My Visit to a Chinese Hospital

Yesterday, something got in my contact and greatly irritated my eye. Last night, it got so bad that my eye couldn’t stop watering. My eye was so irritated that it was a bright, angry red; my eyelid had swollen so much that my eye looked as if it had shrunk half a size. Fast forward to this morning, where I discovered my attempts to flush out whatever was in my eye with water and a whole night of bed rest did nothing. My eye was just as inflamed as it had been the night before. When it physically hurt to keep my eye open, that’s when I decided it was time to go to the hospital.

Yes, hospital. People who I am close to know how I feel about hospitals; I hate going to the doctor and avoid anything remotely medically related at all costs. I don’t like being analyzed about my health history, I don’t like being poked and prodded, and I especially dislike taking medicine. But when one is in a foreign country and can’t see out of one eye, what can one do besides go to the hospital in an attempt to get full vision back?

It wasn’t too bad, actually; although the Chinese hospital system is set up differently than the one in the US. There’s no concept of making an appointment in advance. You just walk in and register at the front desk, where you are given a number (挂号). Once your number is called, you can see the doctor (看病). The doctor will examine what’s wrong with you and then will write out a prescription (开药). Once your consultation is over, you pay the fee for both the consultation and whatever medicine you have been prescribed (付钱). You then go to the pharmacy and give the pharmacist your prescription slips, who gives you your medicine in return (受药).

I was prescribed two types of eye drops and am under orders to “不戴隐形眼镜” and “少用眼睛”, or “do not wear contact lenses” and “use your eyes sparingly.” The no contact lens thing is a no-brainer, as I am definitely not going near my contacts until this whole thing clears up. But use my eyes sparingly? Aside from avoiding strenuous eye activity (which is what, exactly?) I’m not sure how I am going to do that. Everything I need to do involves eyesight in some way… except for bed rest, I suppose.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.