Being sick in a foreign country...

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I have to admit I have not been taking the best care of myself lately. As my dad knows (and often reminds me of) when I am at home, I have a tendency to "burn the candle at both ends" and wear myself out. Well doing too much finally caught up with me on Saturday. I woke up exhausted after a full night sleep and all day at work my muscles were aching and my energy levels were really low. It didn't help that I had a special Easter Kids Event to start the day off...I love teaching kids but it is definitely exhausting.

Saturday evening I went to bed early and woke up late (forgoing my usual morning run) to get as much rest as possible. It was pouring rain so I decided to take the train to work, but even doing that I still had to walk about 20 minutes in pouring rain and humidity to work. I loaded up on vitamin drinks during the day, but felt as though my body had been beaten by the endof the work day. After work I stopped in a drug store and a nice pharmacist who spoke a little english helped me find some cold medicine that I could take during the day and not get drowsy and some medicine I could take to get a better night sleep. I walked home and rummaged up just enough energy to make dinner and then passed out at about 7pm! I woke up sweating three or four times because of a fever but I was freezing at the same time. I didn't get out of bed until this morning at 8 am...13 hours of sleep but still exhausted. I look like a football player because the glands in my neck are so swollen and my neck hurts to the touch.

I contemplated trying to go to work today but decided to call in sick and try to go see a doctor. Luckily, I have Japanese medical insurance and contacted JMA. They found a walk in clinic near my house with an English speaking doctor. I rode my bike to the clinic this morning and they were so wonderful!!!! Seeing the doctor in Japan is just the same as seeing the doctor in the states, except when they take your temperature, they put the thermometer under your armpit instead of under your tongue or in your ear. The doctor and the nurses were so accomadating and were all helping to translate and explain what was going on. They did a blood test and found that I have a bacterial infection and gave me 4 different pills to take 3 times a day for 4 days. One is an antibiotic, another is for my cold symptoms, another is for stomach ache and another is for swollen glands and sore throat. It wasn't cheap, it cost 9700 yen, but I don't even care because as long as this stuff helps, it is worth the money.

I may be being a big baby but let me tell you, being sick in a foreign country where you don't know where to get medicine and even when you find medicine you can't read it, is not very fun. I have not been so homesick or felt so helpless in my entire stay in Japan as I have in the past few days. When your sick and tired all you want is the comforts of the familiar so you can feel better.

A couple good things have come out of this though; I know that JMA is a reliable and efficient (I called at 9 am and was walking out of the doctor's office at 11 am with medicine) source of medical assistance and as I said earlier I have not been very good about taking care of myself lately, so I think this experience will ensure that I do a better job of that in the future so I don't get sick again.

Being sick also makes me realize how lucky I am to be healthy most of the time and to not have any major health complications. I often take for granted that my health permits me to do so many things; live in a foreign country, exercise regularly, and just enjoy the world around me without much pain or hardship. Health truly is a blessing and I hope to be more concious of that.

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Comments

[Mer]

Hey!
I just ran into your dad at Costco and he told me about your site--thanks for writing about your experiences (never been to Japan, but now I can just experience it through you and see your awesome pics!!) Take extra good care of yourself--your health is priceless :) Keep the stories coming!