Socialized Medicine

It was bound to happen...

I just got home from my first hospital visit.

Now (Mom) before you panic, let me explain.  I would surmise my case to be much less than acute - but I did need to get my foot looked at by a doctor.  For the last two-ish weeks, I've had a dull pain in my left foot in my Metatarsal area (those bones that eventually extend into the toe region).  After activity it hurts like a mother, then goes away.  After sitting with my feet up and getting up to walk, it hurts again in short bursts.  Nothing terrible, just an annoyance.  And when you walk several miles every single day to do the simplest of tasks, not to mention the fact that I've taken up running lately, well, you can see the trouble.

So, I texted one of our youth group parents who is my go-to medical consultant to ask what I should do.  (She's a doctor here in HK).  She recommended that I go to the ER.  At first, I was like, whaaa? The ER? I'm certainly not dire enough for the ER.  But she encouraged me to go anyway and that it would be much cheaper than going private.  And I'm all about cheap.

So up to Queen Mary Hospital I went.

Not my photo, but here it is...

This hospital is known for being one of the nicer public hospitals in Hong Kong and as luck would have it, it is the closest hospital to where I'm currently housesitting.  (And is serviced by about 12,978 buses, so it's incredibly easy to get to).  Now that I think of it, I have no idea where the closest hospital is to my apartment in Wanchai. Perhaps I should check that out...

In any case, I walked into the waiting area of the ER and things seemed pretty standard.  There was a large waiting room of chairs and a registration counter.  I waited behind an Indian couple with a very, very sick Sikh grandpa who was vomiting profusely into a plastic bag in front of me.  Needless to say, his triage number was much higher than my own.  But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

I registered with the window after briefly explaining to the admit nurse in as many ways as possible that no, I hadn't just  injured my ankle that, yes, I know I am walking on it, but I think I need an X-Ray, and that I thought it was a Stress Fracture at worst, but that I just wanted to have it X-Rayed to be sure.  Maybe they just aren't used to people taking their care into their own hands?  If I had to guess this would be an example of how many Chinese people defer to the authority, and the Doctor is certainly the authority.  All I knew is that I needed an X-Ray.

The offending left foot and the waiting area

After surrendering my Hong Kong ID, and forking over 100 Hong Kong dollars, I was told to go have a seat and that my number would be called. I wasn't sure what the procedure was from this point on.  Fortunately, I expected some wait, and brought along Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, an amazing and very engrossing ER-read.  I highly recommend it even if you aren't amongst the bloodied and phlegmatic.  I briefly looked around the room to assess the situation and observed several old people with face masks, a son with a bandage taped to his head with his mother, about 6 people in wheelchairs that were so inanimate that I wasn't sure for quite some time if they were, in fact, still alive (they were), and four Mainland Chinese businessmen, one with a bloody bandage on his cheek.  In between Outliers,  I tried to think of all the things that could have caused the bloodied Chinese man, but could only come up with flying cutlery at a business lunch gone wrong or else a fight over the latest Prada bag.

I waited and waited, knowing that surely my very minor possible stress fracture was lower in priority than almost everyone else in the room.

Finally, my name was called, last name first, of course, and I was instructed to visit the triage nurse.  I did so, and after again explaining the nature of my "injury" she gave me a triage number.  I learned several things about HK healthcare this evening.  There are 5 numbers in triage. 1 is the highest, or worst.  This pretty much means you're dead or dying from what I could tell, and 5 is basically the triage nurse's way of suggesting passive-aggressively that you might consider going home because it might be at least several weeks before a doctor could see you, that's how insignificant your case is.

I was rated a 4, or in HK Healthcare speak, Semi-Urgent.

Semi-Urgent.  This seems like an oxymoron, but I didn't want to moralize on grammar right there in the ER...

 Clutching my paper and having already waited for about an hour and 15 minutes, I headed back to my seat.  It was at this point that a loud voice began to announce "Resuscitation In Progress...wait times might be higher." Ad nauseum.  I guess if you're the resuscitee, this might not be so strange, since you're focused on, to put it bluntly, not dying, but sitting in the waiting area knowing someone was in the next room getting resuscitated was pretty strange.  Also, this is the only ER I've ever been to where the public and ambulance entrance are in the same area. As I sat there, we could see people being brought in via ambulance.  Very interesting, indeed. 

