Friday 9/13:  First Bout of Food Poisoning

 

Stella’s younger sister Christina came with us to lunch.  Christina is like a mini version of Stella.  But everything Stella is, Christina is even more so--even skinnier, more voluble, frank, and unapologetic.  We ended up waiting for a bunch more of her friends, mostly Japanese, and moved tables four times because there were so many people, but the meal was quiet, with only some little Japanese conversations going on around the table. 

 

Been leaving work later than 6 each evening, the time flies and I hardly get anything done, well maybe because I’m always distracted by email and Yahoo.  The view from the 15^th floor is lovely at night, you can see the skyline.  Dr. C commented on this when I met with him that afternoon and I said I know. He said “I see you’ve already stayed late.”

 

I’d been determined to show him something by today so at 5 I went in and he seemed busy and asked if it would take long.  I summarized quickly.  The US and Taiwan may be different in healthcare expenditures in three major ways from what I see.  Besides an older population and higher incomes in the US which need to be adjusted for,  1) There is more heart disease in the US which is perhaps a more expensive disease to treat, requires expensive drugs for example, whereas most of the outpatient drugs prescribed in Taiwan are for colds, the flu etc.  2) Prices of drugs themselves in US are higher because the US population can be charged higher prices that companies can’t charge in Taiwan and other countries.  Dr. C confirmed that most drugs prescribed in Taiwan are indeed generic.  3) People in the US seem more likely to and more often institutionalize their elders which leads to high costs to healthcare system, whereas Taiwan’s culture is such that people don’t like to institutionalize elders and prefer to bring them home. 

 

He agreed the ideas were good and that I should draw up an overall picture of the differences between the two countries, including differences in population, casemix, and then costs for treating similar diseases in each country. 

 

I made a move like I’d go, but he started asking about Yale and the faculty, and we ended up talking until after 6.  Then came dreaded question:  “So what was your thesis about?”  Ack!  Praying, praying Please don’t ask to read it, I mumbled a quick description and disclaimer about how hard it was to get data and therefore not as thorough as could be.  No need to mention that I’d technically just finished it a few days ago.  Thank god he didn’t ask to read it.  Then he asked who’s now head of the Policy department and when I said who, he made a face and groaned.  I said we get that reaction a lot and he laughed, said he took a class with her once, and when I asked what class, he rolled his eyes: “I don’t even remember.” 

 

He explained how the College of Public Health is moving into a brand new buildling being built across the street but has been in the works for years and the soonest it will be up is in 3 years, because they have no money.  They asked the hospital for some money since the hospital is very wealthy, but the hospital insisted that in exchange they be allowed to use 5 floors of the building for 20 yrs.  The College finally agreed, and the med school now can’t wait until Public Health moves out so they can have the two floors (14 & 15) for themselves.  Ah, the good old med school/public health school friction; it’s universal.

 

I had no Friday night plans and thought of Stella probably out and partying, even though I was tired and knew I should clean for Will and Ruby’s arrival.  Dave called and as we talked my stomach started to feel weird and crampy.  I figured I’d sleep it off but the next morning it was horrible. 

 

 

Saturday 9/14

 

Sharp, long, terribly painful cramps came one after the other, but I couldn’t do anything about it—no diarrhea, and I vomited once but it didn’t relieve anything.  I called Ama who said M&D were at the food market and I told her my stomach hurt and I think I ate something bad.  They called me back and came over, worried.  Dad went out in search of a clinic and found one right nearby on the corner, so he led me there.  He said they didn’t know English, but I knew how to say “stomach hurts” in Chinese (du ze tong).  I asked, “But how do you say cramps?”  He said “Jiau tong.”  Jiau sounded like the same thing as foot.  I hoped they wouldn’t get confused and think my foot hurt.

 

The clinic was an ER and reminded me of the one in San Juan—not so clean, a little ghetto.   Dad disappeared to fill out paperwork, and two women who seemed like nurses asked me simple questions that only required one-word answers, so they didn’t realize I was a “lau wai” until I tried to explain that I didn’t really have diarrhea; she then smirked and stifled a chuckle.  Like I wasn’t miserable enough without her laughing at my grammar?  And I was in no mood for cutesy “Where are you from?” chatter.

 

Finally she said a couple sentences rapidly which totally blew over my head.  I looked at her dumbly, shook my head and said, “[English?]”  She said “Oh!  You heart rate is, mm..” and pointed upward.  I said, “[Too high?]”  She nodded, “Tachycardia!”  Ordinarily I would have been amused that she knew the word tachycardia but couldn’t say “too high.”  But in no mood for anything except maybe a generous shot of morphine to my miserable cramping gut.  She said I’d need an IV which was music to my ears.  After three times in the ER for dehydration I have come to equate IV with Instant Vitality.

 

I laid down and let it do its magic.  Dad went to get Will and Ruby from the airport.  During the 3-4 hour course, an older man who apparently was a real doctor, albeit in a Hanes T-shirt and khakis, came to examine and question me.  I said my stomach was still “jiau tong” so they added a painkiller med to the IV.  The worst thing about an IV when you start to feel better is the boredom.  You can only lie in one position so the IV isn’t disturbed and if you move too much you can feel it tugging in you.  I slept most of the time.  I called out when the bag was empty.  Mom arrived along with Will and Ruby, and the nurses said I could go.  I wasn’t sure how they knew.  In my IV experience I’ve never before been let go after 1)  finishing only one bag, and 2)  not feeling an incredible urge to pee.  I also still felt a little dizzy.  They’d prescribed three different drugs that Mom picked up at their in-house pharmacy, and Will and Ruby walked me home.

