That's me, that is.
I think this is the most ill I've been in China. Probably the most ill I've been in a good 10 or 15 years. I think I may actually have to go to see a doctor tomorrow.
And I hate to do that. I've spent way too much of my life being prodded and poked and questioned by doctors. And it never did me one ounce of good. Basically, doctors can tell you if you're going to die. And they can tell you if you're not going to die. At those two extremes of the wellness spectrum, most of them have a pretty high degree of diagnostic success. But for everything in the middle, they're pretty much completely fucking useless. And expensive.
But I think I may have to bite the bullet and go to consult one tomorrow. My horrendously impacted wisdom teeth started having one of their periodic flare-ups about a week or so ago. Usually the inflammation dies down again after a few days, but this time it has just kept on getting worse and worse. Infection has broken out all across the back of my throat, converting the roots of my long-since amputated tonsils into disgusting puddles of pus. And yesterday, I started getting distinctly puffy under the jaw. Then, late this afternoon, the glands in my neck just exploded - I think I must have added 2" or 3" to my collar size in as many minutes.
I don't seem to have any antiobiotics in the house (was sure I did somewhere, but can't find the bloody things in my moment of crisis); and the codeine and ibruprofen no longer seem to be hitting the mark. (I remember a friend of mine discovered a few years ago that you can buy morphine caplets over the counter in Chinese pharmacies - that may have to be my next step. I wonder if there are any 24-hour ones nearby??) I'm a pretty tough cookie usually, abnormally high tolerance of pain and discomfort - but really, I am in absolute bloody agony. I can't imagine there's any way I'm going to get any sleep tonight. My throat is so painful I can't swallow any more without involuntary spasms of grimacing and gurning; and if my glands swell up any more, it's not just eating and drinking that will be denied me, but possibly breathing as well. It's not a nice prospect.
A long night of crunching codeine and sipping hot toddies looms ahead of me..... I fear I'm too miserable and brain-zonked even to indulge in some therapeutically distracting blog-posting.
Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger......
If any doctors happening past would like to offer me the free reassurance that I'm really not going to die of this, that would be most welcome at this point....
6 comments:
boo, illness. could that be what made you so cranky about my new ashy layout?
ugh. sorry to hear it. good luck with the doctors in the morning.
I got unexpectedly sick last winter with symptoms I couldn't self-diagnose and put off visiting a doctor for days... my normal hesitancy to seek medical help compounded by unfamiliarity with local medical options and a desire not to play the guessing game with a doctor who didn't speak enough English while I didn't speak enough Chinese to explain it.... I imagined all the ways it could go wrong.
Thankfully, it didn't go wrong. And I discovered I wasn't dying. Which was a relief. Not the easiest experience, but not as bad as I'd worried it would be either!
FYI, I went to that hospital just East of Wangfujing, to the emergency room. "emergency room" sounds bad, but it's more like a walk-in clinic... since I didn't have a regular doctor of my own with whom to make an appt. They charged me a 100RMB or so to "join" (one time registration fee), then they charged me by the service (50RMB doctor consultation, 70RMB blood test, 100RMB antibiotics) and they spoke enough English.... I think the registration desk opens at 8:30am.
Thanks for the tip, T, but.... I've heard so many stories of the rank incompetence of most Chinese doctors (many of them from a Chinese doctor I used to teach) that I just wouldn't teach. I think that hospital you mention might well be the one that nearly killed The Choirboy last year. No, if I go at all, I'm going to one of the Western ones - with the awful certainty that I'm going to have to drop a few thou just for a "Take three of these and call me in the morning."
Moonrat, dearest, I could never be cranky with you. It's just that your new template SUCKS. Sorry.
aaah, but those "three" are going to make you feel oh so much better.
I say go for it. You only live once - might as well splurge on the healthcare :)
as an aside, don't you work for a UK employer? Is it not customary for UK companies provide Health Insurance? Or is that simply an American novelty?
Or is this an example of your UK employer taking benefit of the Chinese custom of no benefits, of any type (wouldn't be surprised!)
Ah - my employee healthcare package only starts if I complete probation next month. It would be a pity if I croaked just before that, wouldn't it? I figure I can tough it out for another 3 or 4 weeks....
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