Day four of an annoying cold is coming to a close. Yesterday I gave in and went to the university clinic just to make sure it was a cold and nothing more serious. While the experience was interesting, I don’t know that it yielded an accurate diagnosis. A student volunteer went with to translate but the difficulty of medical vocabulary was a bit over her head I think. It’s one thing to learn “Hello. Nice to meet you. What is your name? What do you do for a living?” and quite another to say “I have Ibuprofen but no aspirin. Also, tell the doctor if it helps, I brought Tylenol Cold and Sinus.” I couldn’t even show the doctor the box because the medicinal terms were in English, not Chinese. After a very brief visit with the doctor I left with a prescription in hand and a feeling of unsuccessfulness. Ah! But then it got interesting again. When I took the prescription to the window I received six bottles – two large bottles of cough syrup and four smaller bottles. I asked my helper what the smaller bottles were for and she explained that they were for the needle. Needle!? Four?! We walked up to the third floor and handed the bottles over to the nurse at the window. I was escorted into a room lined with metal chairs and poles for IV bottles. There were already about 5 students there all with IV’s. When the nurse came in 10 minutes later with a large glass bottle of something and began to tie off my wrist with the rubber tourniquet for starting an IV I started asking my helper what happened to the four small bottles and put the international symbol for time-out up. No, I didn’t make a T with my hands; I pulled my hand away from the needle while I asked my helper what was in the bottle. The nurse pulled my arm back onto the armrest – I pulled it back away. It was like a small Benny Hill skit. When I stood up to read the only English on the bottle – Glucose and Sodium C___ (can’t remember the last word anymore) I realized it [more than likely] was a harmless bottle of glucose – what I have always known to be sugar water. Maybe I was wrong, but after an hour the bottle was empty of whatever was inside and it was then pumping through my veins. I had to go back this morning for a second bottle. Apparently, the four bottles were given in two doses mixed into the water or liquid in the bottle that was injected into me intravenously. Well, I feel a bit better, thought the cough has not subsided, only been subdued. The runny nose has run a long enough course and I’m glad of it finally drying up for now. Over all I am optimistic that with a couple of days resting and going stir crazy in my apartment I will be back to 100%.

Until next time, I hope your health is better than mine. If it isn’t – I hope you have a doctor that speaks your language.