home

My Bupa story Twisted muscle turned
out to be a thrombus

The Danish goldsmith Bodil Binner was six months pregnant when she went on holiday with her family in Indonesia. However, the vacation did not go according to plan when she started feeling a pain in her leg.

 

My husband and I travel to Bali and The Gili Islands near Lombok with our 6-year-old daughter. Before travelling, I check vaccinations with my own doctor and midwife. There is no risk in connection with our journey. I call Bupa International. I am covered in case of an accident.

We arrive in Bali after a long flight. I feel pain in the buttock which goes down to my leg – I am sure that sleep will do me good. After a couple of days, my feet are swollen and my left leg hurts. I gasp for breath, after all I am pregnant and big.

We swim and dive. I get massages for what I think is a twisted muscle, but my leg still hurts. After a couple of days, we want to escape from cars, telephones and people. We travel to the Gili Islands. The place is perfect. A slight pain in the leg should not ruin the vacation.

'Heavy as lead'

One night I wake up and cannot get out of bed. I cannot lift my left leg. It is heavy as lead and it feels bigger than usual. Next morning it is big, blue and red with white spots. My husband finds an elderly midwife from the local area. She examines me and says that my baby is malpositioned.

My leg is getting bigger and changes colour. The midwife visits me again and advises us to go to a clinic on one of the larger islands. After a complicated journey, we arrive. The doctor examines the leg and says, ‘You have broken your knee’. He sends me to another hospital on Lombok.

There is a queue in the emergency room. I suffer from fear of needles and I certainly do not want to be pinched here. The doctor presses my swollen leg. He says: ‘You have a deep vein thrombosis and we have no cure. You have to move on. Sometime you die, sometime baby die, sometime good’. This is serious. We find our insurance card and call the medical centre in Copenhagen.

I am hospitalised. The hospital telephones cannot dial outside of the country, so my husband tries to find a solution. It is easier said than done. It’s the middle of the night and everything is closed. Finally, he manages to call Bupa International, who calls the hospital and talks to the doctor. I have to be transferred to another hospital.

Next day, a doctor from SOS Jakarta arrives with the required medicine for my treatment. I am going to the Mount Elizabeth medical centre in Singapore. An ambulance plane will come and pick me up. A doctor and a nurse meet me at the airport and from that moment I am certain that everything will be just fine.

Personal medical escort

My stay at the Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre in Singapore was fantastic. The necessary medical treatment was initiated and the thrombus was dissolved. Bupa International was also considerate of my fear of needles and made sure that I was receiving the right treatment.

After 12 days, the most fantastic Danish doctor arrived to arrange transportation and escort me back home, to have further treatment in Denmark.

I want to thank you all for a very good treatment.

After two months, I gave birth to the most healthy and fantastic baby boy, Louis.

Next steps

  • The care and comfort of our members is at the heart of Bupa International's service. However, please note that each of these stories is specific to its facts and the terms of the policy under which the member was insured. No representation is made that similar benefits would apply for members in the same or similar circumstances.

Contact us

  • Telephone

    To discuss your needs, please call us on:

    +44 (0) 1273 718 306