The hospital was like everywhere else in China. Poorly lit, kinda dirty, and filled with people. Step one was to go up to the cashiers and pay to see the doctor. It only cost 2 yuan, roughly 30 cents. They give you a receipt and some prescriptions slips. Than we had to find a doctor. So we go upstairs and just walk into the first room we see with a "doctor".
The room looked like just that a room. There were two desks, some stools to sit on, a cabinet and some plants. No sink, no exam table, no "doctor" equipment. The doctor was standing by the window in a white coat looking out.
The examination. Rose, my translator, told the doctor what was wrong and I began to take off my jacket and lift up my shirt for him to see the rash. Mind you the door to the room was never shut, the windows had no curtains on them and looked across the courtyard to other rooms. Half of the hospital has now seen my boobs. I can't even describe what I was thinking. In the end I lifted my shirt, luckily got to leave my bra on, and gave them a show. T.I.C. = This Is China.
So he looked at my rash, asked how long I had had it and sat down and started writing prescriptions. Now just as he sat down and pulled my shirt back down a couple, one man and a pregnant women, just walked right in to the room and stood next to where I was sitting. They said nothing and just stood there until we were done. Apparently medical privacy is not an issue here, I don't know, but I would hate to see what a Gyno appointment is like.
The prescription took quite a long time to write and took up 3 prescription slips. After he was done writing we when down stairs to the "pharmacy". Gave them the prescriptions and they looked up the price on computer. Than we got a piece of paper and had to go to the cashiers again to pay. In total the prescriptions cost 65 yuan, roughly 10 dollars. Than we took the receipt back to the "pharmacy" and they got the medicine ready for us. They were chatting with us and everyone was staring at me of course. The head pharmacist took this time to practice his English and say "Good morning" to me. Now that I think of it, he was probably across the courtyard looking into my exam room and figured saying good morning was the proper thing to do after seeing my boobs.
After we got all of my medication we had to back up to the doctor to have him explain the process, and believe me it was a process. Than we left and went back to my apartment. Now my medication consisted of two creams, 5 different pills, and some powder as seen here.
Rose had asked me if I had anything to put on of the creams into because we had to mix it ourselves. Of course I had nothing so she got an old makeup jar. First we put in the cream, as seen, and then we had to break two glass viles with liquid medicine in them and pour that in. Nothing is ever simple.
This is what I had to do. I took five kinds of pills, so nine pills altogether twice a day for 4 days. The Chinese haven't mastered the art of putting all the medication you need into one pill yet. Each pill cures one symptom so if you have a cold with a runny nose, sore throat, fever, and a cough you have to take 4 pills.
I had to put on the creams twice a day. First the cream we made which was like lotion. Than the second cream which was like vaseline 2 hours later.
I had to wash the area with a mixture of powder and water. The powder half dissolved so it was gritty when washing kinda like salt.
I had to put on the creams twice a day. First the cream we made which was like lotion. Than the second cream which was like vaseline 2 hours later.
The first day went fine. And by that night my rash looked like it was almost gone. The second day I took my pills and put on the first cream no problem. Than I went to put on the second cream, the one like vaseline, and it burned. My chest got red and it stung. So I left it on for like an hour but then I could bear it anymore so I washed it off. I am pretty sure the vaseline like cream had some kind of acid in it because it took off the top layers of my skin. It's been a couple of weeks and my skin still feels a little raw. Needless to say I won't be putting that back on ever again.
Besides that little incident my treatment went well. The rash was completely gone by the 4th day. So although it may be complicated Chinese medicine does work.
