My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 251 royal family. He bought looms, taught families to use them, designed the patterns and almost single handedly started the Thailand silk industry. Also, typical American homes became popular after the war because America had a lot of influence here. He chose to go out into the country and buy several typical Thai houses. Their walls had been built separately and then hung together later. He took down the walls, transported them to Bangkok and hung them together in the way he wanted them for his house, as well as for a couple of smaller buildings on his land. His place became so famous that the trend went back to typical Thai houses instead of American ones. He and a friend restored the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to its 5-star splendor as one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. Also, he went back out into the country and collected the wonderful artifacts he had seen during the war. Nobody minded. No one wanted them. He put them in his house where they can still be seen today. Eventually there came a time when he would have liked to send some of them to the US. Despite all he had done for Thailand, the government gave him a really bad time, and he was ticked off.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 252 Somewhat later, he went with friends to the Cameron Highlands down in Malaysia for a few days. It is a beautiful place, high up in the hills and lovely and cool. Early afternoon he arrived at the guest house where he was going to stay and put his suitcase down in the foyer, telling the housekeeper that he would be back for tea at 4 pm. That was the last anyone ever saw of him. A major search went on for weeks. Everyone was beating the bushes looking for him. Was he eaten by a tiger, was he lost, was he kidnapped? Every possibility was explored. Even clairvoyants were hired to determine where he was. To no avail. To this day, this is a huge mystery. Jim Thompson Industries continue to be the best in the silk business around Bangkok. The luxurious cloth is made into all kinds of articles, including, of course, clothes. His nephew inherited the business from him. All the paperwork had been correctly done before Thompson left on the excursion. We hurried to finish the book and took it back to Gertrude Green. She told us that some while after he disappeared, she was walking down the street in Hong Kong. Suddenly he was walking right toward her. Both of them were shocked and it showed. But he had men in Mao suits on each side of him. Quickly he made his face
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 253 blank and walked past her without another glance. There was absolutely no doubt that they had recognized each other. That told her that probably he had arranged for the Chinese to kidnap him, because soon after he disappeared, the Chinese silk industry became more competitive with the Thai silk industry, and their designs improved. Years later when we had moved to Singapore, we were vacationing in Cameron Highlands. We loved to walk up to the guest house where Thompson was supposed to stay. It is on a high promontory with a fabulous view out three sides of its lawn. Everywhere you look is green and trees and more high hills. One day when we walked there, the housekeeper was around and came out to visit with us. She showed us the very spot where Thompson had set down his suitcase. She also mentioned that the house used to have a copy of his book, but someone had borrowed it and not returned it. We told her we had read it, and told her what Gertrude Green had said. She responded, “That is really interesting, because there is a Chinese family that vacations here for a week every year. They tell me they see him at a noodle shop in Beijing.”
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 254 So now you know what happened to Jim Thompson. If you are in Bangkok, be sure to go and visit his house which is a museum. On the ticket you buy you will read a short story that will end by saying, “And he has never been seen again.”
