Feeling rotten
(Me and my new medication: Suzhou, China)
All of yesterday, this was my position in the flat – curled up and wrapped in a duvet in the lounge. Ying and I took a taxi to hospital last night and spent about an hour there. First, I had to register my details and pay a small fee, probably for administration. Secondly there was a temperature check that involved a nurse handing me a thermometer that she pulled out from a tray on her desk. She touched the bulb with her fingers and was checking the start temperature. I didn’t really want to put it in my mouth, so I was slightly relieved when she made gestures for me to poke it under my armpit. After that, we saw a doctor who asked for my symptoms and Ying valiantly translated.
Before having a blood test, we were directed back to the cashier to pay another fee for the equipment and processing, I must assume. There seems to be no trace of privacy in a Chinese hospital. Whilst my blood was being taken, there were several other people in the same room crowding around an elderly gentleman lying on a bed being given various injections. He was looking up at me (probably as I was again the only white person in sight, possibly one of the few who has visited this hospital) and I looked over at him with a degree of pity. We must have been wearing the same confused, anxious expression.
The blood test was a bit more brutal than usual, but at least it was quick. Some NHS (UK) nurses are too afraid to hurt me and slap my arm for several minutes attempting to locate a vein. This doctor pushed the needle in, didn’t find a vein, so just pushed deeper until he did. Once all that was over, my results arrived after fifteen minutes of waiting – we went to collect the sheet of paper, lying out on the desk for all to see. Thankfully an infection is all I have, otherwise I would have been most offended by everyone being able to read my results (especially so, since it is in Chinese so I must rely on Ying for translation!). Another trip to the doctor with my results yielded a prescription for several exciting boxes which we were able to collect after a third trip to the cashier for a substantially larger fee. The medication is both western and Chinese; the western ones being tablets and capsules and the Chinese one being a set of tiny drinks in glass phials with straws, they look like something from ‘Alice in Wonderland’, but they taste nasty.
I had better sign off – all the advice I have been given has been for complete rest, ‘to sleep like a dog’ so now I am done with this, resting is my plan for the day.
get well soon.
on the plus side…. thats an awfully nice jumper!
rest up cupcake. m x
I love my sweater. It commemorates my new love and respect for Pandas, flying and otherwise.
nice jumper and nice sofa! just read this, so I assume you are better now. or at least I hope so. xx
going to a hospital in another country is an interesting and scary experience!