Hospital Visit
I spent all morning at the Ito Hospital. It was horrible. I arrived at 8:00am just as it opened. It took about 10 minutes for me to register as a patient. By that stage I was already number 267 on the waiting list. I went up to the waiting room and managed to find a chair. I was very lucky as the room, which probably held around 200 people comfortably, was already holding more than 300 patients and whatever family members they had brought with them. And it got worse. By 9:00am I reckon there were more than 500 people in that room. It was getting difficult to see the monitors or to work out how to get through the crowds to reach the examination rooms.
When I finally got to see a doctor he didn’t completely agree with the opinion of the doctor I had seen the day before. Both agree that I have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. But they disagree as to how serious my hypothyroidism is. So I got to wait for another 3 hours to have another ultrasound done. How different can it be to the one that was done on Wednesday afternoon?
I have to go back on the 10th January for more blood tests, another ultrasound and maybe a biopsy. On the plus side that’s nearly a whole month without having to see a doctor.
December 15th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
All of this sounds horrible and I hope very much that you are treated quickly and that you don’t have to see a doctor every few weeks.
Also, I think it’s funny that they gave you medicine for a cold. What could they give you? It’s a virus. Do they just treat the symptoms?
December 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I think they just treat the symptoms. It was hard for me to tell what they were giving me. It’s a strange white powder which I assume is supposed to lower my temperature. It’s described as a non-pyrine cold preparation…
I too hope I don’t have to see a doctor too often as I find the whole experience quite stressful. I suppose it’s not really the doctor that stresses me but trying to understand the system that surrounds seeing the doctor which is all in Japanese.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Gosh, that all sounds rather tricky… as they say – hospital’s are no place for the sick! Hope you’re feeling better soon. Also your assessed condition appears to have a local (to you) link… there’s irony! 🙂
December 16th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Yeah. When I mentioned it to some people they thought I was giving them the name of the disease in Japanese.
Soon I’ll have to start explaining that it wasn’t something I caught in Japan…