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 255 Our 58th Anniversary August 24, 2022 We want to tell you how we celebrated our 58th anniversary yesterday. We don’t have much of a history of celebrating such events. We can remember what happened on our 50th anniversary. Every other year is blank. This one we won’t forget. It totally escaped our notice until a few days ago on Sunday when we realized that it was within a week. Then we started thinking about what we could do. A while back there was an interesting advertisement for a boat ride on the Chao Phraya River which is large and flows through the city of Bangkok. We thought maybe that would be fun, so we started looking on Google. The one we were looking for did not show up, but suddenly up popped an advertisement for a 2-hour dinner cruise at night. What really caught our attention were the words, vegetarian food. The pictures of the boat were beautiful, and it was an Indian dinner for either vegetarian or non-veg. We love Indian food, and we don’t get a lot of it here, so we were easily sold on the idea. Then we decided to invite our friends, Tom and June, to join us.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 256 One call to see if they were available, and yes, they were. We have known Tom since Singapore, and June not so long, but they both seem like family to us. Tom is the president of Mission Hospital, and June is the new president of this university. We hadn’t had an opportunity to congratulate her, so this seemed like a good chance. On Monday we went to see what we could find out about transportation to Bangkok. As luck would have it, a group of the maintenance men were leaving the university early Tuesday morning to do repairs on the nurses’ dormitory in Bangkok. And we could join them. At 6 am on Tuesday morning we were in a nice van, heading to Bangkok. The driver is a man we know as a very good driver, but Jehu fast. He outdid himself on that early trip. We were at the hospital by 8 am, half an hour faster than we have ever done before. A bit scary, but he is very skilled. We ate breakfast at the hospital cafeteria then took a taxi to do some shopping. Had lunch at our favorite vegan restaurant which is a little stall on the 4th floor of a building that houses hundreds of fabric stores. We ate Som Tum, the famous Thai salad made from shredded green papaya with tomatoes and raw green beans and sweet/sour/salty flavoring and
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 257 topped with chopped peanuts. Usually it is either nonveg or so spicy that it is punishment to eat. What a joy to have a vegan one with no chili added at all. So delicious! Since we were close to Chinatown, we planned to walk through there before catching a taxi back to the hospital. We started out, but it was a hot day and we soon lost interest. Back at the hospital we had some time to rest before Tom and June were out of their responsibilities, but at 5 pm, an hour before we thought we needed to leave, they said Let’s go. At this moment we are in the middle of a historymaking event. Very close to the hospital are major government buildings. Beginning on Monday a large crowd rallied to protest the Prime Minister staying in office longer than 8 years. The crowd was so close to the hospital that we had to choose a different route and Tom wasn’t certain how we would find the way. We needed to pick up our tickets at ICON SIAM, a shopping mall on the river. So, we left early. Tom easily found the way and we arrived at ICON SIAM about 5:30. We had never been there, and Tom and June had never been above the ground floor.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 258 First, we needed to get the tickets. The place is huge, so we walked a while before finding the right office. Then, surprise, things were different than they seemed in the ad we had responded to. The ad said we would get on the boat at 7:30. Well, it turned out that would be the international dinner. No vege food there. At 8:15 the boat left for the Indian dinner cruise. Which one did we want? It didn’t take long to decide we were willing to wait. The lady persisted. “Are you sure? This will be Indian food, Indian people, Indian music.” I didn’t hear the next thing she said, but June heard her say, “They will dance.” Anyway, none of us had any objection to what we had heard, so we collected the tickets for the 8:15 boat. That meant we had more than two hours to kill. What to do? Go upstairs. In most malls here you can look up and see the rest of the floors above. In ICON SIAM, the ground floor might as well be a one-story building for all you can see. But the scales soon dropped off our eyes when we took the escalator. There were seven or eight more floors that we could see once we left the 1st floor. Splendor, extravagance, natural beauty, amazing architecture, elegant Thai crafts on all sides. Way beyond anything we had seen before. A huge dazzling waterfall descended several stories from the ceiling in
