I hate waiting. Hate it. Hate it nearly as much as I hate Chinese hospitals. So, waiting in a Chinese hospital – you might imagine – is one of my least favorite things to waste my hours on (and I waste a lot of hours).
So, I'm back at home, and Maggie's still not here. The doctor in his 2 minute daily room visit told Maggie that she'll have to wait until tomorrow to have the tests that will allow her to come home. The reasoning … none really. I mean, absolutely no real "care" has been given to Maggie in the 5 days she's been there. They take her blood pressure and temperature a couple times a day, and change the expensive IVs as soon as you ring the bell, but otherwise… it's like she's not even there.
If she gets up to find the doctor and figure out if she can go home, she's told that she should be lying down ("do you want to die!") and is fed some random patronizing garbage to make her do so. In an effort to relieve some of my frustrations I told her that if the bitch of a doctor (not her doctor, her doctor was no where to be found) speaks to her like she's a child and can't understand these 'fancy medical things' again she needs to explain to the doctor that there's no one on this planet that cares more about Maggie's health than Maggie, I come a close second… the doctor isn't even on the map – so what the fuck right does she think she has treating Maggie like some child under her care and too ignorant to understand these (rather simple) medical things.
It's pitiful and the sad part is, it's not going to change. At least not from what I've seen at this hospital. Unlike in the West where we're obsessive about knowing exactly what cell is doing what when we're diagnosed with something – here in China it would seem that people want to know as little as possible and have absolutely no problems waiting (without instruction or consultation) until the end of time to get whatever the doctor suggests.
I fucking hate hospitals and hate doctors. Useless bunch of dogoodnothings. All the times I've self-diagnosed here in China always sat a bit funny with me, like maybe I was taking too much into my own hands and should rely on properly trained health care professionals instead … turns out, I had no need to feel such things. As I mentioned previously, "health" and "care" should be nowhere near the term 'Chinese Hospital', and now I'm adding "professionals" as well.
So, allegedly, Maggie's having some tests tomorrow morning. Allegedly after said tests she'll be coming home (as we're pretty certain she's mostly healed up). Allegedly I'll be posting my last "Crisis" update tomorrow. Allegedly China is the largest socialist country in the world, where the "people" come first.
