to see.

 

Having said all of that, the care he received at Bangkok Phuket Hospital was of the highest order, and I can't speak highly enough of the staff there.

 

Following on from the experience of my friend, I have scheduled a calcium heart scan for this coming Wednesday, as if I do have a calcium buildup in or around the heart, I would like to know about it sooner rather than being in the situation/condition of my friend.

I wasn't sure whether to update this thread or not, however here goes and there are two parts to it: –

 

1). I had the calcium heart score done at Bangkok Phuket Hospital and it only took about five minutes under the CAT scan, a short wait to see the heart specialist and that was it. My score was 40, which for my age (76) is pretty good, and the doctor wasn't worried at all, and therefore nor was I. So I will get on with living my life and keep including the red wine with my dinner every day.

 

2).  Unfortunately I have just received news that my friend who was airlifted back to his country is still in hospital and not doing well at all. In fact it appears that the specialist and doctor at the hospital he is in have decided to cease treatment, as well as stop providing food and water (not that he could eat or swallow whole food anyway), thereby following the "nil by mouth" path that will signal the end for him I believe. So sad, but having said that, he was 89 years old and he had lived a varied and globetrotting life, which he loved. Farewell old friend and when your passing occurs, my thoughts will go with you. 

Sad about your friend Xylophone, but it sounds like a life well lived.

 

Just add a note about the excellent care at Bangkok Phuket Hospital that I received.

I was admitted on Jan 1st and spent 3 days there with an infection. 

Very painful and high fever. Immediately saw a doctor, had an ultrasound and was put on a drip within a couple of hours and admitted. Excellent care and very attentive nurses who seemed very competent. Had to go back for an IV each day and then antibiotics and now feel excellent.

The standard of care I received matched and in some ways exceeded the care I received in a New Zealand private hospital.

 

I have to fly back to NZ tomorrow so I wanted whatever was wrong fixed quickly and they certainly did that.

 

Reassuring to stay here and know excellent health care is at hand if needed.

 

1 hour ago, Patong2 said:

Sad about your friend Xylophone, but it sounds like a life well lived.

 

Just add a note about the excellent care at Bangkok Phuket Hospital that I received.

I was admitted on Jan 1st and spent 3 days there with an infection. 

Very painful and high fever. Immediately saw a doctor, had an ultrasound and was put on a drip within a couple of hours and admitted. Excellent care and very attentive nurses who seemed very competent. Had to go back for an IV each day and then antibiotics and now feel excellent.

The standard of care I received matched and in some ways exceeded the care I received in a New Zealand private hospital.

 

I have to fly back to NZ tomorrow so I wanted whatever was wrong fixed quickly and they certainly did that.

 

Reassuring to stay here and know excellent health care is at hand if needed.

 

Thanks Patong2 and have a good and safe flight back to NZ tomorrow. All the best. Xylo

I've been told that Phuket Doctors are Mediocre and that Bangkok is the place to go, I've been to Phuket Bangkok Hospital, yes its expensive, I thought the Doctor was very professional, its not nice someone saying that you have wasted alot of money by attending a Hospital that has Mediocre Doctors in it, apparently I could have saved alot of money had I gone to Bangkok.

I suppose Everyone has there own opinion.

30 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

I've been told that Phuket Doctors are Mediocre and that Bangkok is the place to go, I've been to Phuket Bangkok Hospital, yes its expensive, I thought the Doctor was very professional, its not nice someone saying that you have wasted alot of money by attending a Hospital that has Mediocre Doctors in it, apparently I could have saved alot of money had I gone to Bangkok.

I suppose Everyone has there own opinion.

Well I can't fault the care that was given to my old friend at Bangkok Phuket Hospital, and personally I've had "mixed experiences" there, and that is why I visited Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok when my bladder stopped working, because nobody seemed to know why, and anyway Sheryl on this forum, recommended Dr Charuspong at Bumrungrad so I thought I'd give him a try, and was very pleased that I did (thank you Sheryl).

 

I had a very thorough going over with tubes and wires going into just about every orifice, before being hooked up to a computer for about an hour, and the result after meeting with the doctor (actually he is a urologist) was that I have a neurogenic bladder and there's not much that can be done about it, apart from clean intermittent catheterisation, done by yours truly, which is what I have been doing now for over a year, and getting by I may add.

 

However I did some investigation and found that a company called Medtronic in the USA makes a small device, similar to a pacemaker, which fits under the skin and the wire from it runs close to the sacral nerve, and it stimulates the nerve to work, thereby making the bladder contract, so it would/should make my bladder work again.

 

However, having got no satisfaction from the company themselves or any other hospital here, I did contact Dr Charuspong and he has just this morning contacted me by telephone (how brilliant is that in today's world) and explained the process to me and why it is not available in Thailand.

 

I won't go into the explicit details, but a first unit has to be inserted to see if it will work, then it is removed and the second one inserted, and this preliminary work takes about a week to 10 days, furthermore the whole thing will cost something like 700,000 baht, and it's not even sure that it works efficiently anyway, so he has answered my questions.

 

Back on topic I suppose there will be good and not so good doctors in many hospitals around the world, but going back to the original topic the care that my old friend received at Bangkok Phuket Hospital was excellent.

18 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Well I can't fault the care that was given to my old friend at Bangkok Phuket Hospital, and personally I've had "mixed experiences" there, and that is why I visited Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok when my bladder stopped working, because nobody seemed to know why, and anyway Sheryl on this forum, recommended Dr Charuspong at Bumrungrad so I thought I'd give him a try, and was very pleased that I did (thank you Sheryl).

 

I had a very thorough going over with tubes and wires going into just about every orifice, before being hooked up to a computer for about an hour, and the result after meeting with the doctor (actually he is a urologist) was that I have a neurogenic bladder and there's not much that can be done about it, apart from clean intermittent catheterisation, done by yours truly, which is what I have been doing now for over a year, and getting by I may add.

 

However I did some investigation and found that a company called Medtronic in the USA makes a small device, similar to a pacemaker, which fits under the skin and the wire from it runs close to the sacral nerve, and it stimulates the nerve to work, thereby making the bladder contract, so it would/should make my bladder work again.

 

However, having got no satisfaction from the company themselves or any other hospital here, I did contact Dr Charuspong and he has just this morning contacted me by telephone (how brilliant is that in today's world) and explained the process to me and why it is not available in Thailand.

 

I won't go into the explicit details, but a first unit has to be inserted to see if it will work, then it is removed and the second one inserted, and this preliminary work takes about a week to 10 days, furthermore the whole thing will cost something like 700,000 baht, and it's not even sure that it works efficiently anyway, so he has answered my questions.

 

Back on topic I suppose there will be good and not so good doctors in many hospitals around the world, but going back to the original topic the care that my old friend received at Bangkok Phuket Hospital was excellent.

You are right in everything there is good and bad, everyone has an opinion which I have no problem with.

Unfortunately my Insurance does not cover Bumrangrad Hospital, I'm okay with Bangkok Phuket Hospital and the other Hospital's here apart from Vachira, I hope I never have to go there again, it was a nightmare visit.

Unfortunately we can compare with our NZ experience.

Bangkok Phuket Hospital was excellent for my 2 nights in January.

 

My wife just attended a top private hospital in Auckland NZ, Mercy Ascot, and being a clean freak she thought the Bangkok Hospital was a better standard of cleanliness. To be fair, Mercy Ascot is an old hospital and there are wide staff shortages in NZ.