Due to the toxic cocktail I imbibe daily consisting of pollutants infused with the DNA sprayed on me in the subway and streets by the millions of my spit-happy Chinese commuter pals, I have acute bronchitis that will JUST NOT GO AWAY.  The first doctor I visited a few weeks ago was very blasé about the whole “coughing a lung up” sad story I told him but now, weeks later, I found a more sympathetic lady doc who gave me not one but four new prescriptions to chase away the “haziness” she saw on my lung x-rays. After riding down in the service elevator from the exam room to the x-ray room, I followed the nurse into a storage closet housing old equipment that was piled haphazardly on the floors and covered with used patient gowns.  Talk about inspiring confidence in their medical system!  She instructed me to strip and put on the gown that she held out for me.  When in China!

Nurse averted her eyes while I followed her command, stripped, suited up and stepped out into a very old huge 1970’s x-ray machine to get pictures taken of my chest.  What they lack in hygiene (the hospital was old, filthy and had peeling paint everywhere) they made up for in quickness as the doctor and I were viewing my x-ray just twenty minutes later and discussing courses of treatment.  I got herbal expectorants AND antibiotics AND steroids AND inhalers to chase out the very bad persistent shit living in me right now, hopefully temporarily…thank you AQI’s of 150+ every day.  I actually had to make a chart for all the meds with all the directions and cautions (do not take with milk, do take with food, take 30 minutes before food, etc.).  HOLY.  HELL.

I have a trip to the U.S. coming up in two weeks and it cannot come soon enough.     Dr. Ken, Here I Come!  Modern medicine is something we take for granted in the United States but here in China, I know for a fact that if I get any type of serious injury or sickness, I am opting for the Medical Evacuation Clause in my contact and getting the Hell out of here to fly home or Hong Kong if I need a quicker landing.  I hear Hong Kong hospitals aren’t the house of horrors like they are here.  They can’t be worse.  Prayers are needed-big time.  Now, I have to figure out what pill to take next.  Updates to come.