The Chinese Hospital Ordeal

I went in to the hospital outpatient center on January 12th to get my cast off. They re-x-rayed my bones to see that everything had healed correctly. By the time I got back down from Radiology, there was a surgeon waiting in the room to tell me "You need to have surgery, and you'll have to stay in the hospital for ten days."

The reason we think it broke again is because it was very swollen when they out the first cast on. It was slipping quite a bit by the time we went to Harbin and the swelling was down. When we pulled off my thermal shirt that had a rather tight cuff it hurt. We are guessing that the cast may have actually done the final damage. It was never out of the cast and it was in the right olace when they x-rayed after they put the cast on so we can't figure what or when else.

I told them I needed to go home and take care of things first. When I was home, I called my student to tell her I could not tutor her nephews the next day. I ended up crying on the phone and asked her if she could come to the hospital with me. She said she would, and came right over. When she got to the apartment, she started packing all of the things I would need like toilet paper, food, cleaning supplies, pillows, blankets, linens, and a dish to carry hot water in from down the hall. None of these items are provided in the hospital! How would I have known without her help?

With my student's help, I got checked into the hospital and was in surgery by 4:30. They missed my vein with the IV, so for the entire time of the surgery, fluids were being pumped into my right hand. As you might imagine, it swelled up and bruised.

There were two surgeons, one whose job was to put his entire weight on my arm to keep the fluids from returning. It was very painful to have his entire body weight on me for 90 minutes. I was laying on a bed with a cloth hung above my head to block my view. They used a local anesthetic, so I was able to hear the drilling. Fortunately, the operating room was clean. That and the front lobby seemed to be the only clean places in the hospital. These are pictures of the hospital lobby. It was redone for the Olympics, and as you can see, it is beautiful. You will see the contrast in the pictures of my room further down.

This Xray is the one showing the crumbled bone pieces (highlighted area) in the first cast.

This is the Xray with the pin and the spikes that hold the pieces together.

By the time the surgery was done, the Xray techs had gone home for the night, so the two surgeons wheeled me to take my x rays, and then wheeled me to my room. There, they made my cast on the floor and poured the extra plaster down the sink.

I was hurting the evening of the surgery, not from the surgery itself but from the swollen right hand where they had missed the vein, the intense pressure that had been put on on my arm and hand, the hard board bed my back and particularly tailbone were on and and piercing headache that I assume was a result of the numbing injections. My Chinese student asked if I could get something for pain and the nurse said, "No, it does bad things to your brain and body" so I didn't even have the help of a Tylenol.

There I lay on a Chinese mattress, which is very similar to a box spring, unable to move my left arm because it was in a cast, and unable to move my right arm because it was hooked to IVs. The Chinese believe in many days of IV treatment with 8 hours a day of electrolytes and antibiotics being pumped into the system. Mike spent the first night in the hospital with me on a child size cot which his legs hung over. Needless to say, he didn't get any sleep that night.

These kids were my roommates. They spoke no English, but were very kind to me. Every time I started to move to get something, the boy would jump up and get it for me, or call the nurses for me, and they always tried to share their food with me. The girl had been in a horrible bus accident and had been in the hospital for months. He would sleep at the foot of the bed, and she at the head. I got to watch Chinese TV with them for five straight days! She was at the point that she could leave during the day to go shopping, but had to return to the hospital at night. Strange system. I didn't ever see a doctor check on her in five days.

These are pictures of the room & bath. You really probably need to zero in to see the filth and rust. The flowers on the left are mine. The only "cleaning" that took place the entire time I was there was when someone came around with a rag wrapped around a brush and swept off the sheets. The rag was not changed between beds.

The next morning, they tried three more times to get the IV into my bruised, swollen hand. I cried when I thought of staying in this filthy place for ten more days where no one understands me. the nurse saw me crying and said "Don't English. Be happy." That was one of two times I heard English. The other was when a nurse said "Up your arm" when she was trying to ask me to lift my arm.

This is Meng, my life saver. After four days in the hospital, I called my friend Kathy to see if she thought her friend Meng could help get me out of the hospital sooner. Meng is a Chemistry professor at the college, and after meeting on a bus one day, they became fast friends. Meng's husband is a doctor who works at another hospital. She spent the entire day at the hospital working with the doctors. Her husband even called the surgeons. She explained that I was leaving on a twenty day trip and would not be able to do 10 days of IV, or wear the large cast. Because of her, I got out the next day and got the cast cut way down. She called to check on me yesterday and said she would like to help me remodel my coat so it would fit over my cast.

One of the surgeons treating the wound. He is also the one who finally cut the cast down for me.

The surgery requiring 10 days in the hospital w/ IVs, a 5 lb. cast and insanity

The 5 lb cast to the elbow. It is more like a shell that my hand sits in so that it can be unwrapped the wound treated and the stitches removed. The bottom is still the same but it is now about 6" shorter and about half of the weight thanks to Meng.

Sister Kim, a Korean sister from our Branch and her niece. They brought roses, the best chocolate cake I have had in China, drove me home from the hospital, took me down again the next morning for my IVs and brought bananas and oranges to the house.

My student who helped me pack also spent eight hours the first day helping to translate. My friend Ryan (who we met on the bus), also spent time translating and brought in food.

The celebration. That was the fourth and final IV for the day before they let me come home and sleep and rest for the final day. the one in the blue is my neighbor, Kathy. I don't know what I would have done w/o her. She brought me lunch every day, washed my hair, and even clipped my toenails. She was just marvelous.

And Mike has just been unbelievable, doing dishes, laundry, errands, and all on no sleep. I really couldn't ask for a better partner.

I can't forget mentioning Roger and Jane in the helpful people. They called from Utah every day.
Everyone has been so loving and so helpful. I am so excited to be free and ready to to on our trip!