Doctor Adventure!

So, it seems like no matter how well I wash my hands or how much I avoid eating fruit salad created by five-year-olds, I get a cold and lose my voice pretty much every month. So I had my monthly cold about three weeks ago, but luckily I didn’t lose my voice. Instead, I’ve had this lingering cough. This cough is INTENSE. It’s not dry, it’s super mucous-y (sorry) and by the evening my head feels like it’s going to explode. Occasionally, it also hurts to breathe in deeply. My theory is that I have an infection, probably caused by the cold and made worse by the air pollution. I’ve been riding the scooter more and more, and my mask doesn’t block anything. I think I should have been a smoker (darn you D.A.R.E.!), because my lungs are not used to the abuse, and the pollution is really starting to affect me. Anyway, I read online that mucous happens when your body is fighting an infection, and that bronchitis usually occurs after you’ve had a cold and it goes away on its own. But this cough is making me (and Mike) miserable, and it reminds me of a cough another teacher had for like, two months, so I went to the doctor yesterday.

Woohoo! Doctor adventure!

I was either going to ask my friend where I should go or go to the hospital, but at work on Saturday afternoon I mentioned going to the doctor, and the director of the adult department gave me the card of a doctor he saw when he had a similar cough. He said he had had an infection and took a bit of antibiotics (out of desperation). He said lots of foreigners seem to get bad, chronic coughs like this. I swear it’s that air pollution. I’m trying to find a really good face mask with real filters. But anyway, I ended up going to that guy.

I was kind-of excited, partly because I would finally get some treatment, and also because it meant I got to have yet another experience where I would have no idea what was going on. It’s weird. In a way, it’s no fun looking like an idiot. But in another way, it’s a LOT of fun. And addicting. It’s an adventure. What will the doctor be like? Who the heck knows?? Let’s go!

So there was some confusion at the reception desk, but luckily another patient spoke English and helped me fill out the form with basic info—name, job, address, blood type, allergies. Super basic, nothing like the medical forms at home where you have to tell them every sickness you and everyone you know has ever had. Then they asked for my National Health Insurance card. They scanned it and did some computer-y things, then I paid them $150NT (about $5 US), was given a number, and sat down. I stared at a fish trying to eat non-existent food in a fish tank, thinking of poor Nemo, when I decided to get up and look at the cards they had at the desk (because we weren’t sure if I was set up to see the chest doctor, heart doctor, or the dentist…and there are some big differences there). That’s when I noticed my number was up on the screen. I showed my number to the receptionist because I had no idea where I was supposed to go. She pushed open a door and I sat down by the chest doctor. He was talking to another patient (just like at the hospital when we got our health checks—you wait in the doctor’s room as he’s finishing up with someone else…totally blows my mind). Then she left and I sat on a stool next to his desk.

He’s a nice guy, speaks pretty decent English. He said I was beautiful (“You are a very beautiful woman. How do you say in English, ‘We should thank God for this…’?” I don’t know, Buddy, but we’re on the right track!). I explained what was wrong. He had me blow on a pinwheel while he listened to my lungs. He immediately determined my lungs were messed up and I had a bacterial infection. Then he had me sit in a dentist-ish chair and he looked at my throat. Then he sprayed something in my throat. I still have no idea what it was. Another kind of moment where I can only laugh. But not too hard, or I'll trigger a coughing fit.

He was clicking on things on the computer screen and saying he recommends a small dose of an antibiotic (Erymycin). He (and other people I’ve talked to here) seem pretty hesitant about antibiotics. He was trying to reassure me that it was a small dose (don’t worry, dude, in the States they pass out antibiotics like candy. Plus with all my acne experience, I know 250mg isn’t that bad). I don’t want to take them if I don’t have to, of course, but I don’t care what he gives me, I just want this cough to go away. That’s when I realized what a scary power that is to have over someone. I’ve only had a bad cough for two weeks, and I’m already at the point of “I don’t care what you give me! I’ll take it!!” What am I going to do when I have a serious illness? I’m a goner. Putty in the doctor’s hands. I like to think that when I’m pregnant I’m not going to let an impatient obstetrician boss me around and try to pump me full of Pitocin when I don’t go into labor on my exact due date, but now I'm afraid that when it comes down to it, I might panic and do whatever gets that baby out fastest. I’m a tool.

He also recommended a powder. I couldn’t figure out what the powder does. First it sounded like it was going to make me hack up all the mucous in my lungs (poor Mike…I’m more like Nonna every day). Then it sounded like it was a cough suppressant. So I don’t know. So he put prescription info in the computer and said I could go get the medicine at the desk. So I went to the reception desk and after a couple minutes, they directed me to the correct desk (which, of course, was not where I was standing). There, a pharmacist (I guess) gave me a bunch of drugs and my insurance card. The drugs come in little plastic bags instead of bottles. But there were three pills in each bag, so I asked her what they were. One is the antibiotic, one is for the stomach (I think it’s called “Strocain”), and one is for a cold. That’s what I THINK she said. The powder has a side effect of making you puke (if I do, I’m supposed to stop taking it), so I assume that’s what the stomach pill is for. I’m not sure what the cold pill is about, but like I said, I don’t care. Although I kind-of care, so maybe I’ll avoid the cold pill. We’ll see.

So I get to take these three pills four times a day, and the powder twice a day (that makes for a relatively high dose of antibiotics, no? 1000mg/day?). I didn’t know how to take the powder. “Do I put this in water?” I asked. She paused. “Yes.” Again, I’m an idiot. I guess you wouldn’t try to chew it. I’m supposed to feel better by Monday, so hopefully that’s true. With all these hours at work (most of which are in the early mornings and late evenings), I need as much energy as I can get and this cough is REALLY dragging me down.

So then I left. I walked in without an appointment on a Saturday afternoon, waited MAYBE fifteen minutes, saw a doctor, and got a bunch of medicine, all for about $5US. Of course, a chunk of my paycheck goes to the National Health Insurance every month, but it’s still not nearly as much money as I put into insurance in the States, and I get a lot more in return. And I don’t feel like I’m contributing to Evil.

Yeah, doctors work a lot here. And you don’t need appointments. I was talking about making doctors appointments in my A12 once, and the kids were like, “Uhh, we don’t make doctors appointments.” HUH?? Yeah, the doctors and dentists are open almost all the time, and you just walk in and wait. This particular doctor I saw today is there 8:30 am – 9:30 pm everyday except Thursday (which is a half-day) and Sunday. There are some breaks in there for lunch and dinner, of course. And I’ve seen dentists open here until like 11:00 pm. It’s CRAZY to me. I wonder how much money they make and how much they want to kill themselves.

So ya know my K12 class with whom I played Mafia for an hour? So I don’t have them now that they’re in A1, but guess who does? Mike! He has them for the last hour of their three hour A1 extravaganza on Friday nights, and MY A1 class is right next to theirs, so for the past couple weeks I’ve poked my head in and told them not to cause any trouble, which they thoroughly enjoy. I miss them, but I’m glad I can keep an eye on them through Mike. He really likes them too.

I guess that’s it finally. So how ‘bout all that Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer stuff? It’s no Crossfire (best interview EVER!), but way to go Jon! You’re still my hero, Jon Stewart. High five.