My wedding is about one week away. It will be a traditional Chinese wedding with a few Western traditions thrown it. At this point I don't really know what is going to happen. I know they basic outline but that's about it.
Many people keep asking me if I'm excited. Well, yes I am. But at the same time I mostly just want to get it over with. It has been months of questions and being completely in the dark at times. I can't speak with my future in-laws because of the language barrier. They are the ones planning the wedding. It's very frustrating. Right now I plan to just show up and do what I'm told until it's over. That probably sounds horrible but at this point I don't know what else I can do.
On another note... My parents will be here tomorrow night! I won't actually get to see them until Saturday morning but they will be in the same country as me in about 27 hours! I will meet them in Beijing and we'll spend a couple days there before heading to Howie's parents' house.
I have only two more days of work before I have more than a week off. I can't wait!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Oink Oink
It feels like SARS all over again. Yet again I am in China during a worldwide outbreak of a potentially deadly illness. During SARS the entire country was shut down for a long time. We were not permitted to leave the campus I was living at. If we did leave (I was classified as a teacher and could usually get out and back in), it was iffy if a store or bar or whatever would be open. I was not allowed on a train to go home from Beijing because my skin was hot (duh! I had a horrible sunburn).
This time, however, it's N1H1. Or as it's referred to by my students "The Pig Ill". As senior teacher at my job I am required to keep the other foreign teachers up to date as well as receiving hundreds of pointless emails from my manager or the head office of the corporation. Last week I received another email filled with tons of information that does not necessarily pertain to me. This one was about N1H1 preparedness.
According to this email the school I'm working for is cracking down on health. Rooms, toys, doorknobs, and chairs must be sprayed down with sanitizer after each class. Parents are not allowed in the school. And antibacterial soap must be placed next to the sink in the bathroom.
It was nice not to have a ton of parents in the hallways during our classes. (The parents talk loudly in the hall, answer their phones, and peek in the classroom to make sure the teacher is asking every question to their kid.) As this school is a business, this rule lasted about one hour. Instead of being refused to enter, the school found an old thermometer (which isn't accurate BTW) to scan everyone's hands before they enter.
As I expected, there is no sanitation going on.
The best part of this is the antibacterial soap. Laughable! It's a bottle of soap, or used to be. It is 95% water with a tiny bit of soap.
I asked why so many new rules were made. My manager said that two schools in this city had been closed due to N1H1. You'd think if schools had been closed (especially in a country that didn't even admit to having N1H1 until recently) that these precautions would be carried out.
I guess I know who will pay my hospital bills if I get N1H1.
This time, however, it's N1H1. Or as it's referred to by my students "The Pig Ill". As senior teacher at my job I am required to keep the other foreign teachers up to date as well as receiving hundreds of pointless emails from my manager or the head office of the corporation. Last week I received another email filled with tons of information that does not necessarily pertain to me. This one was about N1H1 preparedness.
According to this email the school I'm working for is cracking down on health. Rooms, toys, doorknobs, and chairs must be sprayed down with sanitizer after each class. Parents are not allowed in the school. And antibacterial soap must be placed next to the sink in the bathroom.
It was nice not to have a ton of parents in the hallways during our classes. (The parents talk loudly in the hall, answer their phones, and peek in the classroom to make sure the teacher is asking every question to their kid.) As this school is a business, this rule lasted about one hour. Instead of being refused to enter, the school found an old thermometer (which isn't accurate BTW) to scan everyone's hands before they enter.
As I expected, there is no sanitation going on.
The best part of this is the antibacterial soap. Laughable! It's a bottle of soap, or used to be. It is 95% water with a tiny bit of soap.
I asked why so many new rules were made. My manager said that two schools in this city had been closed due to N1H1. You'd think if schools had been closed (especially in a country that didn't even admit to having N1H1 until recently) that these precautions would be carried out.
I guess I know who will pay my hospital bills if I get N1H1.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Laziness and the Government
So, my last post was more than 8 months ago. Some of that is largely attributed to my laziness and/or work schedule. That last 4 or 5 months is due to a government ban on most blogs including this one.
Over the past 8 months a lot and only a little has happened.
I met Howie's family for the first time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). We traveled to his hometown, a very small village near Fushun, Liaoning, China. During the stay I was exhausted almost the entire time and very homesick. His family was so welcoming and felt like my own family so much that I wanted my family to be with me as well. Howie's parents are farmers. Not corporate farmers like the US is filled with but commune type farmers. His aunts, uncles, and cousins all help his parents farm their land and his parents help his aunts, uncles, and cousins farm theirs. His father is also a pig butcher.
Spending time with his family was great. They have a traditional countryside home. This means, no running water. All their water is from a well. The bathroom is a hole in the ground in an outhouse. They have the cleanest, best made outhouse I have ever seen. His uncle (who has a modern apartment in a town nearby) let me go there to take showers a couple times. There are only so many "baths" I can take by wiping my skin with a wet rag. Dinners were huge and long. One of the dinners we had lasted about 5 hours. I was about dieing by the end of it. All meals are eaten in his parents' bedroom which also doubles as a living room. A small table is placed on the bed (made of concrete) and we sit around and eat with everyone sitting on the bed.
