The whole ordeal started with this admission slip stating that Tim Murphy needed to have his appendix taken out on Friday. We ate at the same restaurant on Tuesday night and had the same food, the exact same food, off the same plates. It is China. The tofu was spicy. Tim had asked me if I had any stomach pains when he saw me on Wednesday. I was fine only I had known that I had eaten some spicy food. I did not see him on Thursday because I was getting things ready for my trip to WuWei. After I got in WuWei and was ready to walk in to a room to speak to students I got the call that Tim was in the hospital for surgery. That is when I needed to change my ticket and return. Some of our students and the Chinese students stayed with him to watch him and help him. By Sunday AM when I got there he was better but still uncomfortable. Sunday night he ate and was better and each day after he got better until he checked out on Thursday.
This is the standard room at the GaoXin Hospital. Tim did not have a room mate which was nice because one our students spent the night the first three nights. For the most part everyone was very good about helping out, the students, the staff and the faculty. Everyone was very good about this.
The person in the blue coat is the doctor. They did a good job with the surgery and all that. The lady is Sunny, and she is a Xian University administrator. Everyone was very good about visits and helping with the medical translations. You still have the communication problems and there are still questions that Tim has that will never be answered. He still is trying to get his airline refund. Because of the surgery he could not fly to ShangHai. When he gets back to the USA he will have to work out things with his insurance. On the other hand he was able to pay the bill in cash. It cost around 1000 dollars for everything, surgery, doctors, the room, medicines, etc. If you don't pay up front you don't get anything. He broke a thermometer and he had to pay the 4 yuan to replace before they would take his temperature again. It is a different health care system here.
This could be Ava in a few years, once see has completed her training at ICC. I learned how to say nurse in Han Yu language so the stay in the hospital helped me with my studies.
The system here is different. You pay in cash, it is much, much cheaper, family and friends still need to help you with things, like your meals. The hospital has food but you have to go buy it and take it to your room. It is a different level of sanitation. The picture of the bathtub best explains the difference. All I am saying is the Chinese health care and the USA health care systems are different. Bu yi Yang, not the same. But Tim did get good treatment and more important the people here, I mean the people at Xian University, the people that we see and talk to everyday did care about him. The maid staff that cleans our rooms asked about him and were very happy to see him return. The one lady said she would help him do laundry. Too bad for her because I had already done it for him. Everyone was concerned about him and people went to visit him. They really did care. That concern was real because you can see it in their eyes and the expression on their face. With a few people I could even understand what they were saying and they could understand what I was saying even though we both can only speak a little of each others language. That is one reason why I will miss this place and the people that I have only known for a few months. You don't get a chance to know people when you stay at the International Hotels and take a bus trip to see the sites but if you are fortunate enough to live in a country you will get a chance to get to know what that country is like, if you try. This is a great place to be, as I have said before, "warts and all."
This is Tim having his first solid food. I had to go to the cafeteria to order it and the cafeteria was closed even though the doors were open. I had the two foods he could eat written in Chinese in my notebook and I used my best language to try and order it. They could not communicate with me that they were closed. One girl that worked there could speak English and would not. I was tired and I was very steamed. But I cooled down got my stuff and walked out in the the street to find a restaurant. I walked in and talked to some people and we both understood what I wanted and I got Tim some supper and I had a free cup of tea. I then bought Tim a bowl at the local shop because I didn't think he wanted to eat out of the take out bag. You can communicate with people if you try and if you have just a little bit of language skills and work at it. What was so frustrating at the hospital was so easy on the street, especially when I said I had a friend in the hospital.
There he is fit and waiting to return home. Right now our home is the Heyuan Hotel and that is the way we think of the place. One other thing about China, you get to wear your streeThat made it a lot better for all of us.
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