Hospital Trip

Today was a rather interesting day. I cut my hand on some glass while we were at the club last night and didn't think much of it at the time. I showed Dr. Li my cut during class and he told me that I needed to go to the hospital right away. I left class early with Beth to go see the doctor at the biggest hospital I have ever been to. It was a very different from any hospital experience I have had back in the states. When Beth and I got into the emergency room it was very weird for me. There was a man in critical condition in the room next to me. I overheard the doctor talking to his family and Beth translated what he said for me. The doctor told the man's family that he was hopeless. It was a terrible experience and I was very surprised to see that all the doors in the emergency room were open. I saw several kids getting their stomachs pumped and all sorts of other things. It really surprised me how much different the privacy at Chinese hospitals is compared to the United States. Once the doctor arrived in my room he told Beth right away that I needed stiches and then asked her what time I had cut my hand last night. Apparently it was too late for me to get stiches because it had been more than eight hours since I cut my hand. The doctor spread my cut open and cleaned it with alcohol and a q tip which was painful to say the least. He then bandaged me up, gave me a few shots, and then told me to keep it dry and constantly covered. Overall it was a very weird experience that I did not expect to have to deal with while in China.