So on September 18th 2023, we had a day excursion Scheduled for the city of Sokhna at the Red Sea. We made it there (see Egypt Day-2) but as we were going into the hotel, Terecia had a mis-step at the ramp and fell. It all happened like a blur but basically, she didn’t notice a ramp built into the walkway and stepped half on and half off the edge. When she did that it caused her foot to twist inward placing all of her weight on the edge. As she went down, her left knee buckled and she tried to brace herself with her right hand. This caused her to scrape up her left knee and bruise her right palm. Hakeim and I tried to help her up and she noticed that her right foot hurt. We went to the lobby and sat down waiting for Hakeim to secure our room for the day. Here is what followed…

1. As we were waiting for Hakeim she was more worried about her knee and palm until he came back and we stood up. Getting to the room she was walking slowly but thought that maybe it was just a bruise.
2. When we got to the room, she took off her sandal and sat on the bed for a minute. Her foot started to hurt worse and she noticed that it was swelling in one spot. We thought she might need to put some ice on it so when the attendant for the room came in we asked for some ice. He didn’t understand what we were saying and eventually we had to bring it up on our phones and then he could read it. He left to find ice and came back a few minutes later explaining that “all ice went to bar.” I said,”so when?”. He said,”no understand.”. I went out to where Hakiem was waiting for us and told him, “Hakeim, her foot is starting to swell. Can we get some ice?”. He said,”Yes” and the stared at me as though he was waiting for something else. I said,”you understand?”. He said, “Yes, but will you want lunch in room?”. I said,”I don’t want to talk about lunch right now. I need ice for her foot and then we can discuss lunch. He said, “OK, I understand.”, He didn’t, we waited for about 20 minutes and then texted the EMO trip tours handler and explained the problem to her. She responded that he would be there with the ice soon. About 10 minute later he showed with a bag of ice.
3. By that time we were pretty sure she was going to need a doctor so we told him and he said.”Oh, yes, there is doctor here, I’ll get him.”, this was after we had been suffering with this injury for about an hour total. The doctor came in, he was in sandals, had an old laptop bag as a medical bag, and still had a little of his lunch on his shirt. He understood absolutely no English and we had to rely on Hakeim’s English translating abilities to get us by. First he moved her foot around and could only understand when she yelled, “Ow, ow, ow.” in pain. Then he wanted to know if she had already taken anything and we said,”Yes, in the car because it was a long ride (2 hours) and she was getting sore from sitting so long in one spot. He tried to give her volteran as a cream to soothe swelling and we told him she is allergic. He gave her hemoclar for bruising and contusions instead and a pill Alphintern for inflammation. Then he said he would be back, he came back about 15 minutes later with a small bottle and a syringe. This was a shot for pain (as far as we could tell) and I never understood the name. When he gave her the shot, he never used a swab to clean the area. When it was complete he mumbled something in Arabic and went into the bathroom, got some toilet paper and wiped the area. He explained through Hakiem that he would return in a couple of hours and to keep the ice on the area.
4. While we were waiting, Hakeim arranged for our our lunch. Terecia decided on the chicken meal and I got the margherita pizza. My pizza came with bell pepper, green olives, and a strange cheese. Her meal was a very small half chicken (I think it was probably pigeon) that was very over cooked. We ate and waited out the time. When he returned he did the same mobility test that he did the first time and it was still worse despite the medication. He told us through Hakiem that we needed to go back to Cairo for x-rays. I think he called ahead because they seemed to know we were coming.
5. We packed up and endured the 2 hour ride back. Hakeim and Farag (the driver) were very accommodating. Drove us back to the hotel where I could get more money (everyone only accepts egyptian pounds there so you try not to take everything you have with you everywhere) and then drove us to Nozha International Hospital. It took a minute to get us checked in, but Hakeim stayed with me the whole way, explaining what each cost was. First, we had to pay to get checked in and examined $550.00. Then, we had to pay for the x-ray $250.00. Then, we had to pay for the cast $830.00. Then we had to pay $470.00 for consult and checkout. Combined with the $600.00 from the resort doctor, the total was $2,700.00 LE ($90.00 USD). One of the orderly’s saw me paying for one of the bills as we went and he grabbed a wheelchair and started wheeling Terecia around the hospital making food carts and other people wait for the elevators so we could use them. He gave me a chair to sit at each point and halfway through was joined by another orderly that was assisting in clearing halls for us to move around. The got us out to the car and I tipped them $20.00 LE ($0.67) and $50.00 LE ($1.67). They were very happy. Total, our trip to the hospital was about an hour.
6. Hakeim and Farag got us back to the hotel, helped us out of the car and apologized again for the problems. I tipped them $300.00 LE ($10.00) and $500.00 ($16.67). They were also very happy. We ate at the hotel restaurant and then went back to the room to try and get some rest. During the ordeal, Terecia kept insisting that we were going to stay and do the other tours but by the morning she had a different opinion and started making arrangements for us to get back home.