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 259 colored splashes that constantly changed both formation and color. Later we heard that the royal family has a big investment in the mall. It looks like it. Then we found an outdoor balcony over the river. It had a wonderful view down to the pier and across the river to the other side. So, in true Asian style, we had to take pictures of ourselves out there. After several pictures, I decided to ask a young man working close by to take some pictures of all four of us. After he took the pictures, Tom and I started talking to him about what he was doing. Wow. He was running a machine that would control lasers and 200 drones for a show at 7:30 pm. Across the river, a party was starting, and they had ordered this show. He told us the view would be better from the ground floor, so we dragged ourselves away from the goodies in every direction and went down to the riverside. Lots of people were there, but we found a good place to stand and watch and even a chair to sit on if one of us got tired. We sort of wondered why they were all there. Did all of them know about the laser show? No. Turned out they were there for a water show. One of those colored lights, music and dancing water shows like we have seen in Las Vegas and Singapore and in
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 260 some gardens in Pennsylvania. Very pretty and we were happy to be watching it. Meanwhile, various big dinner cruise boats came by, loaded up their people and moved away to make room for the next boat. Boys in the area where the drones were waiting, pulled plastic sheeting over them to protect them from the water. The music was all special music composed for the royal family. But finally we were a little tired of that. We began to fear that our boat would come and go without us getting to see the laser show we were waiting for. At last, the water show ended, the plastic was pulled away, and the lasers began to focus on a hotel across the river. The lights seemed to mostly be ads for companies with their slogans. Then 200 drones lifted off. That was amazing. A couple of them went far down the river or across to the other side. All the rest were in formation and were different colors, forming and reforming to spell out words and phrases. They looked a bit like a flock of birds. Early on, two of them fell into the water. None of the rest met that fate. Just before it was time for us to board our boat, they gently settled back down on the bases they had flown from. The two that had flown down the river came back and settled
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 261 in with the rest. All of this must have had more meaning for the party across the river seeing it from their point of view. But we loved the drones. A huge crowd was pushing and shoving to get on our boat. No problem, we had an assigned table. We were seated right near the front of the boat on the upper floor without even a ceiling over our heads. The Lord had given us a perfect day with no rain, so we were thrilled with the spot they gave us. On the river, the breeze was the perfect coolness. We had good food, but the best was the view as we glided down the river. So many interesting buildings and sites, including the grand palace. At one spot, Tom pointed out where his father is buried in an old Presbyterian cemetery. Tom was only 6 when his father died of a heart attack. Or most likely of an arrhythmia. When Tom was in his twenties, he had the first ablation done at Loma Linda Medical Center. It was open-heart surgery back then. That saved his life because he had the same problem his father had had. While we ate, a 40ish Filipina sang in English, Thai, and Hindi.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 262 When she got to the Indian songs, suddenly Indian men crowded to the open space around her—right beside us—and began to enthusiastically dance and sing along with her. Gone was any opportunity for conversation. But it was still so pleasant to be on the boat, seeing the lights on each side of the river, feeling the cool breeze. The music was deafening. They were having so much fun, we got an extra half an hour before the boat docked and our celebration was over. It was eleven o’clock by the time we got back to Tom and June’s house where we spent the night. All of us agreed that we could not have planned such an occasion. The perfect weather, time to wander in the mall, the great balcony with such views, the water show, the laser and drone show, the meal, the music, the Indian men dancing. Very few girls or women were involved. A couple times I saw women dancing with other women. If you have seen the movie, Bride and Prejudice, you know how Indian men dance. We were a bit surprised that it happened in real life, not just in movies. It reminded us of the Jewish men dancing at the wailing wall, but this was much more athletic.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 263 Now you can understand why we will not forget our 58th anniversary. We doubt we will be able to think of anything to top it for next year. But we will try! God is good. All the time. The idea and the ad came at the right time. In this monsoon season the day was cloudless. The transportation worked out perfectly. After a good night’s sleep, we needed to get back home this morning. Tom walked with us to the front of the hospital and talked to the first taxi that came in. The driver was willing to bring us all the way home—for a reasonable price. Taking the bus back would have taken longer, and maybe way longer since we didn’t know any bus schedules. We were back in our guest room before nine this morning. And we are still glowing at the remembrance of such a good celebration.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 264
