I’m pretty sure that this lovely passage of vomit had to do with a piece of chicken…damn those delicious
birds!
I felt totally and utterly nauseous on Sunday night and all day Monday. I’m not sure what exactly it was that upset my stomach so much but I’m sure it won’t be the last time here that my stomach is upset by something. It was inevitable. My principle was nice enough to give me some medicine to help with what I thought was nausea. When after the fact I found out it was for the flu and it could have some adverse effects if not the flu. I drank the medicine after I got sick the first time, about an hour later, lost it all over again, the living room, bathroom all got a lovely shower. And if you’re still reading this, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Ahh, lovely!!! Thanks for sharing!” HAha. Well, at least all of my floors and walls are made of stone. I guess I found out the hard way, don't drink the random Chinese meds! Blast me for not learning Chinese symbols at a young age, why was I so intent on having fun and frolicking in the meadows. (The frolicking only happened when there were really pretty flowers)
But on to what I really wanted to talk about, the healthcare in China. Another, Wow moment for me! On Monday afternoon, I was sitting in what only can be described as a processing plant for sick people, or a cow herd waiting to be slaughtered…you know the lines they stand in, not really knowing why or
what’s going to happen next. Yep, that’s how I felt. And if I would have known a head of time that I was going to the hospital doctor and not just some quack-a-doodle do at the corner, I might have brought one of my masks with me…I want to fit in right?!
The first line you stand in is to get a form, fill out your name and your symptoms, then you take that form to another line, stand, wait then another person give you a booklet and a card with your information on it. You then go to your designated floor, lucky me, I got to go all the way to the top…gotta love the escalator rides when you feel a little nauseous. Then you wait in another line to be assigned a doctor, you get assigned a number and a little slip, like you’re getting meat from the deli counter. Then you wait for your number. When I arrived, the doctor was seeing patient number 5. I was number 22. If I would have thought of it, I would have taken video of all the people waiting to see 15 different doctors on
the Internal Medicine floor. It took over 2 ½ hours to see the doctor. Crumpled on the seat, I got to brush up on my Mahjong, Unblock and Spider Solitaire games. The whole time, I just wished that I could crawl into bed or on the couch with a large Gatorade, watch some sappy movies and take naps all day, another sad face.
Ohh but the bests for last, my number comes up, and we get to go into the doctor’s office. The office is about the size of a bedroom, 14x14, approximate size. The doctor asks some routine questions, but wait, there are still people in the room about 6-7 Chinese people, just standing there (…huh, weird, no patient doctor confidentiality here!), they giggle and ask American or England, then it was time to sit on the examination table. Hmm, another weird, the doctor pulls the screen back and they can’t see my body but they can see my face…the entire time! Then the doctor gets to examine me, pulls out the stethoscope, does the whole heart check procedure, but wait again...(my question is, can you hear a heartbeat through the nipple?! And is that entirely necessary to feel up my entire boob?! WTH kinda doctor is this?!). I know that a heart check is regular and the fact that I have large boobs, but a mammogram was not part of or anywhere near my nausea symptoms. And after it was all over, the doctor said something in Chinese, and everyone laughed…and all I could think was, ohh great, now everyone knows I have large boobs! (Like it wasn’t obvious before)
Yes, I know we grow ‘em large in the USA!