Apothecary

I'm sick with an upper respiratory infection, and a fever that thankfully hasn't been consistently high enough for me to be officially diagnosed with H1N1. Grade 6 at ICS, on the other hand, has been shut down for the rest of the week because of H1N1, and grade 4 was earlier this year as well. I'm praying that it won't reach the high school!

Insurance and seeing a doctor are a bit different here than in the states. It seems more efficient to me (and I'm all about efficiency) and it just seems to make more sense! I went to the hospital yesterday morning, which may or may not seem strange, but going the hospital here is like going to a clinic in the states. They check you in at a reception desk by taking your insurance card & ID card. Then they usher you over to this little table that has a nurse who takes your blood pressure, temperature, and weight. The nurse asks what your symptoms are, gives you a little piece of paper with all of your stats and send you off to the correct department in the hospital. So off I went to the department of medicine.

Upon entering the department of medicine, I had a lady talk to me in Thai as she took my little piece of paper with my stats. I told her (in Thai) that I don't speak Thai. She looked at me, smiled, and then spoke to me in Thai again. I found that rather humorous... maybe she didn't understand what I had said? I waited about 15 minutes before I was able to see the doctor who asked more questions and then told me he was going to prescribe an antibiotic and a nasal decongestant

I was then ushered out and went to wait at the department of pharmacy. As I waited, I was able to pay for my visit and my 2 medications. I was surprised that it all only cost about $18 American dollars. When my name was called to pick up my medicine, I was even more surprised that it only cost $18 because I was given 6 different medicines. I was told that the Thai like to over-medicate, but didn't believe it until they handed me all the medications!

I thought it was rather thoughtful in a sense though because the doctor I had seen really wanted to make sure that he did all that he could for me and that he had covered all of his bases. For example, I told him I had a little bit of a sore throat, but no cough... and in my little bag of goodies I found 2 bags of cough drops, which actually have come in quite handy today. I was also given Tylenol, which I thought was kind of funny since most people have Tylenol at home, but here in Thailand they want to make sure that they've given you everything you need to recover. Additionally I was given an electrolyte powder, diarrhea medication just in case my aching stomach resulted in... well, you know, and then the anticipated antibiotic and a nasal decongestant.

So off I went with my little bag in hand... it was like Halloween only with medication instead of candy... and here I am recovering at home with a little drugstore at hand. Very efficient indeed. Cheers to a quick recovery... I'm already missing teaching and being with my crazy students!