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 265 Just You, Me, and the Angels This is Virginia. I have to write this story for Calvin. You will see why. Calvin’s doctor when we are back in the state of Washington is Dr. Sherpa. Appropriately enough he is from Nepal. And he is a very good doctor. Every time Calvin visits him, he ends the conversation with, “Don’t fall!” He knows what he is talking about. Over here in Thailand, Calvin and I hold hands when we are on stairs, just to give each other some stability. We are famous on the campus for this. When students do it, it is called PDA, Public Display of Affection. When aged people do it, it is called balance. However, Calvin frequently goes out for walks by himself because I am busy preparing for class or something. He has always gotten back home safely. But last Friday he fell on the stairs close to our house as he was on the way back from visiting the organic garden. He picked himself up and came into the house with a lot of leaves on his shirt and a scratch on his arm that required two band aids. Otherwise, he seemed to be unscathed. In retrospect I remember that he has fallen several times, proving what strong bones he has, because nothing has broken.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 266 Last Wednesday night I held my last class. I won’t be teaching again until next summer because we will go to Washington in March. So that was a cause for rejoicing. Friday night we watched or listened to our favorite programs, went to bed early and slept well. Sabbath morning I got up at 5:30 after plenty of sleep and prepared some sliced pineapple and Dutch cucumbers for the potluck we would attend after church. This was a special day because it was a surprise birthday party for Dr. Youssey who is a world expert on Islam, has written textbooks for teaching the Hebrew language and Islamic culture. Under any circumstances we consider it a privilege to be friends with him, but it goes beyond that because he calls us Mother and Father. Very formal! Calvin woke up at seven, and something was off. He went to shave, but he didn’t get most of the hair off. Then he said he wasn’t going to shower, but I sort of insisted, so he did. It was a miracle he got out of the shower without falling. As soon as he came back into the room he fell heavily on the floor, and between us we had a hard time getting him back on his feet. It seemed that he wasn’t even understanding very well what I said. Stroke came to mind. I went through the various tests. He could smile, talk, raise his arms, etc.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 267 The pupils of his eyes were equal size, and he could follow my hand in the various directions. It didn’t really fit with the symptoms listed on the internet. Maybe he had had a TIA and would be okay in a few hours. That got us through breakfast which Calvin ate with no problems. But he was still very unsteady, and it was an easy decision to not go to church which is a tenminute walk away. Besides, we could watch the whole thing on Facebook. I called Jennifer and talked to her. She said to immediately call an ambulance. Not so easy to do. I don’t know a phone number for emergencies on the campus, and by that time all our friends were in church with their phones turned off. I earnestly prayed that the Lord would guide in this situation and help me know what to do. Before the end of the church service Calvin was having more problems. His right leg was very weak. His right arm seemed like it was a little bit weak. What was worse was that his speech sounded fine, but it had been reduced to 3-word sentences. I’m sure I… We really should… Why don’t you… By three words he had always lost the thought he was trying to express. I looked at the internet symptoms again and decided it was time to call for help.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 268 We wanted to go to the Adventist hospital in Bangkok, 2 1/2 hours away where we have friends. Church was out by this time. I couldn’t call Youssry, although he was the logical one. I decided to call the American couple we don’t know too well. They started working on finding transportation for us. All the university vans were in use somewhere. Minutes later Youssry showed up to drive us to lunch. He took one look at me and asked what was wrong and why we didn’t get to church. It was impossible not to tell him. Everything happened fast after that. Youssry and a couple of his Indian friends were determined to take us, so they went to do whatever they needed to do. And there went the birthday party. Then I had a visitor at our guest room. Alvina is a really nice funny Indian lady who always takes charge. She is a wonder. She said, “What’s going on here? Why wasn’t I told? Where are those men? An emergency is an emergency. I bet they are over there eating. They need to get here now!” She called them up and yelled at them to stop eating and get back here. I interrupted to say that was Alvina and not me talking. So ultimately with some push by Alvina, I was persuaded that we should first take
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 269 Calvin to the local hospital just to be sure he was stable enough to ride to Bangkok. Three carloads of friends accompanied us to the local hospital. All the few tests they did turned out normal. It really did not seem like Calvin had had a stroke. When I got the bill for emergency room, emergency physician, EKG, and chest X-ray, I was tempted to stay right there (Not really) $23.61. I’m not sure who made the final decision, but we headed to Bangkok with the Stories, the American couple I had first called, with Calvin in the front passenger’s seat. The rest of the friends went back to the birthday party which was no longer a surprise. Nor was it a party. They sat around, worrying and speculating about Cavin. Just what I had been afraid of when I tried to avoid them. I felt sure it would be a brain scan that would reveal what had happened. Sure enough, within 15 minutes after we arrived, they did a brain scan that showed a significant bleed. Calvin was put in ICU and a neurosurgeon was called to decide whether or not surgery was needed. The Stories waited with me, prepared to stay until surgery was finished. About 8 pm a nurse told us the surgery would be on Sunday. So,
