Monday, October 3, 2011

My visit to an Indian public hospital!

So I've had an upset stomach for about 4-5 days but yesterday evening it got really bad and accompanied by a high fever, chills, etc. I was shivering under a thick blanket (and it's not cold here) and having to get up once or twice an hour to use the bathroom. Each time I woke up it felt like I'd been in bed fighting it for an eternity and I kept thinking that it's morning, even though it'd only been half an hour to an hour since I last woke! Very demoralising! I went downstairs at about 1am to get some more water.. I felt so dehydrated and my head was pounding. Luckily I'm staying in a family guesthouse and not just a hotel, because the family took very good care of me. They thought it was best that they take me to hospital and I was so run down that I agreed.
First we went to the private hospital but when we walked into reception it was dark and there was no-one there except a random patient sleeping on bed. So then we went to the public hospital. The place was pretty filthy... if it was a hostel, I wouldn't have stayed there. There was even a few motorbikes parked inside. Spoke to a doctor for a while and then I had to get an injection. Was shown to a bed; wasn't your normal white hospital bed.. it was a dirty dark green fabric with used cotton balls and a used syringe just casually sitting there! I started to freak out a bit then.. I'd beaten my syringe phobia back home but this was just too much. Next I had to go and get a blood test. Obviously no-one has a phobia of syringes in India because when I walked into the room there were syringes and vials of blood EVERYWHERE! Managed to get through it all, the guesthouse guys were lovely and held my hand through the injection and blood test. Got back to the guesthouse about 2am and thankfully the injection and medicines were working wonders and I was able to sleep! Brilliant! Feeling a lot better today but still very weak.

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