Life in the Hospital.

Blog 17 Life in the Hospital.

So Here I am, the translator left to go back to the Academy and I am lying in my hospital bed.  After laying down for a while and playing games on my iPhone my phone

was almost dead.... Not a good thing to say in a hospital so I will say 'out of batteries'.  I had asked the translator to bring chargers and laptop if they come back and she did say she will ‘try’ but I'm taking that as a polite ‘no’...crap! So I turned my phone off and after an hour I got hungry. I walked to the dining room. Had no idea how to order because the last time we went to the dining room at lunch, the translator was with me and ordered for me.

I never described the translator who took me to the hospital. She is the same girl who picked me up from the airport. Her name is Jenny. She is about 27 years old, I guess, she wears glasses, is skinny, and always wears a scarf around her neck. She is really nice and always asking how I feel this week. She speaks English well and probably is one of the best translators at the school.

So when I was at dinner I ordered, well accurately I pointed to what I wanted. It was like cafeteria food. Already made and you get a bowl of what you want. I pointed at a bread roll, some egg soup, and these square meat looking type thing. After I finished the soup I tried the meat. It was NOT meat...tasted really soft and had onions. I had no idea what it was so I didn't eat it. I was still hungry (a good sign?) so I went and ordered four meat stuffed dumplings and a pancake filled with veggies...gross veggies. But I left the dining room full.

On the way back to my room I had to wait for the elevator. There I saw a mother pushing a double stroller.  In the stroller were twin Chinese babies the cutest fattest little babies I have seen. I took pics and I'll try to put them on this Blog.

the red spot is from the 'cupping massage'

When I got back to my room, I took a little nap and every so often nurses would come in and check my temperature. When I got to the hospital my temp was 38.9C but now when the nurses check my temp was 36.8 I didn't really understand but I knew that I didn't have a fever thanks to the injections and meds they gave me. I had been given more meds to take after dinner so I took those when I got back from the dining room.

Then the old guy who spits and gags a lot had his wife visit and bring him some food. She offered me some meat wontons. I said heck ya! She didn’t understand what I said but I think she knew what I meant with the help of my smile. She gave me a bowl but I didn’t have a spoon. The husband got out Of bed and got a straw from the cupboard and motioned pushing wontons in his mouth with it. When I finished it all and gave the bowl back I said “SheeShee” and they both smiled and laughed. They looked at each other and said ‘SheeShee’ to each other. I think they were saying, "look bob he knows how to say thank you!" "What a silly American has terrible pronunciation huh Jackie" well that's what I think they said. They are both nice people. I'm lucky to have nice roommates. I could have gotten worse ones like someone who yells 24/7 or throws up every second. I'd just die!

After a while the wife handed me a persimmon not a ‘fuyu’ but the soft kind. That was the best persimmon I ever tasted. I didn’t have much to offer them but I tried giving them a bottle of water I got from the store because neither the husband nor wife was drinking anything. They said ‘no’ and pointed to their water thermos.

After I had been laying down for awhile, the academy actually sent the translator with my backpack packed with chargers and my laptop!! I was so happy. The translator who came this time is named Danny. 

Danny is about 24 years old, really tall, wears glasses, has a bowl cut, and is really nice. He also teaches the mandarin classes at the academy. I would imagine him not wanting to be all the way out here babysitting me at the hospital and I’d understand if he was in a bad mood but was very friendly. Then he asked if I had a cable for Internet. I said ‘no’ and he told me he will look for a cable at the mall for me. Then he asked if I wanted some snacks at the market. We wrote a list fruit, juice, snacks. Hand towel.Tissue. A bigger and better pillow. (I had purchased a pillow from the nurses for a few yuan so I at least had something for my head) And a few other things to snack on. I asked him if he wanted anything to go ahead and buy it and I'd pay. I gave him 200 yuan. He said he only needs 80 but I said buy some stuff for himself.

He told me he would be sleeping here in case I needed anything translated or to explain what doctors are trying to tell me. He stayed the night (the hospital got him a bed like mine near the foot of my bed. He also is staying with me all day the next day. (Today) I was shocked. It was really nice of him to be here and for the academy to let him stay here. It was also nice to talk to someone who understands me. I felt more relaxed.

Danny came back with the goodies and a better pillow (I gave him money to buy him a pillow too). We ate a bit but I had to stop eating around 10pm because I had blood test in the morning. So I watched some 'family guy' on my laptop (Danny could not follow the jokes in that show). Then I listened to my audio book.  Eventually, I put all the stuff away and went to bed. That night I slept very well. I could actually breathe! I sweated A LOT though. In the morning after the blood test, I ate a few things from the market like the apples and bananas. Took meds after breakfast and then had to see the doc. Danny and I walked down to the doc’s office. He checked my throat and nose. Then he sprayed some liquid down my nose which was kind of an annoying feeling but if it helps I won't complain. Then when we got back to the room the nurse made me go on the breathing machine again and get back on the IV. After that I felt really dizzy. I don’t know if it's from the breathing, meds or IV. I thought it was a crazy feeling though. Then I took some notes on mandarin words just in case Danny left. As I am writing this Danny is out getting lunch and I'm here waiting and watching tv. 

I keep over hearing the Chinese tv but they play American music in the background. Like the Gladiator theme song was in a Chinese soap 

opera and the fighting music from Pirates of the Caribbean was in it too. 

Thought that was funny. I am going to rest now. 

Will write more later. 

-Scott=