Emergency Room

Wednesday evening I was sitting on my bed hanging up my laundry and I turned to get my phone to answer a text message and I felt a sharp pain in the lower right side of my back.  For the rest of the night the same spot was hurting me and was sensitive to the touch.  I went to bed early hoping my back would be fully recovered in the morning. When my alarm went off and I turned over to turn it off, the movement sent sharp pains over the spot that I had hurt the night before.  I was disappointed to find that my back was still hurt, but I thought a hot shower would loosen it up and send me on the mend.  When I tried to get out of bed I found that I couldn't because of the searing pain in my back.  After a few teeth clenching attempts I was finally able to get out of bed and into the shower.  The hot water felt good on my back but had no lasting healing affects.  

Heading out the door for school I noticed that walking was causing spasms in my back and I  thought maybe I had pulled a muscle.  By the time I reached the school I was in a lot of pain and called the principal to see what I should do.  She told me to go home and rest and get better so my students could have a healthy teacher.  I was not happy with the thought of leaving my students, but I was overruled and I went home.  

Within an hour the pains had spread into my abdomen and that I had to use the walls for support to get around the apartment.  After collapsing in the hallway and having to crawl back to the couch I realized that I needed some medical assistance.  Is the number for 911 the same in China? I didn't want to find out, so I called one of my coworkers who then told the office who sent a car and a translator to come and pick me up to take me to the hospital.  They didn't know where I lived so I had to muster the strength to meet them outside my apartment.  Once in the van it was a 20 minute drive to the nearest hospital and I felt every bump and pothole in the road.  

Arriving at the hospital the secretary told us to go to the second floor to internal medicine.  In internal medicine I explained  my symptoms, ,which then were translated to the doctor, she then ask a follow up question, which was then translated to me, I responded and the whole thing started all over again.  The doctor then got up gave me a karate chop in the left kidney and nothing happened, so she gave me a karate chop to the right kidney which caused me to writhe in pain and almost fall off my stool.  She gave a grunt and diagnosed me with having a kidney stone.  She then sent me down to the emergency room back on the first floor.

In the emergency room I walked down a hallway lined with babies screaming, people hooked up to iv's and a man on a gurney with a gaping head wound.  The room that I was ushered into had a doctor and nurse playing cards who looked relieved to have a patient.  We went through the translation piece of symptoms, follow up questions, etc, along with two more karate chops to the back.  This doctor agreed on kidney stones and sent me up to the fifth floor for an ultrasound.

On the fifth floor I was rushed to the front of the line to see the ultrasound lady, which was pretty cool, plus I was told I was unfit to walk so I was in a wheelchair and who can argue with a wheelchair?  The ultrasound was painful because she was pushing into my sore kidney in order to get a good look at the stones.  One thing to know about Chinese hospitals is that they do not clean utensils after each use, so I was laying on a stained and filthy hospital bed and I watched her use a paper towel to wipe off the tools before she started using it on me.  She concluded that yes I had kidney stones, how many was not translated to be, but I had them so I was sent back down to the emergency room on the first floor.

The doctor I had the first time was on his lunch so I had a new one who asked me my symptoms, translations, follow up questions, translations, karate chops, the usual.  He then asked me if I was in pain and then sent me to the injection room where I received a shot in the butt cheek.  When I returned I had a prescription written out and was told to drink more water and exercise more.  

Back to the lobby we went to go get my prescriptions, pay and leave. Not once was I asked for any information about myself, insurance, allergies, medical history, nothing.  China is a cash based society so the translator paid in cash ( on the schools dollar, oh yeah) and we left.  My medicine is a medicinal tea that I am to drink three times a day after a meal.  The tea is supposed to help break up the stones so i can pass them easier, but it looks and tastes terrible and causes me to get super drowsy and cramps in my kidney.  

I am happy to say that I am on the mend and that the worst is over.  What an ordeal, but it makes for a funny story and a life lesson on how karate chops can be medicinal.

School's back in session

I honestly didn't think that I would miss teaching over the break or my students, but on Monday morning when I was greeted with enthusiastic hellos and good mornings, I realized how much I did miss my students.  I was all ready for a rough first day back, meaning that I would have to reteach rules and expectations, but Monday was by far the best day of teaching this year.  The kids were so happy and loving and ready to learn.  While I was in the states I spent $100 at the dollar store getting supplies for the classroom, so on Monday we played with shaving cream and food coloring.  The kids had a blast and when it was time to clean up they all were covered from head to toe with shaving cream with ear to ear smiles on their faces.  

I noticed the first hour of school most of my students were very quiet and didn't speak much English.  When I would talk to them and ask them questions they just looked at me and cocked their head almost as if they were processing what I was saying.  Once we went through our regular routine I was blown away at the amount of English I was hearing from my students.  Their young minds truly are like sponges, soaking up everything I say, sing and model.  Walking down the hall with a student we could hear construction going on upstairs.  He stopped, looked up at the ceiling, pointed to his ear and motioned to me to see if I heard it too.  He then walked over to the wall and knocked on it and said "Hear knock on the door," and pointed back up to the ceiling.  I thought for a second, where did he hear that phrase from, and then I remembered that we sing the brush your teeth song and it has that phrase in a verse.  He was able to make that connection between the sound of a construction knocking upstairs to the sound of knocking on the door that we sing about everyday.  I was so blown away with how spectacular his connection between a sound and his way of expressing what hey heard in a verbal way with his minimal English.  Truly amazing!

Christmas Break

It was absolutely wonderful having the opportunity to come home for Christmas.  Stepping off the airplane in San Francisco and using a bathroom that provided toilet paper, seat covers, toilets, soap, and paper towels was a most welcome sight.  Walking down the long hallway to collect my luggage for a customs screening, I saw a sight that I hadn't seen in five months and I rushed towards the delightful fountain that delivered icy goodness to my parched mouth. Due to bacteria in all tap water in China we all are forced to drink only bottled water, even the native Chinese do not drink tap water.  A drink from a fountain is something that I have taken for granted as well as everyday bathroom amenities.  There have been so many times in the States where I have reached for toilet paper in a stall and come up empty handed, but I have come to learn that public toilet paper is a privilege, not a right.  It may sound silly, but be thankful for the little things in life like free toilet paper and well, a toilet!

After my epiphany I started thinking about how good it was to be on American soil and I couldn't wait for my connecting flight to Medford to come.  When I arrived my family surprised me by showing up to pick me up.  My dad even got a day pass out of the hospital to meet me.  I was so surprised and overcome with shock that all I could do was smile from ear to ear.  We chatted in baggage claim for an hour and then we all went separate ways with the promise of seeing each other soon.  

Within the first few days of my arrival I hit up all my favorite restaurants and quickly learned that my stomach is not accustomed to how rich American food is.  Every meal I could only eat a small portion due to my getting a stomach ache quickly afterward.  A few times I was hanging with friends and they would ask me what I wanted for dinner and my only request was no Chinese food, and of course that is what sounded good to them, go figure. 

It was so wonderful to visit Oregon, but as I walked up the street to my apartment in China I felt like I was coming home.  China has become my home and I am so glad to be back and teaching again, along with eating food that doesn't make me sick.