Ultrasounds Aren't Just For Pregnant Women...

This past week was a little rough for me. I woke up Wednesday feeling horrible. Managed to slog through that day and then was still feeling horrible all day Thursday. Things got worse Thursday evening so I headed to Nonthavej Hospital (right next to The Mall). My roommate Nathan came with which was much appreciated. I met with a doctor, failed a urine test, and it was decided I had a bladder infection. I was sent back to main floor to get an IV with some sort of antibiotic drug in it. After giving another urine test, the nurse told me the IV would take 45 minutes but it took 1.5 hours. The hospital seemed pretty clean and modern and very well staffed. Nurses everywhere. Some wear these sweet hats and some speak some English. Three nurses were getting the IV started and one of them started shaking the IV bag and I noticed a bunch of air bubbles coming down the tube. I had heard that air bubbles in the blood can kill you so I was a little worried. I pointed to a bubble and asked the nurse if that was ok and she said yes. When a different nurse came I asked her and she said it was ok and then I pointed to a bigger bubble and then she said "no no" and then she sucked the bubbles out with a syringe and I felt much better. I got to the hospital around 7:15 and didn't leave till about 10:45. The doctor said I had to go back for another IV on Friday and Saturday and then a checkup on Sunday. So Friday I took the bus to the hospital (about 45 minutes). This time I got my own little room on a different floor, but it took 3 hours this time for the IV to go through. At least this time my headache was gone enough so I could read a book. After a couple of hours I asked a nurse how much longer it would take and she told me about 10 minutes and laughed a bit. Later, I had to go to the bathroom so I had to call the nurses using a cordless phone they gave me. The nurse who answered didn't speak English but passed it onto another nurse and she said she would be just a moment. But I think she forgot and a while later an only Thai-speaking nurse came in and had to get an English-speaking nurse. I ended up having to walk behind her attached by the IV cord which I'm sure made a silly sight. Saturday I had to be there by 3 for another IV and this one only took two hours and was fairly uneventful. Back again this morning for another urine test. I guess my white blood cell count in the urine was 10-20 (not sure the units) instead of 1.2. I then was instructed to drink water until my bladder was full and then a nurse took me to another floor where I had to get an ultrasound taken of my 2 kidneys and my bladder. They rub this weird jelly on you before doing the ultrasound. She let me see my bladder which was pretty sweet. They said my kidneys and bladder looked ok so the doctor gave a 10 day supply of some antibiotic for me to take twice a day and now I gotta go back next Sunday for another urine test. Hopefully everything will be better by then so I don't have to go back again. So I wasted much of my weekend going back and forth from the hospital and now I'm feeling pretty stressed about this upcoming week. Another bummer is that I was supposed to go see Real Madrid (the team with David Beckam) play against the Thai soccer team but I had to go to the hospital instead; but oh well, mai pen rai. I'm thankful Thailand has pretty decent hospitals and I'm thankful that I'm feeling much better now than I was before. But I should try to get to bed soon so I can get the week started with a bit of sleep.