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 270 Stories went to visit their two children who live in Bangkok, and I went to the guestroom the hospital had kindly provided for me. By almost nine I was in bed when the phone rang and a nurse told me they were preparing for surgery, I dressed quickly and went back over, taking some activities I could pursue while waiting for the surgery to finish. First I talked to the doctor, a very young looking Thai neurosurgeon from a different hospital. He showed me the brain scan where the blood and swollen area were clearly visible. I visited with Calvin for about half an hour, then they whisked him away and I went to the waiting room. [Bangkok has 200 hospitals and is the No. 1 country for medical tourism. Even the Adventist Hospital has 30% of their business from foreigners.] Calvin had a left craniotomy to remove a subdural hematoma. By the time I finished the first activity, a nurse came and told me the surgery was over and the doctor wanted to talk to me. It wasn’t even ten o’clock. He told me it had been successful. They had removed 100 cc of blood. Calvin would be in ICU for 24 hours and then need to stay in the hospital for about 5 more days.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 271 Calvin was soon back in ICU. I don’t think he even knew I was there. After a little while I went back to the guestroom to bed but thought I should notify at least one of my siblings. I had been exchanging a lot of messages with Jennifer, but now decided to send a message to Judy. She shared the information with all our siblings, and I immediately began getting messages back from them. Bill sent me an invaluable message that explained what had happened and why it had happened. In brief, all of us have a little space between the brain and the dura which covers the brain. As we age the brain shrinks and the blood vessels between the two become more fragile. It is not necessary to have a head injury in order to rupture one of those blood vessels. A fall that just gives the head a shake can rupture one and it can start slowly leaking blood. That may continue for days or weeks before enough blood has accumulated putting pressure on the brain so that symptoms show up. Any of Calvin’s falls could have started this. Let this be a warning to all of you. Don’t fall! We will leave here with a good walker for Calvin to use so he doesn’t have to depend on his own balancing ability.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 272 And one more thing, the reason the surgery was so short was because the injury did not involve the actual brain. His surgery was not brain surgery, it was a mopping up operation for the dura. Sunday morning, I came back to the hospital early, but the doctor had already been here. Calvin didn’t realize that and was shocked to hear he had already had surgery. He did wonder what the thing was on his head. They were ready to move him to a med/surg room and I needed to go pick out the room. Calvin was talking in full sentences, which was something he had lost the ability to do as Saturday progressed. So that was amazing, and the fact that he was already leaving ICU was amazing. I picked out a private room where I can stay with him, and by 9 am he was there. We had barely drawn a deep breath in the new room when the pastor and his wife and baby daughter from the university church walked in the door. He had come the two-and-a-half-hours to sit with me during surgery and then arrived to find out that surgery was over and we had moved to a different floor. He had a wonderful prayer of thanksgiving for us.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 273 Thinking that Calvin would be in ICU most of Sunday, I had planned to rush back to the campus to pick up things I had forgotten to bring—like the medical insurance card—and to order more money from the States. If you need to send money here or there, check out WISE.com. Very good way to do it. ICU would only let me visit for 15 minutes in the morning, and again for 15 minutes late in the afternoon. I bet I could get back in time to visit the second time. God had foreseen our emergency because after weeks and weeks of working on it, we had just managed to transfer our Social Security straight to our bank in Thailand. I had plenty to get started, but even here where everything costs less, surgery can eat up quite a bit. By the grace of God, I was able to pay everything I needed to on Saturday night, but I could see that more would be needed before the end of the month, so I wanted to go back to the university to use my computer to order more. I would sound too disorganized if I told you all the other things I forgot to bring. I had planned to take the bus back to the university, then after half an hour of grabbing things, take the next bus back to Bangkok. I still needed to make the trip even though Calvin was no longer in ICU. Before I had a chance to act on the bus plan, Youssry called and told
