Monday, September 19, 2005

The scary things doctors say

Generally speaking I am afraid of doctors in this country.
Some of this fear has to do with language difficulty. A lot of this fear has to do with the continuing old age belief that doctors are always right and should never be second-guessed.
They are also never held accountable for their screw-ups.

Li is at the hospital as I write this. He is getting his wisdom teeth pulled.

The original belief that 50bucks a tooth was cheap has been fading away. Due to the fact that nothing is ever done in one day, Li is now on his third unpaid holiday to get his teeth done. The first day was just talking and a health check, the second day was paper work. Now, the third day, is pulling.
He is not looking forward to it.

Li is one of these people that you hear about who has NEVER BEEN TO A DENTIST!
The first time he saw one was early last year when I literally dragged him in screaming to get his tobacco stained teeth scaled. A painless, but bloody process.
He has since gotten his teeth scaled twice and has not required any work. He has never had a cavity and the doc said he has perfect teeth.

The word ‘bastard’ comes to mind when I think of my cavity filled, root canal capped teeth. Grrrr.

Anyway,
He has been convinced by every one to get his wisdom teeth pulled. He is a little nervous, so has been asking everyone about his or her experiences. He has wanted to be fully prepared.
Things were fine until his second trip to the hospital last week. Here, for some reason, the dentist does not do the pulling, the hospital does.
Well he had his health check and all was fine. He now had to sign papers saying he wouldn’t sue anyone.

Hmm.
He is sitting across from the doctor and the doctor is saying:

-Sometimes people go numb in their chin area after.
=Really?
-Usually it is only for a few hours, but for some it can be a few days, others forever.
=I have never heard of this.
-Yes, and sometimes after people have problems with water coming out their nose when they drink.
=Really?
-Yes. But only sometimes.

(Li is sitting there with a very passive, raised eyebrows look on his face.)

=If this happens I would think that the doctor has made a pretty big mistake.
-NO,NO,NO sometimes this happens.
=Really… (in a very sarcastic tone)

Li never signed the papers right away. He told the doctor he would call on Friday about whether he would go through with it or not.

Well he is going through with it.

They also wanted him to spend the night and sit on an IV drip all night. They really like IV drips in this country. They prescribe it for basically EVERYTHING.
Li told them, no thanks. He could head home and deal with thing. (Hell I did no problems.) He just told his boss that if he is dying from pain he isn’t going to work tomorrow.
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Posted by (Top)Andrea::9/19/2005 :: 2 Comments:

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