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A few years ago, while teaching Spanish at Prince of Songkla University in Phuket, Thailand, I had to go to the hospital and had surgery. Almost everyone has asked why I had surgery. I usually say, "Don't ask." Some things should be kept private.
So, after years of suffering, I knew on that particular Sunday, that I would be having a difficult day. Monday I was feeling worse, and I had also caught a cold. Tuesday, I called my friend Lo to take me to the doctor on a motorbike. I just couldn't face the hour and a half ride on the Songkleaew to the hospital.

When I saw the doctor and after she had given me the prescription for my cough, I finally got up enough nerve to tell her about my other problem. She asked me if I wanted her to examine me, but she was a petite lady in her late 50's and I just couldn't let her do that. So, she gave me some more medicine and told me what I should and shouldn't eat, and . . . other advice.

Since Lo and I had rented a motorbike for the day, Lo had plans. He wanted to see friends, and as he was nice enough to take me to the doctor, I said OK. I could barely walk, but I went along. First, we went down to Chalong where his friend Tha was working, and we sat there for several hours. The "bar," three walls, a bar with an ice box containing beer and coke, a pool table, a TV, three plastic tables and chairs - always plastic in Thailand - facing a busy road, was loud and I could only hear about every three words on the TV. The cough medicine made me drowsy, but it was working. That was good, because with every cough, I felt a sharp pain in another part of my body.

Finally Lo decided to go see his other friend, P' (meaning older sister) Som in Kata on the western side of the island (this was the side that the tsunami hit). P'Som runs a beauty salon and does massage. A few months before, she had asked Lo to design a "menu" for her. Foot Massage was 200 baht, Thai Massage was 300 baht, Oil Massage was 450 baht, and the Special Message was 1000 baht. I asked Lo what the "Special Massage" was. He just said that it was special.

When we got to Kata, I could barely get off the motorbike. I couldn't even raise my leg over the side to get off. I had to swing it around front to get off. I told Lo to go on, because I was walking so slowly. On the way to P'Som's shop, I stopped in the 7-Eleven to get a Coke. When I got to the shop, they were all sitting around a table outside in front. Another lady from the bar next door walked by and sat with us. I was

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