Back to the Doc

I went back to the foot doc yesterday. This is the third trip this week, but the first time on my own. When we went on Sunday, the doctor we met was a young, very knowledgeable young guy with good communication skills in English (paired with my limited Japanese, we didn't have many issues talking). Miwa and I later learned his family owned the hospital and his younger brother is also a doctor there.

Well, after seeing the older doctor twice, I met his younger brother yesterday, who tended to my toe. I arrived and checked in, waited in the lounge for a while and then was called in. The younger brother was probably around 30, but spoke really good English and had actually been to a medical conference in Madison, Wisconsin and had a friend who was just doing research at the University of Minnesota. We chatted about the Mayo Clinic and his friends from Singapore who have been visiting for the last week (his excuse for why his English was in "top form"). We only used Japanese for the first 10 minutes or so (the health lesson I did armed me with lot of good vocabulary!), but spent the rest of the time using English or a blend of the two languages. The nurse was the same nurse I had met on the other two occasions, as well.

We took off my bandages and surveyed the toe. It looks pretty nasty still (like a flesh wound out of a zombie movie), but the pain is gone and I don't have to be on antibiotics (or the stomach meds) anymore. I was in a sour mood about not being able to run (so no marathon next month), wear shoes (thankfully relatively warm enough for flip-flops now) and not going on the snowboarding trip to Nagano this weekend at the beginning of the week, but now that the information has settled (I mean, what are you going to do?), I am feeling much better. Focus is on making sure I'll be OK for the trip next week!

As I was leaving, the doctor asked me when I wanted to come back again. I kind of laughed and asked him when I had to come back. His response? Every day until I leave for Cambodia next week! Oh, Japan! I might seem funny for a doctor to ask a patient when they want to come in, but it should not have phased me so much; I've heard of doctors here asking patients what kind of meds they want prescribed. It's not necessarily malpractice or a lack of experience, either, it's just a different medical culture. It's also common to go to the hospital for "minor" ailments here and they will often only give you 2-4 days of meds (some say it's because of docs over-prescribing in the past, but most people say it's because of the insurance money). In any case, the hospital I am going to is really good, but it's far, so that's not a very realistic option to go everyday (or that often) without a car. I could go to a closer clinic at this point, but I like these doctors and there is a first visit fee at most places, so I came up with a compromise to come in twice before going to SE Asia. The doc also asked if I would have access to a hospital in Cambodia if I have problems, but we're going to be on the go and in a rural area (and I don't know what the treatment is like there...it's cultural to go a lot here and it's sterile...but...). I told him it's not an option, hoping he was asking because he expected me to go in every day there, but I'll find out what the situation will be next week.

I guess when the hospital visit fee comes to ￥３１５ (three dollars?!) after the first time (ok, and with national insurance), it could be worse...