During my fall trip to China, Lisa and I met several times for lunch to discuss my time in her class and just have general talk. At that time she commented about frequently feeling sick to her stomach and wondered what might be causing it. This condition persisted and she continued to write about it to her support team. I wrote back and advised her to contact an American medical doctor I knew there. Along the way Lisa got to experience a Chinese doctor and some Chinese medicine. Let me include her email of December 30.
My stomach is much better after my poor [Chinese] friend Alice (I rely on her too much!) found time to take me to a Chinese doctor. I'm on some Chinese liquid herbal stuff that is absolutely horrid tasting, but as in the song "A Spoonful of Sugar", I have a bit of honey close at hand so that as soon as I quickly gulp down the green concoction, I thrust a tablespoon or two of honey into my mouth to kill the aftertaste. It does help and my energy is returning and my stomach is much better, so that's great!! Also, I've been fortunate to find a female acupuncturist close to the same hospital and (drum roll) directly across from Papa John's & Starbucks! [Lisa and I enjoy going to Papa John's for lunch now and then.]
The doctor visit was welllllll....very different than in America. I was mortified as Alice explained detailed symptoms to the doctor, asking me embarrassing questions while 2-3 Chinese waited their turns!! No privacy there!! Phew!! Neither was there any privacy for my "acupuncture treatment" which surprisingly didn't involve needles but a small wooden box with a Zen sign on it placed on my stomach and some stuff was lit to "warm up" the "cold in my stomach". [The Chinese family I stay with is shocked at my desire to drink cold things. They are constantly trying to get me to drink hot water on a regular basis. If I don't they feel I will get sick.] Alice struggled ineffectively to define what exactly a "cold in the stomach" was, but oh well. The smoke wafting from a patient's box placed also on her stomach smelled suspiciously like marijuana, but the nurse assistant assured me it was not! Mm-hmm. Mine smelled more like a mixture of sage and other herbal plants, but (darn), not pot! JUST KIDDING! Ha, ha.
Health issues continued and the advice of both the American and Chinese doctor was to schedule some testing. We will look at that in the next entry.
No comments:
Post a Comment