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 274 me they were coming to see us. I said, please wait until I can get there on the bus, then you can bring me back if you wish. He told me to call Stories and see what their plans were. In brief, the Stories took me back to the university, I finished my tasks, then Youssry and two of his friends brought me back here to the hospital. Calvin had slept most of the time. I doubt he recognized that I was gone. Meanwhile, back at the campus, we had missed a oncea-year International Food Fair. The wives of the three men who brought me back to Bangkok spent the entire day cooking for the fair. They promised that when Calvin is home again, they will fix the same food for us. They are wonderful cooks. Monday was a new day with new perplexities. Calvin had totally lost his mind. He spent much of the day at Gladstone campmeeting, part of the time on the platform although he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He asked me to talk to the people. He also spent time talking to people about the Lord, and managed to come back from Disney World. He went quite a long way down the road but was worried about how he would find me, so he came back. When he was sleeping, he was often carrying on a
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 275 conversation in a quiet voice that I could clearly hear. I could usually figure out who he thought he was talking to. He also saw lots of people in our room. After I had been asked to look at them too many times, I told him there was nobody here but you, me, and the angels. Of course, he has never seen an angel in his life, but it was the easiest thing to tell him about all these apparitions. That seemed to satisfy him. I repeated that every time he brought up the subject. It was getting to be late at night. He had tried to get out of bed several times during the day, and I got worried he might climb out at night when I was asleep. I asked the nurse if they have a bed alarm. No, they didn’t but they could restrain him. That seemed to me like the ultimate humiliation, so I didn’t want them to do that. They didn’t understand and brought in a bunch of cloth that they obviously intended to use. I held them off and said I would pay very close attention. I think we finally slept a little bit. Sudden two nurses came in and announced that the doctor was here. I looked at the clock. It was 1:30 am. He bustled in and said he was going to take out the drainage tube because it had been three days. Really? A couple hours on Saturday night, plus Sunday and
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 276 Monday, so I guess it was getting close to 3 days. Off came the bandage, showing at least a three-inch-long incision across the top of the head. At least 13 staples. I tried to quickly count them. The tube came out fast. I’m sure it hurt. Then there was still some bleeding, so the doctor rapidly put in about three more staples which definitely hurt. The visible blood was moped up and a new bandage applied in almost no time. The doctor was on his way, but I followed him out to the hall and told him Calvin was totally out of his mind. His response was that all patients who have this surgery have the same problem, so that was actually good news. This morning Calvin woke up pretty much back to normal. He could agree that things he saw and heard and experienced were not real, but he wasn’t positive, and he told me some hair raising stories about people we know, insisting that the stories are true. None of them were about any of you who will read this, so you can breathe easy. Plus, I didn’t believe them. All things being equal, he is very much better. When the physical therapy girls came, they put some pants on him and helped him walk in the hall. I met them just leaving when I came back from breakfast.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 277 And the clincher was the message my brother sent me which was so good I’m going to put all of it here for your instruction and enjoyment: “Part of the confusion is from the pressure on his brain. It takes time to recalibrate. Part of the confusion is from the anesthesia. It takes time to metabolize. Part of the confusion is from being in the hospital. The first thing we do to anyone, but especially seniors, is take away their choice, from now on I will tell you EVERYTHING I want you to do. No Independence! The next thing we do is take away all of your clothes, and I mean all of them. It is very disorientating to anyone, but again, especially seniors. “I had patients that I saw and talked with every day while they were in the hospital and when they came back to follow up in my office, they had no idea who I was, never saw me before in their lives!?!
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 278 With time it comes back to them.” And then this morning Bill wrote to me again when I had told him that all of Calvin’s conversations had been in line with his character and personality: “The fact that he is talking, and it sounds like him is very good. Remember that the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body. And for an individual who is right handed, the speech center is in the left side of the brain! So Calvin’s brain is working and a lot of his confusion and disorientation may just be the “hospital psychosis” that seniors experience.” Well, that’s where we are right now. Hopefully the coming days will be continually better.