Chinese Medicine?

I woke up with slight back pain, blamed it on my terrible mattress and didn't really give it another thought. As the day went on the back pain persisted, but with the boss in town there was very little I could do. Then it got so bad I could really sit straight... uh oh... as many of you know I had a bit of an accident a little over  year ago while in Saudi, this was feeling vaguely familiar.

My discomfort soon became apparent to the people around me. They asked "are you ok?" I smiled, said  I needed a chiropractor and tried to briefly explain what was happening to me. My Chinese co-workers looked confused "Chiropractor?" Yes, you know, someone who deals with back pain. I need a re-alignment of the spine and something to help me with the pain. "A massage?" No, not really a massage because someone who doesn't quite know what they are doing will only make things worse, and I don't have the Chinese language ability to explain what is wrong with me. I need a chiropractor. "You need a bone doctor, we must take you the hospital." What?! No, really I don't need a hospital, I just need to talk to someone who knows about how to help me with the pain. "In China, you need to go to the hospital. We will take you tomorrow. Be ready at 9am" I should mention, that "tomorrow" was Saturday morning.

Great, so Saturday morning I wake up early to go to the hospital. A place many had told me to avoid at all costs. Chinese hospitals, I had been warned, were the place of nightmares and after my experience with the Saudi healthcare system, let's just say I was really not looking forward to this "visit." So we arrive. The driver (who knows everyone in Shenzhen, but speaks no English), my interpreter (a very nice lady who works in the office, but whose name I don't remember) and me (still not quite walking upright). The hospital is packed. There are people in casts who have other people helping them keep their leg up in the air (I wish I could explain it better, but for a second imagine someone with crutches, who has someone quite literally holding their foot so that the person is like stretching their hamstrings and walking all at the same time), there were pregnant women lining the hallways, children running around and the smell of smoke everywhere.

The driver asks for directions and points to the stairs. Great. So up we go. First floor, maternity and obstetrics. Clearly not our floor. Second floor, dermatology and radiology. Also clearly not our floor. Third floor, surgery. Clearly not our fl... The driver stops and goes to the surgery wing. Huh? I really don't need a surgeon, I mean I know a hurt back is a big deal, but a surgeon?! But there we are, amid what seems like a hundred people, and the driver just kind of pushes his way past them into a doctors office. Interrupts the doctors explanation to a patient (all this seems very normal to both the doctor and the patient) and then heads down the hall. Another surgeons' office. We go in. The driver says something in Chinese, the doctor looks at me. "Where does it hurt? I hear you were in an accident." I try to explain what happened to me and where it hurts. "Please lie down." He points to an exam table, there are at least 10 other people in the room (none of them hospital staff). I oblige. He starts to pound on my back, "does this hurt?" No, not really. "How about this?" He pokes my back right where the spine meets the hip. Yes! "Ok, you can get up now." Really? That's all? "Your ligament is what is causing you pain and the muscles around it are trying to compensate. You are suffering from fatigue. I suggest one week bed rest." He then mutters something in Chinese to the driver, writes me a script and sends me on my way.


Driver says something to the interpreter. "He struggles from the same pain" she explains to me, "you really should rest." Wish I could, but this is deadline week, so no such luck. We then get my prescriptions: one is for a muscle relaxant cream, the other for arthritis pills (not really sure how fatigue is cured by arthritis pills, so I have decided not to take them) and I'm dropped off at home.