The Spring Festival holiday was a week long this time. The entire week was spent having large dinners, going to other people's homes, learning how to make dumplings, and eating every part of the pig that can be eaten.
Here are pictures from Spring Festival. And here are pictures of his home and the village.
Howie officially proposed to me in April. I came home from work under the impression that Howie was sick. When I walked in the door the living room was filled with roses hanging from the ceiling and candles everywhere. We had planned on having Pizza Hut that evening so he had ordered pizza so we didn't have to go out. He sang a song for me that he had written and had even made a little shirt for our cat to wear that said "Alicia, marry me." I knew it was coming but I was still very surprised. He planned everything and had been planning for a long time.
Here are the pictures from that.
One thing that is done here that is very different from the West is wedding pictures. Though we still aren't married, we already have our wedding pictures. We had these taken in May. It took two days and was extremely tiring.
Here are the untouched photos.
Howie and I got our marriage license on June 18th. We had to go to Shenyang for that since I am a foreigner. I first had to go to the US Consulate there and receive a letter that said I am not married and I am old enough to be married by US law. That took forever. The next day we had to go to the registration office. When we got there we learned that Howie's Household book was missing a stamp. We could not get married without that. We had to hastily go to Howie's hometown about 2 hours away and get that stupid little stamp. I was so frustrated that I was crying. Nothing was going right. On our third day in Shenyang we finally got our license after shelling out about 900 RMB (it cost about 50 RMB for native Chinese to get married). After that we headed back to Howie's family's house and relaxed for a day or two before heading back home.
Here are pictures from Howie's house in the summer.
Since then most of our time has been spent working and planning for the wedding. (Which is in about 2 weeks!) Luckily, Howie's father is taking care of most of the planning as is tradition here.
Howie is busy at work getting ready for a sales fair in Guangzhou and I'm busy with my new position as Senior Teacher at the same school.
I will try to get on and do updates more often from now on now that I have a proxy that allows me to access the site.
Over the past 8 months a lot and only a little has happened.
I met Howie's family for the first time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). We traveled to his hometown, a very small village near Fushun, Liaoning, China. During the stay I was exhausted almost the entire time and very homesick. His family was so welcoming and felt like my own family so much that I wanted my family to be with me as well. Howie's parents are farmers. Not corporate farmers like the US is filled with but commune type farmers. His aunts, uncles, and cousins all help his parents farm their land and his parents help his aunts, uncles, and cousins farm theirs. His father is also a pig butcher.
Spending time with his family was great. They have a traditional countryside home. This means, no running water. All their water is from a well. The bathroom is a hole in the ground in an outhouse. They have the cleanest, best made outhouse I have ever seen. His uncle (who has a modern apartment in a town nearby) let me go there to take showers a couple times. There are only so many "baths" I can take by wiping my skin with a wet rag. Dinners were huge and long. One of the dinners we had lasted about 5 hours. I was about dieing by the end of it. All meals are eaten in his parents' bedroom which also doubles as a living room. A small table is placed on the bed (made of concrete) and we sit around and eat with everyone sitting on the bed.
The Spring Festival holiday was a week long this time. The entire week was spent having large dinners, going to other people's homes, learning how to make dumplings, and eating every part of the pig that can be eaten.
Here are pictures from Spring Festival. And here are pictures of his home and the village.
Howie officially proposed to me in April. I came home from work under the impression that Howie was sick. When I walked in the door the living room was filled with roses hanging from the ceiling and candles everywhere. We had planned on having Pizza Hut that evening so he had ordered pizza so we didn't have to go out. He sang a song for me that he had written and had even made a little shirt for our cat to wear that said "Alicia, marry me." I knew it was coming but I was still very surprised. He planned everything and had been planning for a long time.
Here are the pictures from that.
One thing that is done here that is very different from the West is wedding pictures. Though we still aren't married, we already have our wedding pictures. We had these taken in May. It took two days and was extremely tiring.
Here are the untouched photos.
Howie and I got our marriage license on June 18th. We had to go to Shenyang for that since I am a foreigner. I first had to go to the US Consulate there and receive a letter that said I am not married and I am old enough to be married by US law. That took forever. The next day we had to go to the registration office. When we got there we learned that Howie's Household book was missing a stamp. We could not get married without that. We had to hastily go to Howie's hometown about 2 hours away and get that stupid little stamp. I was so frustrated that I was crying. Nothing was going right. On our third day in Shenyang we finally got our license after shelling out about 900 RMB (it cost about 50 RMB for native Chinese to get married). After that we headed back to Howie's family's house and relaxed for a day or two before heading back home.