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 279 Updates On Calvin November 22, 2022 Calvin rallied quite quickly from the surgery. Two days ago, on Sunday, the staples were pulled out (which thankfully did not hurt) and friends brought us home. That makes it sound so easy. Actually, we thought it would be easy, but we could not leave until the bill was settled. I had made a down payment of 100,000 baht on the Saturday night he arrived in the hospital. That’s about $2800. Then when they took him to surgery, they showed me the probable total which was twice that. Two days ago, when we were ready to leave, we didn’t want to wait for insurance to confirm whether or not they would pay, so I confidently went to the ATM and started drawing out money, 25,000 at a time. After the second draw I got a message that I was over the limit. Meanwhile word came that insurance was paying nothing. Not too surprising at our age. They disallow anything that can possibly be linked to a prior condition. That took quite a stretch in this case, but that was the story.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 280 What to do. I had the whole accounting office working on it. They tried to help me get his daily limit raised, but we still got the same message. Finally—after maybe an hour and a half while Calvin and the friends waited in the van—the one boy who spoke English was able to speak Thai to the bank and explain the problem to them. We thought we had raised the daily limit to 150,000 per day. However, that limit is only for Thais, not foreigners. Neither the phone nor the machine told us that when we changed the limit. Ultimately the bank reset it to 100,000 baht per day and ignored the fact that I had already gotten 50,000 out. We were finally able to clear the bill. The office workers cheered! And the friends from the van who by then had come up to find out what in the world was going on, cheered also. Then one of them prayed a beautiful prayer for all the workers in the office and their families. We left with good feelings all around. The total bill for a nice private room where I could stay with Calvin, surgery, doctor, emergency room, CT scan, PT, food and all the rest, was a bit over $6,000. When I told Jennifer, she laughed. I wanted to buy a cane with four feet and a walker from the hospital, but they did not find access to what I had in mind. I wanted a walker with a comfortable seat so he can stop and sit down if he gets tired. I didn’t have
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 281 time to pursue it further in Bangkok. On the way back to the campus, when we came to our little town of Muak Lek, we looked for a pharmacy that was still open after six in the evening. The second one we found had just the cane needed. So at least we could come home with that one protection. Yesterday morning another friend took me to town to the pharmacy we usually go to where I had seen handicap appliances. They had exactly the walker I had in mind. Big enough, sturdy enough, with a nice soft seat. So now Calvin can exercise safely with one or the other every day. I still need to find a good shower chair. This morning I will borrow a plastic stool until we can get the right one. Last night we entertained our Monday night Family Group of a dozen students, and you would think that life might now return to normal. Far from it! Calvin’s secretary from long ago in Singapore is here with her wealth of knowledge working for a week at the new Union building, helping the new secretaries. She and her husband John are coming over for dinner this evening. They are providing the dinner. Thursday the university is giving a Thanksgiving program and dinner for all the faculty. On Dec. 2 my graduate class students
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 282 are turning in their final essays. I will have Saturday night and Sunday to grade them and turn in final grades before we go back to Bangkok for the follow up visits and another CT scan on December 5. Calvin is well except that again he can’t finish sentences. I think I mentioned that in the last story. The morning after surgery it seemed that he could. But not so well after that. The bleed was putting pressure on his center of speech part of the brain, so it is logical. Both doctors think he will still get over that. I hope so. It is very frustrating for him. His appetite is good, he has no pain. He can move around just fine. After the next CT scan, we will make a final decision about what to do next. On Dec. 7 we plan to fly to Singapore to meet Carla, our daughter-in-law who is coming for three weeks to help both of us celebrate our birthdays. If Calvin is not able to deal with all the public transport, he will stay in a beautiful room in the assisted living part of the hospital, and I will go retrieve Carla. If he is better by the end of the month, we will both fly back with Carla to Singapore to see her off. That will allow us to celebrate his December 27 birthday also in Singapore.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 283 Then surprise, surprise, our dear friend of many years, Marilyn Bennet Justesen, is arriving in Bangkok on December 29 and staying with us on the campus for a couple weeks. So, we have lots of fun ahead of us. I ask you to compare this story with what we would be doing if we were retired in the States! Can you see why we live in Thailand? They plan to start our new house in January and have it ready for us in five or six months, so that will be another chapter of our lives. I hope we both live for at least a few years to enjoy it. God is in charge. He will make that decision. He is always SO good to us. When our house is finished, we hope to have many more visitors. The other lady who is also getting a house, spent an hour with me yesterday going over the plans and making a few changes here and there. That is John Perumal’s wife, Piyamart (don’t pronounce the r). He most recently taught botany and biology for 20 years at La Sierra. We enjoy them a lot and look forward to being next door neighbors.