14--Chinese Medicine


We met Mr Su at his door at about 7:45 and we walked over to the main street together. We got on the bus and went to the mainhospital. I had seen it often, but never went inside, for obvious reasons. Hospitals are for sick people.

Interestingly enough, the hospital is constructed the same way as any other public building here. Concrete floors, marble or stone staircases, high gloss paints, probably lead based, doors painted yellow, and the whole thing is very sparsely furnished with very simple wooden furniture, also painted yellow. In the hallways there are rows of green plastic seats attached to the walls, obviously for people to wait there. There was very little heat and no lights were on.

We went into the Chinese Medicine unit on the third floor, and I expected a lot more than was actually there. There were some people in white coats sitting at the simple desks, and we walked through that room. The room adjacent to it was the acupuncture room, and that's where my doctor, Dr Tian, was waiting. There were four beds set up for treatments, and one of them was occupied with a man who had acupuncture needles in his lower back. There seemed to be some wires hooked up to them, and I soon found out what that was all about.

I was asked to sit on the little stool, and the doctor started touching my back to see what the problem was. Since there was no severe pain when he touched the spine and shoulder bones, he decided the problem was in the muscles, which I confirmed. Having had this for many years, I know it's a soft tissue problem. So he recommended that I have both the acupuncture as well as massage.

So I laid down on the table, but they decided that I should take off one of my sweaters. That left me in my sexy long underwear, but I was on my stomach, and they covered me up with coats and sweaters to keep warm.

There is no privacy here, no curtains around the beds, no doctor leaving the room while you undress. They all just go on about their business while you get yourself ready. (I have confirmed, however, that old Chinese women don't wear bras.) People's buttocks show if their needles are in that area, and no one is embarassed about it.

There was not much time required to assess where the needles had to go, and before I knew it, the alcohol was swobbed on and I had six needles in my back. Then he attached the wires, by way of paperclips, to two of the needles, one on the lower right, the other on the upper left. He turned the knobs on his little machine and asked if I could feel the pulsing, and I said I could. Then he moved the heat lamps so that they kept the area warm. They left me that way for about half an hour.

Meanwhile, I watched as he was massaging the man next to me, after the needles had been removed from his back. The massage is done while the patient is dressed, not on the bare skin. Dr. Tian is fairly tall, I'd put him close to 6 feet, and he has huge shoulders. Definitely a football player type. He does this massaging on a daily basis, so his hands are extremely strong.

Then it was my turn for the massage. First while I was still lying down on my stomach, he worked the back all along the spine. Wow, he really worked those muscles! The massage is not done the same way as ones I've had at home. He employs all parts of his hands, not just the fingers. First he uses his index finger and thumb to run all along the spine with small circular motions. Then he rubs up and down the back and then uses his knuckles along the shoulder area.

Next I had to sit on one of the wooden stools and he did the shoulders and arms. He uses circular motion on the shoulders and then grabs your hand to stretch out the arm. First he rubs the upperside with circular motions while he moves up and down the arm, then he rubs the bottom side with the back of his hand. After a while, he gives a little squeeze on about four spots, the shoulder joint, the upper arm about 4 or 5 inches below the shoulder, the elbow and the wrist. Then he rubs the back of the hand and the fingers. Finally he does this funky snapping thing with the fingers, and gives sort of a shakedown rub on the relaxed arm. Whatever he does, it seems to work. After the massage you feel so invigorated but at the same time relaxed.

The next day Mr Su came with us again, but we were introduced to a young female doctor, an occulist, who was studying English. She was preparing to go to Tanzania to do eye surgeries there and she welcomed the opportunity to speak with us. Mr Su also came with me the third day, which was a Monday. Because Dick has four classes that day, he couldn't come along, so it was just Mr Su and myself. But now it was decided that the young doctor would be able to translate for us, and Mr Su didn't need to come along. Lu, as she likes to be called, would be happy to come and spend some time talking to us.

She was a lady in her thirties, well dressed and always ready with a big smile. Her husband is a physician in this hospital as well, and they have a nine year old son. (I found out later that her husband used to practice in the emergency ward, but now he does teaching and consulting.) She told us that their son plays the piano and they had just purchased a new one for him. We mentioned that Dick plays, and she invited us to come to her apartment so Dick could have an opportunity to play again. The electronic keyboard is nice, but not the same as the real thing. It was decided that we would go on Sunday, after the treatment.

After my second treatment, Mr Su decided that since we were all off that day, it would be a good opportunity to see the Chinese Medicine Unit at the hospital. So we walked down the hallway and down the stairs. We ended up having to go outside and around the back of the building to enter the room where the Chinese medicines are kept. It's run like a pharmacy, and has a window where people hand over their prescriptions. The doctor in charge then prepares the concoctions and sells them to the patients.