They also nicely (or weirdly?) put up a sign under the updated waiting times.  Yep, folks, that's a whopping 195 minutes for Semi Urgent cases and 150 minutes for Urgent Cases.  Fortunately, when I walked in, the wait time for Semi-Urgent cases was only 135 minutes.  But by the time I came back from the triage nurse a whole lot more people had shown up.

About 15 minutes later, I was called back to meet with a doctor in an again, very standard ER examining cubicle.  I went through the rigamarole again of the "injury" and she agreed that we should X-Ray it.  She pointed me down a long hallway and I turned in a paper she gave me to the X-Ray people, got my foot X-Rayed and was ushered back into the waiting room. 

I can see how going from the American system to a more "socialized" system can be really jarring for Americans.  We are really used to a warm and fuzzy type of health care where the doctor "really cares about you as a patient" and wants to make you feel like your needs are being met.  But in the ER here, my true and one goal was to make sure my foot wasn't broken and if it was to get on treating it as soon as possible.  I didn't need a doctor to whisper sweet assurances in my ear - and so I was completely satisfied with my level of care. 

The entire cost of my visit? $12.82 in USD.

After I was X-Rayed I waited about another 30 minutes until my name was called again.  I visited with the doctor, she read the X-Ray and said my foot wasn't broken, told me to ice it and take it easy.  2.5 hours after arriving, I was on my merry way.

And let me mention to you that the cost for this entire ER visit?  US $12.82 or $100 HKD.  That's it.  Including the X-Rays and consult, well, and 2.5 hours of my life. 

Suffice it to say, this experience did not change my views on Socialized Medicine and its virtues.  I'm not extremely interested in getting into a debate about how this could/will/won't work in the US, because it's a completely different context.  But what I can say is that I am very grateful to have this medical system that is good, affordable, and accessible. 

And also thankful that my foot isn't broken, because let's be honest, I can't think of anything more miserable than being on crutches.  In Hong Kong.  In the Summer.

Well, that's all folks!

Til Next Time,

-The Adventurer

Saw this sign the other day and though it is neither Chinese nor grammatically incorrect, it cracked me up.

Siargao, Philippines

I always have these grand, master plans that I'll do a seven part installment on my vacations and things that I find interesting, but they never seem to pan out. So for better or worse, I'm going to cram all of my Philippines vacation into this one post.

About a month and a half ago, I went with 9 friends to Siargao Island, Philippines.  This is one of the rare vacations where I was not the trip planner, so it was a double blessing for me.  I almost literally showed up at the airport having no idea where we were really staying or what we were really doing.  It's a good thing I trust my friends!

One of the greatest parts of this vacation was getting to see some friends that I don't get to see too often, making new ones, and really enjoying hanging out with a lot of great people.

Okay. So the trip.  If you're looking for an awesome, adventure-packed trip, I would highly suggest our itinerary.  Every day was packed full of possibilities and we totally utilized them! We flew from Hong Kong to Cebu on a miserable 1am flight (the only flight available).  Then, we had a long connection in Cebu from about 4am to 10am. Fortunately, my traveling companions booked a room at the adjacent hotel and we all got a few hours of sleep (and those hours of sleep even on the floor were SO NECESSARY).  After that, we headed to Siargao on a short one hour flight.  Things were pretty uneventful, though one of the stranger parts was sitting in a seat that faced backwards.  Takeoff and landing were definitely a strange experience. 

Awkward Backward Facing Seats.  Definitely not an experience I think I need again...

We arrived on the island and I was personally really blown away.  It is completely off the beaten path - and not very developed at all, which I love.  There is hardly any commercialization on the island and it showed.  The airport was a one terminal building.  We were picked up from the airport by the manager at our bungalows and off we went!

Jeepney to the Bungalows

The next few days were a blur of awesome activities and total relaxation.  It really was the perfect combo in that respect.  Additionally, it was awesome to have everything we needed at the bungalow.  The girls in the kitchen were so awesome and made fantastic and tasty breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day (even before we went fishing at 6am!)