Here are pictures from Howie's house in the summer.
Since then most of our time has been spent working and planning for the wedding. (Which is in about 2 weeks!) Luckily, Howie's father is taking care of most of the planning as is tradition here.
Howie is busy at work getting ready for a sales fair in Guangzhou and I'm busy with my new position as Senior Teacher at the same school.
I will try to get on and do updates more often from now on now that I have a proxy that allows me to access the site.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Apartment
I finally took some pictures of the apartment.
They are here.
Now that the daytime highs are a little less that freezing I have had to break out the space heater to keep warm. Not much time is spent in the living room because it's so cold. The kitchen is even worse! I try to keep the curtain between the living room and kitchen closed to keep out some of the cold air. When Howie cooks he actually wears his coat it's so cold.
The bathroom is always the warmest room in the house. Which is nice when you have to pull down your pants or take a shower.
We very rarely have ice form on the inside of the windows but it has happened in the kitchen. I'm just glad that I broke down and have accepted the Chinese custom of wearing long underpants (sometimes up to 3 pairs) 24/7 during the winter. I haven't quite gotten used to the long underwear shirts yet. They are quite different from the ones in the States... At least I can feel my legs when I go outside now.
They are here.
Now that the daytime highs are a little less that freezing I have had to break out the space heater to keep warm. Not much time is spent in the living room because it's so cold. The kitchen is even worse! I try to keep the curtain between the living room and kitchen closed to keep out some of the cold air. When Howie cooks he actually wears his coat it's so cold.
The bathroom is always the warmest room in the house. Which is nice when you have to pull down your pants or take a shower.
We very rarely have ice form on the inside of the windows but it has happened in the kitchen. I'm just glad that I broke down and have accepted the Chinese custom of wearing long underpants (sometimes up to 3 pairs) 24/7 during the winter. I haven't quite gotten used to the long underwear shirts yet. They are quite different from the ones in the States... At least I can feel my legs when I go outside now.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The Most Humbling Experience
I have come through my surgery quite fine. As of now I still have some pain and it is tough to do some things but am getting better every day. The whole ordeal was extremely humbling and something I won't soon forget.
Wednesday afternoon, Jasmine and I went to the hospital to register. I paid the deposit and also paid a deposit for my hospital pajamas. We went to my room and situated some things. I also found out that they did in fact have a Western toilet in my room. I was so happy when I saw that. After talking to the doctor we left and I went home. On Thursday, I arrived at the hospital early in the morning with Howie to have some blood work done along with a chest X-Ray and EKG. I was put to the beginning of the line because I was a foreigner. During the short wait that I had many people were staring at me, which is normal, and asking Howie questions about me. After finishing at the hospital, Howie and I ran some errands and went home. Friday, we returned to the hospital to find out that my white blood cell count was elevated (Gee, surprise! It's been elevated since I arrived in Dalian.). Because of this I had to start IV antibiotics and hang out at the hospital for a while longer. They did let me go home that day though. Dr. Gong also talked to us about the procedure and had Howie sign a bunch of papers for me. We also explained to Dr. Gong how expensive the surgery was and how we couldn't really afford it. He promised to help us lower the costs. Saturday I didn't work because I had to go back to the hospital to have more IVs. That only lasted about half the day. After taking a nap at home, Patrick, Howie, and I went out to Pizza Hut, a sort of last hurrah for me. I ate as much cheese and grease as I could fit in me to last for the next few months. When we arrived home Howie and I packed for the hospital since I wouldn't be allowed to come home until I was discharged. This included cups, dishes, soap, and toilet paper since the hospital doesn't provide those things. After everything was packed we headed to bed. Sunday morning came way too fast. After a call to my parents, Howie and I headed to the hospital. I got my last antibiotic IVs, took a nap, and found out that I had to be shaved and have an enema. I was none too pleased when I found that out. Later in the afternoon I was led to the "dressing preparation room" where I was told to lay on a bed while Howie was sent out of the room and three nurses surrounded me. I was completely shaved from my upper thighs to the bottom of my rib cage. And not just shaved but dry shaved. Not too pleasant. Later that evening I received the unpleasant enema in the same room on the same bed. I returned to my bed after that and began the wait. From what the ladies in my room had told me I would be running for the bathroom in minutes. In preparation for this I untied the waist of my pants and sat on my bed. When it was finally time I had forgotten that I undid my pants and ended up partially loosing my drawers halfway to the bathroom. After all was said and done I settled into bed completely exhausted from the entire day. Monday was the day. I was woken up, as usual, at 5:30 for a temperature check (with a mercury thermometer and all). Since I wasn't allowed to have breakfast and my roommates snored I decided to go back to sleep. I slept until the nurses came in to tell me to change into clean hospital pajamas, remove my underwear, and put my shirt on backwards with the buttons on the back. After a short while, Patrick and Howie's little brother