the chinese hospital

so far in china, i have been sick 3 times...
the first morning, i woke up to no voice, sore throat, a little bit of s stuffy nose and a small cough. not horrible, minus the no voice thing. had to miss school one day....

the second time, it was the morning jennifer arrived and my throat was scratchy and sore and my sinuses were out of control. this turned into three days of constantly blowing my nose, mixed in with not being able to breath and my nose turning red due to the cheap tissues a bought.

the third time... the present. scratchy throat again, but this time my lymph nodes were sore to the touch, hard as rocks and i have a mean, dry cough. i wanted to try and fix this myself, get some sleep and load up on oranges and vitamin c. it just didnt do the trick. sunday i was in bed all day with aches and sore throat. i made the executive decision to ask my boss to take me to the doctor on monday. i had to go to school because i was being observed by some local teachers and about 30 university teaching majors. (might i say, it didn't go that well... i was feeling horrible)
the boss calls me and tells me that she will take me after my morning class to the hospital... the chinese hospital. i was mentally preparing myself. i had heard horror stories, but i was willing to take the risk because i need antibiotics to kick this once and for all.
as we walk to the hospital i realize i am absolutely sweating (due to a fever). we wait in this line to check in, get into a crowded elevator up to the 11th floor to the ear, nose, and throat specialist. why i was seeing a specialist? i am not sure. it's china. as soon as i get to the doctor he says "do you have a fever?" i answer, "ummm, maybe? i don't know?" he shoos me out of the room where i walk to the receptionist/nurse. she stares at me and obviously i don't know how to say "can i have my temperature taken" so i open my mouth and pretend to put a thermometer under it. she jumps out of her seat and begins walking somewhere else so i follow her. she says/yells/screams "sit down!" so i do. she comes back with an old school thermometer and shoves it in my mouth.
yep... almost 100 degree fever. not bad, but, i got one.
why couldn't the doctor just take my temperature? again, it's china.
so the doctor looks in my throat, talks a little... yep, i have strep throat.
i have 2 choices... i can get an IV with some medicine or take some pills. but he recommended the IV since it would work faster.
i look at my boss and say "what should i do?" i wanted the pills but i mean if the dr. thinks it is good to take an IV... i would do it. she chooses the IV.
i had NO CLUE what i was in for.
i am leaded into a room with about 200 chinese people hooked up to IVs, it reminded me of some terrible horror movie... and my boss tells me "pick a seat"!!! to me, this was like choosing how to die. do i wanna sit by the old chinese man who doesn't look like he will live much longer? the chinese woman who's eating something that smells horrible and looks horrible? the possibilities were endless. so, after sitting in seat 3 and realizing the man was freaking me out... i transfer to seat 58. (or was it 85?). i sit down.... starting to panic. this is so weird. this isn't right.
finally, some nurses come up to me and begin the IV, they also mention i have to sit here for 3.5 hours? what??? yeah, i'm not liking this option. i started crying. more of an "im overwhelmed and scared" cry, not the "i am afraid of needles" cry. about 10 minutes into the IV, i was all situated in with my iPod trying to cancel out my surroundings when the old chinese man across from me starting yelling and pointing at me! i had no clue what to do! i had no idea what was going on! i guess my IV had stopped dripping. but how was i supposed to know that! i don't know about that stuff! nurse came and fixed it... don't worry.
but overall...
my friend bethany who was there (she got some meds for a sinus infection) as well sat with me at the beginning, my boss was there for awhile (bringing water and oranges), mac came (bringing my favorite scarf and some CoCo's) and we talked and then yuvie came (helping me adjust to all this madness). i met some old chinese people who i tried my best to talk to. they were my friends in the end. :) after getting to the hospital at 3 that day, i didn't get home until almost 8pm. let's hope the pills i am going to get kick the rest of this strep throat and chest cold out of the park.

i hope never again i have to go to a chinese hospital. i think i experienced culture shock for the first time.
also, when given the option, IV or pills.
just take the pills.