The Hospital

10.5.2010

So while I’m writing about to Tibet I am only looking back at my memories from last week, meaning I’m actually in Shanghai right now. I will be writing about Qinghai and Tibet once I get this most recent experience off my chest.
Sunday was a beautiful fall day in the city and I took the metro to a close by shopping area and walked around a bit. I mostly went there to do some people watching and to enjoy the day outside but after buying an Inter Milan soccer jersey I remembered I had the erge to eat some American food. There are KFCs on almost every corner and at every metro stop and somehow I convinced my conscious that it would be alright to have some fast food—just this once. The chicken sandwich wasn’t to die for or anything and I finished my meal quickly and headed back to my apartment by foot. I spent about two hours navigating back to my home. When I got back it was dinner time but I was not that hungry, so I headed to a close by bakery. There they had evening pastries one of them was a bad attempt at focaccia. I tried two pieces, two pieces that will live in infamy.
That night I learned that I had sustained some serious food poisoning and I couldn’t keep anything down. The gastrointestinal discomfort continued into the morning when I realized that something had to be done. I called my mom and asked her for advice on what medications to take. Of course I didn’t pack the right pills and I had to make due with what I had. I took a morning’s dose, called my language teacher to tell her I would not be in and went back to sleep.
When I woke up in the afternoon Kevin had brought me some fluids and fruit but I was not feeling well enough to consume them. Still not being able to hold down fluids, I decided that I had to resort to plan B and go to the doctor. I called my program director and for two hours both of us dealt with the insurance company and tried to make an appointment at the clinic. Unfortunately the clinic was not open (because of a national holiday) and I had to go to the emergency room. I was weak but I hailed a cab that drove me across town (to the opposite side of the city). Sprinting through the endless moped traffic and over the rooftop freeways, the cab went by advertisements that depicted cold glasses of beer and tasty fruit juices. All I wanted was to drink something! It was pure torture.
At the hospital I was greeted by an army of Chinese nurses who spoke English. “Herro, what is wrong?” they asked “I’m…sick” I replied. They took me to a bed in the emergency room and the North American doctor came in. I told him my problems and he said that I needed some IV, some anti-biotics and an anti-nausea potion. Two nurses came around quickly and started a line. When the IV started flowing through my system I felt as refreshed as showering in a tropical waterfall; life was returning to my dehydrated state.
I laid in the emergency room for about three hours as I received my treatment. During that time I listened to the cases next to me. Interesting people, foreigners from all over the West with normal medical problems. The Georgian next to me let me know that ‘Niners got beat by the Falcons last weekend and then told me the best place to get sandwiches in Pudong. The hospital was probably the cleanest emergency room I had ever seen and the staff was nice and I felt comfortable getting healed.
By the fourth and last bag of IV the doctor came in and told me how to go about taking the antibiotics that he prescribed. We chatted a little bit, he was from New Orleans and found out about this job from a friend in Beijing. I signed the bill that my program took care of, picked up my meds and walked out of the hospital looking for a cab.
On the way home I used broken Mandarin to describe to the cab driver where I lived. He was unsure where to drive, he called his dispatcher and spoke thick Shanghaiese. At some point he just drove through Shanghai’s brilliant neon lights. Somehow he found his way back to Fudan University and I directed him back to my place. At home I drank fruit juice and slept for a long time. I felt much better.