showed up. They were there to lift me from the surgery bed and carry me to my bed (about 5 feet) after the operation was over. Patrick was in charge of my shoulders and head, Howie in charge of my mid-section, and Howie's little brother in charge of my legs. Eventually, the nurses came back in and told me it was time. I got out of bed and got in a wheel chair and was then completely covered by a huge white comforter. (Howie laughed at me and said that I look like a Chinese breakfast food.) By this time I was pretty much out of it because of lack of sleep due to my snoring roommates. I was brought down to the surgery floor along with the three boys. I was wheeled through the family waiting room, which was filled with men chain smoking and women jabbering at one another. This is where I left the guys. I walked to the surgery bed by crossing blue sticky flooring. It was as if they lay down huge sheets of tape so any dust on shoes won't go into the surgery ward. I climbed into the surgery bed and was immediately covered up by a large green comforter. The nurse started rolling me down the hallway towards the surgery room. This was it! Or so I thought. I stopped moving when I got to the operating room door. Then the nurse just left me in the hallway. I lay there for a while and dozed until the anesthesiologist came by and told me who he was and asked if I had any questions. Even if I had any questions I’m not sure he would have been able to answer me in English. I told him no and he walked off. I fell asleep again and woke up in the operating room with doctors and nurses pulling my clothes off of me and telling me how to position myself on the bed. The anesthesiologist then put a mask on my face and simply said, “Sleep”. All of a sudden I was terrified that they would start cutting me open while I was still awake so I fought the sleeping gas as hard as I could. At some point they had put all the heart monitoring things on me and I could hear those beeping. As I was fighting to keep my eyes open I noticed that they were pumping something into my IV. I’m assuming it was the anesthesia stuff because all of a sudden I couldn’t breath. I’m panicking. I’m trying to stay awake and keep my eyes open and now I’m trying to breath but can’t! I wanted to tell them that I couldn’t breath but wasn’t able to move my mouth. I couldn’t move any part of my body. I could feel my lungs not working. I thought, “Well, I might die,” as I heard the heart monitor start beeping faster and faster. I eventually gave up. The doctor’s tried to wake me up after the surgery and all I remember saying is, “I need to pee. I have to go to the bathroom!” over and over again. I didn’t really wake up for numerous hours but I vaguely remember something that Patrick said while I was being moved from bed to bed. It was something like: “They didn’t tie her pants back on? Pull her pants up!” Apparently, my pants had fallen down while I was being moved and Howie’s poor little brother got an eyeful. The rest of the day and the next day was mostly a blur. I remember waking up at one point because I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I looked at Howie and asked him to put my pillow under my head. He said that I couldn’t have the pillow yet and had to wait a few more hours. I’m not too sure if I got cranky with him or not but he explained that I couldn’t have my pillow until 6:00 and it was only 4:00. I passed out again while playing with my oxygen nose tube thing for a bit. I woke up with my pillow under my head and told Howie I wanted pain medication. Howie asked me if I wanted some morphine to which I responded that I did. (Before the operation I told Howie to ask me this when I woke up in case I wasn’t able to ask.) The nurses came in and shot something into my IV and I slept a while longer. I woke up a while later crying from pain and yelled at Howie that I needed more morphine. He went to tell the nurses that I wanted morphine. They apparently didn’t believe him and came in to look at me. When they saw me lying there crying they ran out then ran back and gave me a shot in the butt. I couldn’t believe that it took me crying in order for them to give me something. When I woke up later, Howie told me that they didn’t have morphine or an equivalent at the hospital but that the nurses gave me something that helped a little. After the shot in the butt I felt a bit better and didn’t need any more. I felt slightly confused why I had an overwhelming urge to pee all the time. I then remembered telling the doctors in the O.R. that I needed to go to the bathroom and vaguely remember them inserting a catheter. After telling Howie that I wanted it taken out he explained to me that the nurses said they had to wait until tomorrow morning. I was not happy about that but too tired to care. Thinking about it now, I’m thankful that I had it so that I didn’t have to get up and go to the bathroom. I remember at one point I woke up to Howie emptying the bag into a Coke bottle to empty into the toilet. I am so thankful for him. Not just for that but for just being him. On Tuesday morning, Jasmine (a girl that I work with) came to visit. She brought me some flowers and left after only a little while because I was so tired. I remember asking Howie about the catheter again. He went and found my doctor and the doctor was dumbfounded as to why I had a catheter to begin with. He then remembered that I kept saying “bathroom” so they put it in. He said it was fine to take out. They did this in my hospital bed with no curtains or anything. There I was for the whole world to see. Later in the day Patrick showed up for a while but I was so out of it still that I don't remember much of what went on. Howie’s friend Wesley and his wife also came by with two huge bags of instant porridge mixes. They don’t speak English so I was in and out while they talked to Howie. Howie’s friend Peggy also came by with two-dozen white roses and a huge fruit basket. I don’t remember who came in what order since I was still quite out of it.