 

Mom had cleaned my whole apartment when I was at the hospital, I felt ridden with guilt.  She does enough cleaning at Ama’s.  Our aunt and cousin had wanted to take us to Keelung for some famous seafood, which I ordinarily would have been really excited for, but right now sounded very unappetizing, so I told them to go ahead without me.  Mom made me some oatmeal.

 

Will and Ruby came back to stay with me.  Will slept on the hard floor with only my straw mat (“don’t worry, he likes camping and roughing it,” I said to M&D), Ruby shared my bed.  I downed the drugs regularly.

 

 

Sunday  9/15

 

In the morning I was good enough to go to church.  At the end we spent a lot of time waiting and organizing to go to lunch with GuMa and ShinYing.  We asked MeiLing and their family when they were going, they said they hadn’t been told about it.  Oops.  Quite graciously MeiLing’s husband dropped us off at the Mandarina Crown hotel where the restaurant was and where ShinYing’s family and GuMa were waiting.   It was called Thai & Thai and apparently very famous despite the uninteresting name.  ShinYing said they’d even called him this morning to see if he still wanted to keep the reservation, since they get so many patrons. 

I hadn’t eaten in about 48 hours except for the oatmeal, and the food at everyone’s tables all looked and smelled fantastic.  ShinYing started ordering and the dishes came one after another onto the lazy Susan and all fell into the list of things my doctor said I wasn’t supposed to eat—anything spicy, anything fried, anything with fresh vegetables, any meat, any seafood…

 

Starvation won over caution and even my parents didn’t worry about me eating.  Maybe because I was so hungry, but I think it was definitely the best Thai ever had.  Almost all the dishes were things I’ve never had before, and all were spicy. 

 

After dinner we went back to my place, 5 of us in my little studio.  The cable guy came and hooked up my little TV, then we went to the ChiangKaiShek memorial to walk around.  The monuments looked beautiful against the setting sky, but the buildings were closed to entry.  I noticed lots of little kids rollerblading and it’s a good, smooth open place to blade. 

Then we went to Ama and Agong’s where it’s become obvious to me that Will is their favorite.  Ama kept saying how desolate she’s been with him all across the world, leaving them all alone, never coming to see them.  I fell asleep on Mom’s bed for awhile, and realized since she gave me her pillowcase she’s using T-shirts as pillow covers here. 

 

I woke up to sound of voices--Mom’s cousin (who I call Agu) and his wife (Ajim), and ZuenHong our cousin.  They’d brought food and it was already 8.  I remembered Ajim, she took Mom and me shopping when I was here last and paid for 2 skirts I liked (mom had commented that they were cheap).  She was loud, perfectly manicured and clothed, and looked like she hadn’t aged a bit (I wondered if she had a lift(s), and proudly introduced her son who came later, a 6’ tall lanky 21-yr old with large teeth.  Everyone exclaimed and stood up when he entered, complimenting Ajim for growing such a tall one.  As long as you have height, no matter if you are spindly enough to slip through a sewer grate.   Mom asked her how many kids she had, a boy and 2 girls?  The woman corrected proudly, hands on her hips, 2 boys 1 girl:  “[I scored 100%]”.  I wondered what that meant, and what it then meant my mom scored if she’d had 2 girls and 1 boy? 

 

She told me I have gotten prettier as I’ve grown older which I know is a lie, and flatly asked Will & Ruby why they haven’t had kids yet.  If I were them, by now I would’ve begun punching people in the face each time this question is asked.  She then told Will what to eat and drink in order to be um, more fruitful.  She brought her “own” brewed plum wine for us to try which I found way too sweet, and her husband bought some JW Black Label which Will tried to down like a man but kept commenting on how strong it was. 

 

The men stayed in the kitchen smoking and drinking.  Even Agong was smoking, which given his condition, I was expecting would make him to keel over any second.  Will stayed in the (smoke free) living room with us women.  Mom surprisingly wasn’t disapproving of the boozing at all and was having a nice amount herself—told me to pour mine into her cup since I didn’t want it, and started to get rather giggly.  When we pointed this out to her she flushed more with embarrassment and said she’d better be careful how she acts. 

 

The kid went out to get us some fruit, papaya and guava.  Mom said the guava is good for your digestion so Ruby said Will should eat more.  Around 9:30 Will started bugging me to make a move for us to go, as if it’s less rude if I’m the one to initiate it, so we left by 10ish. 

 

Will and Ruby would be flying back to the US after tomorrow’s outing, so they had to say their final goodbyes.  As we walked away we heard Ajim and Ama calling, turned around and saw Agong who’d hobbled to the balcony overlooking the street, waving at us (rather, at Will).  Agong leaning his frail spindly frame on his cane, barely able to lift his hand in a wave, without a voice loud enough to say goodbye, knowing it was probably the last time in his life he’d ever see my brother, was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.  I’ll always remember that scene.