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 284 January 2, 2023. A New Year lies before us. Calvin continues to improve. He can pray appropriate prayers again, without losing his thoughts. His balance is pretty good. But he, and the rest of us, are worried about anymore possible falls, so he uses his cane and only walks up and down the long porch of this guest house unless someone else can walk with him to be sure he does not stumble. I was able to find a good shower chair at Lotus, a big sort-of department store that is popular in Thailand. On December 5 his CT scan looked fine. He stayed in the beautiful big room in assisted living and I went to Singapore to meet Carla. Before I left, I bought a second Samsung phone and taught him to call me and answer if I called so we could communicate while I was gone. It was a major challenge. Nurses and friends had to help him with calling and answering, but we did manage to stay in pretty close touch. Carla and I had a few wonderful days in Singapore, then we flew to Phuket and had fun there for four days. Gradually I developed a pinched nerve. I managed that fine until we actually arrived back at the hospital in Bangkok. When I got out of the taxi, I needed a
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 285 wheelchair. Calvin’s neurologist gave me a prescription and told me not to carry anything and to lose ten kilos. That was Thursday. Friday I was worse. So, I went back to the doctor who doubled my prescription and ordered seven days of physical therapy. That meant we had to stay in Bangkok for another week instead of returning home to the campus near Muak Lek. That turned out to be providential. Carla and I both stayed with Calvin. His room had three couches, two of which were comfortable, so they were our beds. Every morning I got 2 hours of PT. Carla came with a list of 40 family, friends, and coworkers she wanted to Christmas shop for, so every afternoon we went somewhere. She managed to check off every name on the list—which would never have been possible had we returned home as we had planned. And the 10,000 to 12,000 steps every afternoon cured me. At first I was attached to the walker, then after three days, a cane. And finally, I was pain-free and able to walk on my own. Meanwhile we had given up the idea of Calvin and me returning to Singapore to see Carla off. It was too expensive, and really impossible. So instead, Carla and I set out to celebrate Calvin’s birthday for twelve days.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 286 That was lots of fun and worked out well. We soon wore him out with shopping, so instead we would shop then take him somewhere—a water show, a river taxi ride, durian, a fabulous meal, the hospital Christmas show (like nothing you have ever seen), Sea World aquarium, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, pizza, more durian, etc. He has never had such a birthday! December 27 is a terrible day to be born. On Calvin’s actual birthday we went to a nearby coffee/tea shop for croissants and scones, then accompanied Carla to the airport and ate sticky rice and mangos, Thailand’s signature dessert, before we saw her off. Then we want to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. We had tried to go with Carla another day but reached there seven minutes late. On the 28th we mostly rested. On the 29th we met Marilyn Bennett Justesen at the airport and then returned home. Now we are staying home and just doing simple things around here. Calvin is doing well. He continues to improve. My pinched nerve has remained unpinched. I haven’t even had one twinge of pain.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 287 So, we are beginning the new year in good shape. Who knows what it may bring. We do know that our God of love will continue to guide and help us, no matter what.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 288
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 289 Places Virginia and I Have Lived 1. Salem across the river in the plum orchard, 1964 2. Portland in cute little house, 1965 3. Portland in the apartment when Jennifer was born, 1966 4. Mbeya, 1966, 1967 5. Ikizu, for most of a school year, 1968 6. Dar es Salaam on the beach, 1968 7. Dar es Salaam back of the church, 1968 8. Morogoro big house out on the sisal estate, 1969 9. Morogoro small house on the mission, 1969 10. House we bought in Burleson, Texas, 1970 11. Willowdale apartment, 1971 12. Willowdale conference duplex, 1972 - 1973 13. Busegwe, Tanzania, 1974 14. Singlewide trailer on mission in Morogoro, 1974 15. Morogoro big house in town, 1974 - 1976 16. Arusha Lutheran Mission house, 1976 - 1977 a. (Virginia and kids lived with JoAnn a few weeks in California) 17. Singapore house for 8 years, 1978 – 1986 18. Bill’s doublewide with Dorothy in Loma Linda on furlough, summer of 1982. Virginia and kids lived
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 290 in Lonergan’s house by the hospital, January to June, 1983 19. Spartan Village, Lansing, MI, 1986 20. Grand Ledge by the campground, 1987 - 1989 21. Laurel, MD townhouse for 13 years, 1989 - 2002 22. Smith River house for 8 years, 2002 - 2009 23. Rogue River house for 8 years, 2009 – 2017 24. Sequim house, 2017 - 2020 25. Auburn townhouse. August 2020 to August 2021 26. Jennifer’s house, August 2021 to January 2022, and March 2, 2022 to early May 2022 27. Guestroom #6, Asia-Pacific International University January 2022 to present