Doctor's Visit

Yesterday was my first visit to the "hospital."  The Japanese all tend to say "hospital" when sometimes they just mean "clinic" or "doctor's office."

I took two hours off of work so that I could go to the doctor's office early.  They closed for a few hours in the afternoon but opened back up at 3 PM.  I tried to time it so that I would be there right away.  I followed a hand-drawn map to the location, and went into the building.  Good!  There were only two people in front of me!

I handed the nurse a piece of paper that one of the teachers had written for me.  I explained my situation to the teacher in English (since she's an English teacher) and she wrote it out for me in Japanese.  After a few minutes, and after I had filled out all of my information on the contact card, the nurse came out to explain to me that for my "ailment," I was in the wrong building.  She directed me to the next building over.

I took my health card and small sheet of paper to the building at the end of the block, and was sad to find that the waiting room was already packed.  The receptionists took my information (and explanation paper) and told me that it wouldn't be until 5:15 or so that I could get an appointment.  That was two hours away.  They told me that I could go and come back at 5 if I liked, so I decided to call my Japanese teacher and see if she was available to change the time for our lesson.  We had planned to make it later, but unfortunately I had to schedule the doctor's appointment and change everything around.

She said sure, so we had an hour lesson at a fast-food place near the doctor's office.

5:00 came, and I went back to the office to sit and wait with about 15 other people.

I was still waiting around 5:45, wondering if they had called my name and perhaps I didn't hear it. 
I felt stupid for going to the doctor in the first place and wondered if I really needed to be there.  I would probably see the doctor and be sent away.  The reason I went in the first place was because there was a small rash on my hand, itchy and spreading like poison ivy.  I asked a few teachers about the prevalence of poison ivy in Japan, and they didn't really know what I was talking about/said it was not common, especially around here.  That being said they told me that I needed to go to the doctor to have the small rash checked out.  It hadn't gone away after about 2 weeks so I followed their advice.

I was starting to feel neglected, forgotten, invisible, and afraid that I wouldn't have enough Japanese ability to explain the 'rash' situation.

Finally, I heard my name called from the back.  As I made my way to the door, I started to get a little overwhelmed and choked up.  The nurse asked if I could speak Japanese, and I told her I could speak a bit.  I could hear her relaying the information about me to someone in the other room.

Finally the doctor came in.  I was so nervous it would be an old man whose Japanese I wouldn't understand and who wouldn't understand me, but I was emotionally relieved to find a young female doctor enter the room.  Her Japanese was very easy to understand and she made me feel comfortable.

After three hours of waiting, I met with her for literally 5 minutes and was sent back out to reception.  She looked my rash over briefly, made sure I didn't have any allergies and wasn't taking any other medicine.  She told me that I should take medicine X and Y, and then come back in a week.  They made another appointment for me next Monday evening, and gave me a prescription.

I then had to pick up the medicine across the street from the other clinic (the wrong one).  It was my first time in a Japanese pharmacy.  It was small, not like the large ones where you can buy anything, or like any that I had seen in the states.  It was just one room, with a small back area for the medicine


I finally got the medicine, and was able to make it home by 7:30.  Only five hours after leaving work!

It was a very interesting, yet a strangely fulfilling experience.

The next time you do something that you consider part of your everyday life, just thank goodness you don't have to do it all in Japanese. :)

Good night!