I'm taking vitamin C and spontaneously sleeping. I'm hoping to be over it by Friday.
Ian and I got up at 6am today to head down to the hospital for our "in country" physicals. We were late because it takes us an hour to get anywhere in traffic here. We're near our school, but nothing else, really. It can make some things difficult.
The physicals were similar to what we experienced in Korea in that we went from room to room (with our liaison) for each section. But, while we went through basic checks (dental exam and a blood draw being the strangest things on the menu) we had all that plus EKGs and chest X-rays today. Oh, and accomplishing a UA over a squatter is a special kind of trick that I should be given an award for.
I was pretty surprised at the practices at the hospital. China is a modern, developed nation, but I wouldn't have known it today. Not one health care provider wore gloves. Even the man who drew my blood. He simply iodined his finger after iodining the draw site on my arm. Side note: using iodine makes a blood draw sting more. The single hand washing station I saw (in the restrooms) had no soap or towels. None of the covers on the beds, armrests or anything else were changed between patients. All the beds had squares of floor rug material on the end where you are to put your feet. After having been in the restroom (squatters lead to floor puddles), I wanted nothing to do with that. When I had my EKG (Ian had his right after me) the nurse (doctor?) did not sanitize the electrodes. Also, the electrodes were the old fashioned suction cup kind with the "squeezy-ball" on the end.
So, it was a pretty weird morning.
We walked around a bit afterwards because it's sunny and the air quality is pretty decent. Here are the few photos I managed to snap from my head cold haze.