Taiwanese Social Medicine

  It was bound to happen: 3 boys + irrepressible needs to climb and test the laws of physics = an eventual trip to the doctor's to get stitches…staples in this case.

Avoiding that math equation for nearly 8 years was good fortune. Having this situation come to fruition half way around the world with barely a month of Taiwanese life under my belt was direct karma coming from all that Ben put his mother through as a child!

Theo did decide to go easy on me though and chose his moment of crisis very carefully. While my Chinese tutor and I were in the middle of our lesson he decided to step into his 1-foot-long dump truck for a ride which unfortunately ended with a head bang on the balcony door runner.

Lots of angry screaming cries, some blood (but not terrible) and no real concern for a concussion. On familiar turf I probably would have just cleaned it with my organized medicine cabinet supplies, called his nurse and gotten a recommendation for the best way to keep it clean and not get infected.

On foreign turf, with a very respected, very used social medicine network, along with a very concerned, very eager to help tutor, I ended up being driven to take him to the ER of the nearest hospital. This decision came after a rather pathetic unveiling of my disorganized medical supplies, a cleanning of wound with contact solution and a failed attempt to concoct a head-dressing that would stay put for longer than 1 minute. Even though the bleeding hadn't been terrible and I questioned whether the wound really needed stitches, I was quite concerned about infection as I witnessed peanut butter fingers touching the wound 10 seconds after they wripped the dressing off. (Bananas and peanut butter as his comfort food, how could I deny him in the midst of everything he was suffering!)

It turned out to be very beneficial to experience the medical scene with the assistance of my tutor and in non-life-threatening circumstances. Amy (my tutor) was yet another heaven-sent angel for me during the whole process and I learned a lot that will come in handy when the next medical crisis rolls around:

1. I can take comfort in the fact that if/when something of this nature occurs, I immediately have at least 5 very concerned, helpful, caring, and linguistically competent people to help me (feelin' the love from our apartment management desk people and the outside guards)!

2. The hospital was impressive: clean, efficient, and trustable service. I received the clarification from Amy that it really was the best place to go (vs. a clinic) for such things. And with social medicine, no worries about the cost.

3. I need to always have a copy of all of our Chinese names in my purse. At the registration desk, the lady had quite the struggle to know what to do with Theo's crazy long name listed on his resident card. She said she couldn't input it in the system. Luckily Amy remembered all of our Chinese names (she had done a lesson to help me learn how to introduce my family awhile back.)

4. As you can see on Theo's ankle bracelet (under his Chinese name) I need to remember that Theo was born in the year 100 of the Republic of China's calendar...but no need to know any lunar month conversions, 12/01 still holds true.

5. Theo's blood type was asked for (good thing I had all the boys blood work done right before moving).

6. Even though all medical doctors will speak English to some degree (medical text books are in English apparently) the rate of comprehension could still hover around a strained 50%. (In other words, if at all possible, bring a Chinese-speaking person with me.)

7. Follow-up appointments are automatically made and I was given a receipt with a call number which I'm supposed to bring with me tomorrow morning to wait in line to have his wound checked on. Amy clarified about what time my issued # 30 will come up.

8. Pharmacy items are issued super quickly at the in-hospital pharmacy. Very convenient.

9. ...and we are not in fact, as I had thought, on the Taiwanese medical system yet. That takes place in 6 months from now. So I had to fork over an up-front payment-in-full of NT$2000--that would be a grand total of US$60. Unbelievable! How do they make this beautiful system work?! Doctors must not get sued here.

Amy, bless her heart, is going to pick me up for tomorrow's appointment and we'll call it another field-trip lesson to replace next Tuesday's tutoring session. That was her brilliant idea :)