The day was made even better with a free show in the Plaza by Luxor Temple with a mixture of Egyptian and Russian entertainment (The Russian Circus was in town).

They arrived on time and we travelled to the flat where we were due to stay one night before embarking on a Nile Cruise. We took them to Snobs for a excellent meal (I can highly recommend the Duck in Orange Sauce).

Myself and Jo had just reached our room as it was the first one you come to from reception when we heard the most shocking of sounds. It was obvious from the sound that someone had fallen down the marble stairs and hit the floor hard and as my mother had been following us down the stairs I had a strong suspicion what had happened. The next few seconds seemed like hours as we ran the few feet back to reception and for as split second the thought crossed my mind that I did not want to go around the corner and see what had happened. I turned the corner to see the terrible sight of my mother face down on the marble with two Egyptians hauling her to her feet. Egyptians would never have the sense to assess the situation before picking someone up and it was too late for us to do this so after moving the Egyptians out of the way we helped my mother to her feet. It was a huge relief that she was conscious but obviously very shaken. She did not know who I was but that is nothing unusual as for years she called me Tonto (the dogs name).

With about forty people looking on as we helped her no-one had the sense to get a chair or offer any assistance of any kind and I had to shout for someone to bring a chair over. When seated she was able to tell us that she had hurt her head, arm, wrist and leg. A lump the size of an egg had already come up on the head and her arm wrist and leg were already swelling. Again we had to ask for ice rather than someone having the common sense to get/ask for some.

Being a typical mother she apologised to everyone for putting them out but it was a great relief that she was conscious and not confused. We spoke to the manager and asked for medical assistance only to be told there was no chance as we were in the middle of the Nile and would not be going through Esna Lock until the following day. We very slowly moved her to the cabin and kept ice on all the trouble spots as we assessed the situation. Luckily Jo's nurse training came in very handy and she managed very well not to pass on her concerns to the patient! She suspected at this time that my mother had broken her arm and maybe her wrist but was also very concerned of head trauma from the very hard contact with the marble. She needed a torch to do neuro obs and this represented a major problem for the inept crew of the boat. Eventually after a long long time we managed to get a mobile phone which included a small torch from one of the reps. After initially doing hourly obs we decided to let my parents try to get some sleep. In the circumstances we expected my mother to try to relax and sleep but she announced she had to take her make-up off and she had never not taken it off in fourty years of marriage so why should this night be any different? We decided to try to relax with a coffee and took the manager up on his offer "is he could do anything at all for us" and we ordered two coffees. In the circumstances we were a little shocked as they requested payment! We discussed the situation and decided there was no way we were prepared to wait until getting to Edfu to leave the boat the following afternoon as we had no idea if medical assistance was available in Edfu and did not want to leave the boat only to be stranded in a place we did not know and with no-one to help so we woke the manager and demanded medical attention. He showed me the way off the boat and it was impossible for my mother to manage so the only option we had was to get an doctor on board.

The doctor arrived and quickly assessed the situation and was certain that my mother had broken her arm so after the application of a back-slab and some painkillers she was a little more comfortable and we were relieved the doctor had been called. The doctor then came up with a number of options:- 1 wait until Edfu and leave the boat where we could head for Aswan or Luxor for medical assistance, 2:- Make an unscheduled stop after going through Esna Lock where he would arrange an ambulance to take us back to Luxor, or 3:- we continue on our cruise and even go down to Abu Simbel as might not get the chance to do it again! We were shocked at option 3 and suspect that the manager might have been concerned about losing his commission on four flights from Aswan to Abu Simbel!

We all decided option 2 was by far the best and tried to settle down the remaining hours until we went through the lock and could get off this awful boat.

We were surprised and delighted that the ambulance was waiting for us when we arrived at Esna and the ambulance driver (who would like to be Nigel Mansell but at times I thought and worried he more resembled Arton Senna) very quickly got us back to Luxor. The ambulance has plenty of space for the latest in medical equipment and I am sure the space will still be waiting for the equipment for many years to come. I have serious doubts they even had a plaster on board but this of course was not a problem especially as the 35 year old blood stains on the curtains made us feel at home.

We were glad we had decided to opt to go back to Luxor many times over the next few days but at this point we had the advantage of going past our flat and the opportunity to pick up my parents travel insurance policy which my father had left there as "he did not think he would need it". He is normally the most organised person in the world so this oversight was one we did not expect and with the Egyptian system of not treating anyone until they can prove they can pay we were lucky to be able to pick it up on route to the hospital. 

When my mother was informed she needed the operation she calmly said "let's get on with it then" and the operation was scheduled for the following day. A quick phone call to the Head Of Nursing at the hospital (a friend of ours) calmed out fears when she said the orthopaedic section at the hospital was excellent.

After getting settled in the hospital room, which by co-incidence was the same one we had nursed the Sunshine children in only weeks before, we went out for supplies as we knew things like toilet paper were very difficult to obtain and with the nights still being cold blankets etc were essential.