That day we hired a patient care worker. The nurses here don't take care of patients. Their job seems to be doing IVs, taking temperatures, and changing sheets while the patient is being cut open. The patient care worker's name is Yao Jie (her sirname followed by "older sister"). She was very diligent with her job. If I needed anything she tried to do it for me. She probably would have had the surgery for me if she could have. She helped me go to the bathroom (which was really embarrassing), helped me in and out of bed, and did anything else that Howie and I asked her to do. If I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, she got up. She would always put newspaper with a hole tore in the middle of the page on the toilet seat for me. One time, after being in the bathroom, she came out just laughing and hollering about something. Howie told me that I ended up with black Chinese writing all over my butt. I didn't find it that humorous but Howie helped me get it all off while I stood there still slightly delirious holding myself up by the bathroom counter. On Wednesday I was doing much better. I was able to lay on my left side without pain in my right shoulder. I only needed 5 or 6 IVs that day. Julie, my friend from work, came to visit and stayed a couple hours. At one point during a walk in the hallway I came across a small box in Howie’s coat pocket (I was forced to wear his coat when I went in the hallway). He told me it was for me and I opened it to find a pair of white gold stud earrings in the shape of stars. It was my Christmas gift from him. My manager, Tommy, and the main receptionist from school, Freda, came to visit later that evening with flowers. During one of my walks around the halls that night I broke down. I was so fed up with dealing with the discomfort, I missed my family, I didn't feel well, and I wanted some cold water. In this culture, cold water is bad for your health. I was just so tired of drinking hot water that didn't quench my thirst. I was also exhausted because my roommates snore. There were also random people who would come into my room just to look at me. I was also tired of the patient care worker that we had hired. She wouldn't let me do anything by myself and her leg massages hurt. After a horrible night’s sleep I had a few IVs and was told that I could go home because it was Christmas but I had to come back the next day. After the IVs and some breakfast Howie and I high tailed it out of there. His brother had come to help us carry all the flowers and fruit and everything else that I had collected during this. When his brother arrived at the hospital he wouldn't even look at me. He finally waved at me when he saw out of the corner of his eye that I was waving at him. I think he was really embarrassed that he saw me partially naked while moving me from the surgical bed. When we got home we had some lunch then spent the afternoon sleeping. Later that night Julie came over and we talked for a while then headed back to bed. Friday morning I just had to wait around for the doctors to officially release me then Howie and I went home again and tried to catch up on sleep. As of today I am feeling a lot better. I can sleep on both of my sides, eat a lot more than I had been able to, and wash my hair by myself.
The lighter side of the experience:
Each morning in the hospital Howie's little sister cooked breakfast for us and brought it in because the hospital food was so bad.
Although my roommates snored they were very kind and quite funny. One lady was about 40 and worked for customs. Her name is Liang Jie. She had been suffering from gallstones for about 10 years. She ended up getting a fever after the operation and had to stay longer than normal. The other lady is Wei (said like way) Aiyi (said like I.E.), her sirname with aunt. She worked for a hospital and ended up having 20 stones in her when the surgery was finally done. She was funny. Some of the things she would say and some of her facial expressions were the best. Patrick came by a few times and Wei Aiyi had a ton of fun listening to him. She named him "Chi Baozi" because he likes to eat baozi so much.
Dr. Gong came through and the bill for the surgery was 5,000 Yuan less than what I was told it would be. The nurses (one of whom is a friend of Howie's) told us that was the cheapest surgery they had ever seen those doctors perform. I'm very thankful to Dr. Gong for helping us out and for Michael (the school's owner) making a phone call. The surgery, in USD, ended up costing about $2,750.
Everyday I'm feeling better and better and it won't be long until I'm back to normal. I start work again on Friday and I'm sure I'll be in good enough shape by then to do well.
Click here for pictures from the hospital and our apartment decorations.
