Well, we certainly are experiencing variety in our Vietnam experiences. I was a bit worried about travelling with the swelling limiting me so much and the hotel kindly arranged for me to go to an English speaking doctor at the local hospital, Hong Ngoc General Hospital, last night. I had a much better experience there, in spite of the language difficulties, compared to my local hospital, plus I was seen to quickly and they actually did something about finding out what was happening. Amazing! The system is to pay for a consultation, then you see the doctor who sends you off for tests. Before each test you pay, so naturally this is not a hospital for the poor. ( The advertisements for an associated medical city in Korea where I could go for my plastic surgery, hair transplants, dental surgery and other beautification works indicated the clientele). Then, you pay before you get your medicine. Everything, by the way, was much cheaper than in Australia. Last night, I had a blood test which showed I was completely okay, but I came back in the morning for an ultrasound. The scene that met our eyes was quite different to the quiet efficiency of the night before. It appeared to be mainly children time, and my view about the perfect behaviour of Vietnamese children changed. They can be just as grizzly as Australian ones. I had a much longer wait this time but had a wonderful time checking out Facebook for the first time for a while ( the government block seems to operate mainly in hotels. We had free wifi and access to at least viewing Facebook in the hospital). I also managed to write a few postcards and play peekaboo with a very mischievous little boy was adored by his grandmother ( as he should be). Plus, I had a fashion parade by the local ladies. I love people watching! ( I think I was transfixing the locals too!)
My ultrasound was hilarious! The guy doing the test kept having hysterics about how very large I am. He had to call in the nurse he thought was very beefy ( she would have been about a size 10 Australian) because the first nurse didn't have the strength to squeeze my calves effectively to produce pressure. We were all killing ourselves with laughter because he thought I was much bigger than him in my muscles and truly unfeminine. I told him that they have even bigger women than me in Australia, but he obviously thought I was in fantasy land. When all the tests were done, we went back to my lovely doctor who gave me a set of pills to reduce the swelling and told me to check with my doc when I get back. I am a bit disappointed ! I was hoping for a bit of traditional medicine. You know - something from one of those drawers of dried plants and animals that you see in the windows of the traditional medicine shops- eye of newt, bat tongue, unicorn horn, etc- but all I got was stuff I would have got at home, with much more humour, helpfulness and tolerance than I would have got at home. All good, and I feel much better now, though Bob has just collapsed with the strain of it all and is sleeping the day away. Thank goodness we walked home from the hospital or you would never have seen these shots!
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