Doctor, is there nothing I can take?
...written on 2000-12-26, @ 17:24:27
Tales of Kim's Life in Japan
Tue December 26, 2000
Woke up to coughing and snow stuck on the roofs and the sidewalks. I peered out my window and looked down at the dancing black mushroom umbrellas hoisted by the Japanese making their way gingerly across the street. I took pictures out the front window and went outside to take a picture out the back window.
As my time in a vertical position went on, I began to feel very drained. I decided that I would walk to work as I didn't feel I had the energy to ride my bike.
I walked to work very slowly, bundled up against the snow and cold. I had my new winter boots out for a try and oddly my feet felt cold, but I was too tired to care.
I made it to the Home office and Hide greeted me, not with a "Merry Christmas" or a "Good Afternoon", but rather with a "I thought you were going straight to the Frontier branch at 2:00." I seethed as mightly as I could in my weakened state. The Frontier branch was only two minutes from my apartment compared to the 15 minute walk I'd just made.
I clomped into the office and sat in my desk chair facing the coat rack. I couldn't look at Hide or let the rest of the office on the other side of the windows see my face. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I grabbed a tangerine and began to peel it. I leaned over the trash can as my tears splashed on the discarded fruit skin. I remained silent for 15 minutes. Hide was eating lunch at his desk beside mine. I could feel his eyes watching me.
Splash, splash, sniffle, squirt, sniffle, splash, sniffle, squirt, I went as I ate the tangerine and let my puny sickness take over my mood. I finished the tangerine, wiped my mouth and my eyes, and managed to ask Hide a question about our impending trip to the States in February. My voice was but a hoarse whisper. Hide asked me to repeat myself. I did and asked him a couple more questions.
Then it hit. A hack attack. Coughs racked my frame as I hurriedly twisted my legs together for support against the violent force of them. I was still for a few minutes and then they came again, and again, and again. My face was tomato red and streaked with tears with the effort of trying to scratch the itching in my throat with coughs. In a quiet moment, Hide said, "You don't have to go to work if you don't want to." I turned to him and said, "I can't, I don't have . . ." , before I could finish saying that I had no energy to teach, I was coughing again. Hide suggested that I go to the hospital with Manami, but in the next 3 minutes after seeing me in severe distress, he offered to take me himself.
I climbed into his van and we headed to the clinic down from my apartment. They started taking appointments at 2:30pm. It was 2:00, so it was possible that we would be one of the first ones there.
We parked in the 6 car parking lot and went into the building. We took off our shoes and put on the green plastic slippers which had the hospital's name emblazoned in gold kanji on them. We went up the stairs. A nurse was vaccuuming the waiting room and told us to come on in. We were the first ones there.
Hide signed me in. The nurse gave him a thermometer. Hide told me to put the thermometer in my armpit directly against my skin. I snaked my hand underneath my coat, my down jacket, my black sweater, my purple sweater and my black turtleneck and placed the thermometer in my armpit. Hide said it would beep when it was done. I heard it beep, took it out and handed it to Hide. It read 36.8. I asked Hide what normal was and he said "36", so mine was just a little high. We sat and waited on the couch. Four other people came in. Hide studied for his big English grammar test. I tried to smother my coughs. I felt really bad about spewing potential germs everywhere, but I finally rushed to the bathroom and coughed my head off.
Finally we were called in to speak with the Doctor. Hide explained what was happening with me and the Dr. asked if I'd ever had a big illness. I told him about my gall bladder operation in '89. He asked Hide to ask me to spell that for him. The Dr. asked if I was allergic to anything, I said "No.". The Dr. asked me to pull up my shirt, but the nurse had to help me wrestle off my coat, my down jacket, and my black sweater first. Then together we lifted up my purple sweater and black turtleneck as the Dr. poked me with his stethoscope and Hide looked away at the plastic room separator. The Dr. motioned for me to stand up and with a sweep of his hand said in English, "Please lie down on your back". Again, light prods with the stethoscope.
The Dr. told Hide that I had a bad cold and needed medicine and rest. The nurse led us into another room where she prepared a breathing treatment for me. I sat there for 5 minutes inhaling salty tasting plumes of mist. After that we got the medicine at the front desk, I paid $10 and Hide said I could go home and rest. He said if I felt really bad I could return to the clinic. "Yeah, " I said, "me and my dictionary." Hide smiled and said, "The Dr. could speak a little English." I laughed and said, "Right, 'Please lie down on your back'. I wonder where he learned that?"
So, here I am after a grilled pepper, onion and swiss cheese sandwich (the cold hasn't killed my appetite in the least) with my legs under the kotatsu. I took the medicine, but it hasn't helped the coughing yet. I think shall nap for a while if I can manage to ignore the loud speaker announcement commercial going on outside my window.
Toodles.