Wednesday afternoon, Jasmine and I went to the hospital to register. I paid the deposit and also paid a deposit for my hospital pajamas. We went to my room and situated some things. I also found out that they did in fact have a Western toilet in my room. I was so happy when I saw that. After talking to the doctor we left and I went home. On Thursday, I arrived at the hospital early in the morning with Howie to have some blood work done along with a chest X-Ray and EKG. I was put to the beginning of the line because I was a foreigner. During the short wait that I had many people were staring at me, which is normal, and asking Howie questions about me. After finishing at the hospital, Howie and I ran some errands and went home. Friday, we returned to the hospital to find out that my white blood cell count was elevated (Gee, surprise! It's been elevated since I arrived in Dalian.). Because of this I had to start IV antibiotics and hang out at the hospital for a while longer. They did let me go home that day though. Dr. Gong also talked to us about the procedure and had Howie sign a bunch of papers for me. We also explained to Dr. Gong how expensive the surgery was and how we couldn't really afford it. He promised to help us lower the costs. Saturday I didn't work because I had to go back to the hospital to have more IVs. That only lasted about half the day. After taking a nap at home, Patrick, Howie, and I went out to Pizza Hut, a sort of last hurrah for me. I ate as much cheese and grease as I could fit in me to last for the next few months. When we arrived home Howie and I packed for the hospital since I wouldn't be allowed to come home until I was discharged. This included cups, dishes, soap, and toilet paper since the hospital doesn't provide those things. After everything was packed we headed to bed. Sunday morning came way too fast. After a call to my parents, Howie and I headed to the hospital. I got my last antibiotic IVs, took a nap, and found out that I had to be shaved and have an enema. I was none too pleased when I found that out. Later in the afternoon I was led to the "dressing preparation room" where I was told to lay on a bed while Howie was sent out of the room and three nurses surrounded me. I was completely shaved from my upper thighs to the bottom of my rib cage. And not just shaved but dry shaved. Not too pleasant. Later that evening I received the unpleasant enema in the same room on the same bed. I returned to my bed after that and began the wait. From what the ladies in my room had told me I would be running for the bathroom in minutes. In preparation for this I untied the waist of my pants and sat on my bed. When it was finally time I had forgotten that I undid my pants and ended up partially loosing my drawers halfway to the bathroom. After all was said and done I settled into bed completely exhausted from the entire day. Monday was the day. I was woken up, as usual, at 5:30 for a temperature check (with a mercury thermometer and all). Since I wasn't allowed to have breakfast and my roommates snored I decided to go back to sleep. I slept until the nurses came in to tell me to change into clean hospital pajamas, remove my underwear, and put my shirt on backwards with the buttons on the back. After a short while, Patrick and Howie's little brother showed up. They were there to lift me from the surgery bed and carry me to my bed (about 5 feet) after the operation was over. Patrick was in charge of my shoulders and head, Howie in charge of my mid-section, and Howie's little brother in charge of my legs. Eventually, the nurses came back in and told me it was time. I got out of bed and got in a wheel chair and was then completely covered by a huge white comforter. (Howie laughed at me and said that I look like a Chinese breakfast food.) By this time I was pretty much out of it because of lack of sleep due to my snoring roommates. I was brought down to the surgery floor along with the three boys. I was wheeled through the family waiting room, which was filled with men chain smoking and women jabbering at one another. This is where I left the guys. I walked to the surgery bed by crossing blue sticky flooring. It was as if they lay down huge sheets of tape so any dust on shoes won't go into the surgery ward. I climbed into the surgery bed and was immediately covered up by a large green comforter. The nurse started rolling me down the hallway towards the surgery room. This was it! Or so I thought. I stopped moving when I got to the operating room door. Then the nurse just left me in the hallway. I lay there for a while and dozed until the anesthesiologist came by and told me who he was and asked if I had any questions. Even if I had any questions I’m not sure he would have been able to answer me in English. I told him no and he walked off. I fell asleep again and woke up in the operating room with doctors and nurses pulling my clothes off of me and telling me how to position myself on the bed. The anesthesiologist then put a mask on my face and simply said, “Sleep”. All of a sudden I was terrified that they would start cutting me open while I was still awake so I fought the sleeping gas as hard as I could. At some point they had put all the heart monitoring things on me and I could hear those beeping. As I was fighting to keep my eyes open I noticed that they were pumping something into my IV. I’m assuming it was the anesthesia stuff because all of a sudden I couldn’t breath. I’m panicking. I’m trying to stay awake and keep my eyes open and now I’m trying to breath but can’t! I wanted to tell them that I couldn’t breath but wasn’t able to move my mouth. I couldn’t move any part of my body. I could feel my lungs not working. I thought, “Well, I might die,” as I heard the heart monitor start beeping faster and faster. I eventually gave up. The doctor’s tried to wake me up after the surgery and all I remember saying is, “I need to pee. I have to go to the bathroom!” over and over again. I didn’t really wake up for numerous hours but I vaguely remember something that Patrick said while I was being moved from bed to bed. It was something like: “They didn’t tie her pants back on? Pull her pants up!” Apparently, my pants had fallen down while I was being moved and Howie’s poor little brother got an eyeful. The rest of the day and the next day was mostly a blur. I remember waking up at one point because I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I looked at Howie and asked him to put my pillow under my head. He said that I couldn’t have the pillow yet and had to wait a few more hours. I’m not too sure if I got cranky with him or not but he explained that I couldn’t have my pillow until 6:00 and it was only 4:00. I passed out again while