The Physiotherapist (English)

Chapter 1 - The change

They were happy with the decision they made. They wanted their baby, whose sex they did not yet know, to be born and raised in a smaller town, by the sea. They chose Ao Sane beach, on the island of Phuket, south coast of Thailand, to live in and this would be a trip to know the place. Anong Suriang was seven months pregnant, they still had two months to choose the house and arrange the move. She had a degree in pedagogy, but because of her pregnancy, which happened unexpectedly, she postponed her plans to start working immediately. For a while, she would be just focus on the baby. Krist Perawat had a degree in Technology Engineering and worked developing mobile apps and sometimes providing technology security advice to companies. For him, anywhere with electricity and internet was fine as long his wife and baby were together! The choice of location was basically made by Anong.

The journey went on smoothly. They had been on the road for two days and were in no hurry to get there. Due to Anong's need to go to the bathroom several times to pee, they made many stops. In each one, they took advantage of the place a little; now stretching your legs, now just enjoying the look. And so, they went on. Inside the car they smiled as they followed along singing the songs that played on the radio, through their playlists. There were just over fifty kilometers to reach the destination, when the tragedy happened. After a curve, the truck just was there! It was coming the wrong way towards the car Krist was driving. Even pulling the car to the shoulder, it was not fast enough. The truck slammed into the car, which, in addition to being thrown off the road, overturned several times before coming to a stop with its wheels facing the sky.

Inside the car, as she looked at Krist and watched her face change into an expression of terror, Anong did not even have time to realize what caused this change. At the time of the collision, her head was thrown violently against the door post, causing her to instantly lose consciousness. Krist felt her body, despite being strapped in by her seatbelt, being tossed from side to side as everything spun around her. With every turn the car took, its bodywork squirmed more and more as it crashed into the rough terrain. Objects that were loose joined the shattering glass, injuring and hurting the two occupants even more. When the vehicle stopped, Krist still tried to look in Anong's direction before completely losing her senses. From that moment on, time became their greatest enemy!

Help was not long in coming, but the condition of the occupants was very serious. The two were trapped in the wreckage and the woman was pregnant. While carrying out the necessary procedures to free Krist and Anong from the hardware (ironmongery), the team requested air assistance to transport the injured. Their lives were hanging by a thread.

Anong died on the way to the hospital. But as she was pregnant, the rescue team continued to carry out the resuscitation procedures in the hope that the hospital doctors could reverse the situation. Unfortunately, they were not successful. As the tests showed that the fetus was still alive, they decided to deliver. The baby, female, was born prematurely at twenty-nine weeks, a little over seven months, weighing one kilogram, five hundred and twenty grams. As she had breathing difficulties, since her small lungs were not fully matured, the baby was immediately transferred to the NICU to receive adequate treatment.

In the other room, Krist's situation was also very serious. Tests showed that he had suffered severe head trauma and had signs of internal bleeding. He was taken to emergency surgery. While Dr Pete, a neurosurgeon, was opening his skull to release the pressure caused by the bleeding and to try to contain the swelling in the brain, another surgeon, Dr Kao, was trying to contain his internal bleeding. That is when he had his first cardiac arrest. The doctor took the defibrillator to reverse the situation. He tried the first time, waited a few seconds and nothing. He tried the second time, waited a few more seconds and nothing. He tried a third time and again got no response. The doctor declared the time of death at 5:25 pm, ordering the machines to be turned off immediately.

...

Krist slowly opened his eyes and tried to recognize where he was. It was a small room, all white, with a door and a small square window. He could hear some noises outside, but he could not make out what kind of sound it was. He walked towards the door and when he opened it, everything was dark on the other side. He tried to get his eyes used to the darkness when he began to make out the silhouettes of two people approaching. A grown woman and a child. A little longer and he realized that it was Anong holding hands with a girl, who appeared to be about five or six years old. When he started to walk towards him, Anong spoke to him:

- No, Krist. You cannot come now!

- I do not understand! Go where? Where are you going and why can't I go? Krist asked.

- Because it is my time and not yours. Anong replied with a calm smile on her face. And you two must take care of our daughter. She continued.

- Like this? What are you talking about? Who will take care of our daughter? Who is this girl?

- This girl is Myna and she is helping us! She spoke smiling once more. Do not be worried, just open your heart and he will take care of you both. He needs you two and you two need him. Do not waste this chance! Now they were both smiling.

Anong came close to her husband, placed her hand on his heart, causing an immense wave of heat in Krist's body, kissed his cheek goodbye and said:

- Now come back! And pushed him into the room, closing the door behind him.

...

When the assistant prepared to turn off the devices, the characteristic beeping noise of the heart monitor was heard again inside the room. Krist's heart had started beating again. Doctors completed the surgery without further complications. Now, all that was left was to wait for the patient to recover.