The first full day we were there, I decided to try to learn how to surf.  For a really, really reasonable price, I could have a 2 hour surfing lesson and rent a board, so I thought, why not?!  The surfing part wasn't so bad, but the paddling killed me.  I at one point felt like I was going to die in the arm region.  It was a good wake up call about how pathetically out of shape I am.  After wiping out over and over, discovering that I was in fact a goofy surfer after about 30 minutes (right leg in front) and ingesting about 3 gallons of seawater, I decided to head back to dry land.  Frustrated and sore, I vowed to do better the next time.  (I'm not a perfectionist or anything...)

I did eventually get hang of the surfing, and let me tell you, the moment I stood up on the board was one of the most amazing moments.  (No hyperbole)  Surfing definitely did not come easily for me and it was awesome to finally stand up and be able to ride a wave! I caught about 10 more waves that day before giving it a rest (and nursing my at the time unrealized sunburn of the century on my legs...)

We're on a boat.  I spent almost as much time in this boat as I did on dry land.  And I loved it!

One morning, bright and early (6:00am) we all got up and went on a fishing trip.  I secretly love to fish and had never been deep sea fishing before, so again, since everything was so cheap and accessible, I thought why the heck not?!  We piled into the boat, pointed out to sea and trolled around FOREVER with nothing happening.  At one point, with the sun beating down on us, the fumes from the tiny lawnmower sized engine on the boat and the seas rolling a bit, I started to feel REALLY seasick.  I was doing moderately okay until we stopped because we hooked a fish.  At that point, my body's last remaining equilibrium gave out and I got extremely sick.  While my friend was reeling in the fish on one side of the boat, I threw up off the other side.  My witty friend thanked me for chumming the water.  It didn't make me feel better, though now I can appreciate his humor. I spent the rest of the morning laying down in the only area wide and long enough to lie down on the boat and slept it off while alternatively throwing up over the side.  Not the most comfortable or attractive of moments for me, but hey, that's life. 

Very, Very seasick.

I learned my lesson quickly, though, and ate something the moment we got back on land and immediately took Dramamine for the afternoon of trolling.  I am happy to say that I didn't do any more throwing up after that.  In happy news, my friends hooked two ginormous fish, a Wahu and a Mahi Mahi, both of which we Sashimi-ed and grilled for dinner that night.  Definitely some of the freshest and most delicious fish I've ever had!

Lawrence caught a huge Wahu!

Fresh Mahi Mahi.  I think it looks like an Alien, but it tastes AMAZING.

For the rest of the week, we went on a motorbike drive around the island one morning, headed out on a boat to a surfing break about an hour away from our bungalows and hung out.  One of my favorite days was when we went to the rock pools about an hour and a half from the bungalows.  They're only good at low tide when the ocean recedes and leaves a 10-20 foot deep rock pool full of fish that you can explore.  There is also a huge rock that you can jump or dive off of.  I love jumping from high places, so this was heaven for me. 

Other events of note: One of the guys on the trip, Kyle, played his guitar at an open mic night at one of the local bars and it was great to get to see some of the locals and other people on holiday there.  We also played lots of frisbee, got to meet some of the local kids and played games with them and just did a lot of hanging out and eating.

Making sand castles with local kids

This trip was everything I didn't know I needed - there were many moments where I looked out over the ocean at the rising moon, or the crazy smattering of stars and realized how little time I take to be in nature in Hong Kong.  It is amazing how much this has affected my spiritual life, too.   I really am an outdoorsy person, and I think I let my aversion to hot weather overpower my desire to be outside a lot of the time.  Shortly after I got back, my boss was paraphrasing a talk he heard at the Passion Conference - the speaker was saying that she felt God's presence more by watching a surfing competition out at Mavericks in California than she did in 10 quiet times.  And I totally resonated with that.  This week filled me up more than so many of my artificially induced "quiet times" in HK.  I was actually just out in God's creation, totally in awed, and totally filled with His presence.  It was pretty awesome.

It was a fantastic week and I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a great holiday to just escape for a little while.  Go while you can, though, because I doubt this island will be a secret for long! One of the problems with an upwardly mobile traveling Asian population armed and ready with passports and money to spend...

Until next time,

The Adventurer

Chingish o' the day (Tagalog-ish?)