playing with my oxygen nose tube thing for a bit. I woke up with my pillow under my head and told Howie I wanted pain medication. Howie asked me if I wanted some morphine to which I responded that I did. (Before the operation I told Howie to ask me this when I woke up in case I wasn’t able to ask.) The nurses came in and shot something into my IV and I slept a while longer. I woke up a while later crying from pain and yelled at Howie that I needed more morphine. He went to tell the nurses that I wanted morphine. They apparently didn’t believe him and came in to look at me. When they saw me lying there crying they ran out then ran back and gave me a shot in the butt. I couldn’t believe that it took me crying in order for them to give me something. When I woke up later, Howie told me that they didn’t have morphine or an equivalent at the hospital but that the nurses gave me something that helped a little. After the shot in the butt I felt a bit better and didn’t need any more. I felt slightly confused why I had an overwhelming urge to pee all the time. I then remembered telling the doctors in the O.R. that I needed to go to the bathroom and vaguely remember them inserting a catheter. After telling Howie that I wanted it taken out he explained to me that the nurses said they had to wait until tomorrow morning. I was not happy about that but too tired to care. Thinking about it now, I’m thankful that I had it so that I didn’t have to get up and go to the bathroom. I remember at one point I woke up to Howie emptying the bag into a Coke bottle to empty into the toilet. I am so thankful for him. Not just for that but for just being him. On Tuesday morning, Jasmine (a girl that I work with) came to visit. She brought me some flowers and left after only a little while because I was so tired. I remember asking Howie about the catheter again. He went and found my doctor and the doctor was dumbfounded as to why I had a catheter to begin with. He then remembered that I kept saying “bathroom” so they put it in. He said it was fine to take out. They did this in my hospital bed with no curtains or anything. There I was for the whole world to see. Later in the day Patrick showed up for a while but I was so out of it still that I don't remember much of what went on. Howie’s friend Wesley and his wife also came by with two huge bags of instant porridge mixes. They don’t speak English so I was in and out while they talked to Howie. Howie’s friend Peggy also came by with two-dozen white roses and a huge fruit basket. I don’t remember who came in what order since I was still quite out of it.
That day we hired a patient care worker. The nurses here don't take care of patients. Their job seems to be doing IVs, taking temperatures, and changing sheets while the patient is being cut open. The patient care worker's name is Yao Jie (her sirname followed by "older sister"). She was very diligent with her job. If I needed anything she tried to do it for me. She probably would have had the surgery for me if she could have. She helped me go to the bathroom (which was really embarrassing), helped me in and out of bed, and did anything else that Howie and I asked her to do. If I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, she got up. She would always put newspaper with a hole tore in the middle of the page on the toilet seat for me. One time, after being in the bathroom, she came out just laughing and hollering about something. Howie told me that I ended up with black Chinese writing all over my butt. I didn't find it that humorous but Howie helped me get it all off while I stood there still slightly delirious holding myself up by the bathroom counter. On Wednesday I was doing much better. I was able to lay on my left side without pain in my right shoulder. I only needed 5 or 6 IVs that day. Julie, my friend from work, came to visit and stayed a couple hours. At one point during a walk in the hallway I came across a small box in Howie’s coat pocket (I was forced to wear his coat when I went in the hallway). He told me it was for me and I opened it to find a pair of white gold stud earrings in the shape of stars. It was my Christmas gift from him. My manager, Tommy, and the main receptionist from school, Freda, came to visit later that evening with flowers. During one of my walks around the halls that night I broke down. I was so fed up with dealing with the discomfort, I missed my family, I didn't feel well, and I wanted some cold water. In this culture, cold water is bad for your health. I was just so tired of drinking hot water that didn't quench my thirst. I was also exhausted because my roommates snore. There were also random people who would come into my room just to look at me. I was also tired of the patient care worker that we had hired. She wouldn't let me do anything by myself and her leg massages hurt. After a horrible night’s sleep I had a few IVs and was told that I could go home because it was Christmas but I had to come back the next day. After the IVs and some breakfast Howie and I high tailed it out of there. His brother had come to help us carry all the flowers and fruit and everything else that I had collected during this. When his brother arrived at the hospital he wouldn't even look at me. He finally waved at me when he saw out of the corner of his eye that I was waving at him. I think he was really embarrassed that he saw me partially naked while moving me from the surgical bed. When we got home we had some lunch then spent the afternoon sleeping. Later that night Julie came over and we talked for a while then headed back to bed. Friday morning I just had to wait around for the doctors to officially release me then Howie and I went home again and tried to catch up on sleep. As of today I am feeling a lot better. I can sleep on both of my sides, eat a lot more than I had been able to, and wash my hair by myself.
The lighter side of the experience:
Each morning in the hospital Howie's little sister cooked breakfast for us and brought it in because the hospital food was so bad.
Although my roommates snored they were very kind and quite funny. One lady was about 40 and worked for customs. Her name is Liang Jie. She had been suffering from gallstones for about 10 years. She ended up getting a fever after the operation and had to stay longer than normal. The other lady is Wei (said like way) Aiyi (said like I.E.), her sirname with aunt. She worked for a hospital and ended up having 20 stones in her when the surgery was finally done. She was funny. Some of the things she would say and some of her facial expressions were the best. Patrick came by a few times and Wei Aiyi had a ton of fun listening to him. She named him "Chi Baozi" because he likes to eat baozi so much.
Dr. Gong came through and the bill for the surgery was 5,000 Yuan less than what I was told it would be. The nurses (one of whom is a friend of Howie's) told us that was the cheapest surgery they had ever seen those doctors perform. I'm very thankful to Dr. Gong for helping us out and for Michael (the school's owner) making a phone call. The surgery, in USD, ended up costing about $2,750.
Everyday I'm feeling better and better and it won't be long until I'm back to normal. I start work again on Friday and I'm sure I'll be in good enough shape by then to do well.
Click here for pictures from the hospital and our apartment decorations.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Day
I have to have my gall bladder taken out. I have been back and forth to numerous doctors about this and have decided on a doctor and a hospital.
I went to speak with Dr. Li, the specialist, this morning and after about an hour of talking (the other patients only took about 15 minutes) we decided that Monday would be the day. The thing is I can't just go to the hospital for the operation then stay there for a few days for recovery. I have to go in a few days before for some tests and stay at the hospital for two nights. But before I do that I have to go to the hospital and register the day before and give them my personal items. So here is my schedule for the next week.
Wednesday: Work then go to the hospital to register
Thursday: Go to the hospital again for tests and stay the night
Friday: Have more tests and stay the night
Saturday: Work
Sunday: Work
Monday: Have surgery
Tuesday: Recover
Wednesday: Recover
Thursday: Hopefully at home for Christmas
This all wouldn't be quite so bad except that the hospital has no showers. They also don't have food. And the toilets are squatters. I would think that they wouldn't want people who just had surgery to squat. Hopefully they won't make me use a bed pan! Yuck!
The school has also lined up Chinese teachers to take care of my while I'm recovering. I told Tommy, my manager, that I didn't want that and it isn't necessary. I would feel so uncomfortable having all these people I work with taking care of me. Howie is taking his yearly vacation time to take care of me so I really don't think it's necessary for the others to come.
I was told that the cost of the operation would be about 10,000 RMB. That was when they thought I was a student. The girl I went with today told them I was a teacher and the price magically went up to 25,000 RMB. I was crushed when I heard that. I don't have 10,000 much less 25,000!!! Grrr... When the school found out how much it was going to cost, Michael, the owner of the school, called his friend who works there. He told his friend to take good care of me and lower the cost! Having "guanxi" (connections) definately helps!
I also have pictures of Howie if anyone wants to see them.
I went to speak with Dr. Li, the specialist, this morning and after about an hour of talking (the other patients only took about 15 minutes) we decided that Monday would be the day. The thing is I can't just go to the hospital for the operation then stay there for a few days for recovery. I have to go in a few days before for some tests and stay at the hospital for two nights. But before I do that I have to go to the hospital and register the day before and give them my personal items. So here is my schedule for the next week.
Wednesday: Work then go to the hospital to register
Thursday: Go to the hospital again for tests and stay the night
Friday: Have more tests and stay the night
Saturday: Work
Sunday: Work
Monday: Have surgery
Tuesday: Recover
Wednesday: Recover
Thursday: Hopefully at home for Christmas
This all wouldn't be quite so bad except that the hospital has no showers. They also don't have food. And the toilets are squatters. I would think that they wouldn't want people who just had surgery to squat. Hopefully they won't make me use a bed pan! Yuck!
The school has also lined up Chinese teachers to take care of my while I'm recovering. I told Tommy, my manager, that I didn't want that and it isn't necessary. I would feel so uncomfortable having all these people I work with taking care of me. Howie is taking his yearly vacation time to take care of me so I really don't think it's necessary for the others to come.
I was told that the cost of the operation would be about 10,000 RMB. That was when they thought I was a student. The girl I went with today told them I was a teacher and the price magically went up to 25,000 RMB. I was crushed when I heard that. I don't have 10,000 much less 25,000!!! Grrr... When the school found out how much it was going to cost, Michael, the owner of the school, called his friend who works there. He told his friend to take good care of me and lower the cost! Having "guanxi" (connections) definately helps!
I also have pictures of Howie if anyone wants to see them.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Come to Dalian
In one of my higher level children's classes, I asked them to write an advertisement for Dalian. This is what they produced: (Keep in mind that they are about 11 or 12 years old.)
- holiday party
- improve the environment
- the history is long
- eat seafood
- the people are friendly
- Once upon a time, there was a old man and a old woman. They were poor, a person gave them a piece of corn flour. The corn flour wouldn't be used up. The bag was called da'lian. Many many years later, the people who lives there called it Dalian.
- history prison, it was old. Russian and Japanese Museum
- Snake Island
- Many tall buildings. Wide roads. Chinese goods were sent to the rest of the world. You can buy anything you want.
- Ships are big, the transport are good.
This is word for word what they wrote, grammar and bulleted points and spelling and all... I'm just glad they speak better than they write.
If that advertisement doesn't make you want to come to Dalian, I don't know what will.
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