Two of the walls of this room were lined with small drawers that contained medicinal ingredients. Everything from roots, berries, horns and shells, to mineral powders were stored in these drawers. We opened a few to see what was inside, and at one point Mr Su brought out a plastic bag with a rack of small snakes. Not sure what they use them for, but they are definitely not for the squeamish. There were all kinds of things that Dick would have loved to take home: scales, mortars and pestles, a large grinding wheel operated by footpower for the really hard substances. There were also many packages of prepared items. We were told that a lot of the medicines are mass produced in controlled environments, it's a better product that way, and
obviously cheaper in the long run.

When we first arrived in the room, only the female doctor was there, but a short while later, two male doctors arrived. They all were very willing to explain things to us and show us whatever we wanted to see. The one thing I found very interesting was a package that contained two silk covered boxes. Each of them would sell for 150 Yuan and had a round ball inside, apparently made of wax. Inside this wax ball is only one pill. It's quite expensive, but the Chinese people feel it's very important to have around. Apparently it can reduce the most severe fevers. Mr Su told us of a young man who died (possibly meningitis?) because he did not have access to one of these pills.

At one point one of the young doctors was filling a prescription and measured some roots on the small scale. Then he proceeded to grind them up with the mortar and pestle, and then it went into a paper bag for the patient.

Some of these medicines will be administered as a tea to be cooled and drank on several occasions during the day, some as a plaster, and probably there are other methods. It is imperative that the doctor's instructions are followed to the tee to ensure the utmost results. The benefit of Chinese medicine, in comparison to conventional medicine, is that there aren't the serious side effects. But I mentioned that if the medicine is taken incorrectly, it could also produce adverse effects, and they agreed. Most of the doctors will prescribe a combination of conventional as well as traditional medicines. We have experienced that even with cold medicines. We get pills that are similar to Contac-C, as well as packages of a herbal tea mixture. The cough syrups have a tendency to be herbal, and can include snake bile or other such unappetizing ingredients. Whatever that is supposed to do for you, I can tell you that it works!

After our tour of the Chinese Medicine unit, we went out the back door and into the alley. Guess what's across the alley? A funeral home. Seems kind of handy, don't you think. In a discussion with Mr Su later, we did confirm that most burials are now done by cremation, simply because there isn't any room for standard graves. So now we think that each one of those mounds behind our apartment is probably for a family, not just one person. That would make more sense, anyway. We have also seen graves right in the middle of farm fields, which is where they probably bury the farmers and their families.

So, now that we were back out on the street, and the weather was quite nice, it would be good to go for a walk. Mr Su asked about Dick's teeth, and I confirmed that we did want to have them repaired or replaced as quickly as possible.

We walked through one of the market streets and over to the other hospital. Next to the hospital was a small shop that turned out to be a dentist. There was a dentist chair right by the entrance, and there was a man in it having some work done by the younger of two dentists. Behind that chair, there were a couple more chairs, and the last one was for dentures and partial plates. The older man was actually a denturist, and Mr Su went to talk to him. He quoted us some prices, which are based on how many teeth you need. The teeth are imported from Germany. We had originally thought to just get a new plate for Dick, and based on the prices that would have turned out to be much cheaper than getting them at home, but the dentist said that he could repair the existing one. One thing about the Chinese people is that they are very frugal.

So, we waited while he worked on it, grinding and heating and buffing and whatever else he was doing. He added some new wires to strengthen the plate, and cleaned them up as best he could. For 50 Yuan we walked out of there about an hour later with the denture repaired.

Now when it comes to dentistry, I wasn't so impressed. I was seated on the bench across from the first dentist chair while the repairs were going on, and watched the dentist at work. He seemed to do a good enough job on the dentistry, but it's the hygiene that I was concerned about. Being so close to the opening door, and not having running water close by, it left something to be desired. Also, I'm not sure that the instruments were cleaned between patients. I decided that I would not have my teeth worked on here, so it's a good thing I wasn't having any problems in that department. I have a feeling that the dentistry department in the hospital was probably a lot better, especially since there is an atomizing room right next door to it.

After two or three of my acupuncture treatments, Dick decided that he should ask the doctor about the numbness in his fingers. Dr. Tian looked at him and said that he would need a CT scan because he suspected that the neck bones were too close together and possibly pinching a nerve. Lu told us that we could come the next day after 5 and they would do a scan for him. Her husband, who was there that day, said the cost for a scan is 250 Yuan. Wow, we said to ourselves, no waiting and cheap too. Imagine how long we'd have to wait at home to have that done.

So, the next day our appointment was about 5:15 and while I was having my acupuncture, Dick went downstairs with Lu and had a scan. No waiting, but we found out later that they were serving him after hours. But what they didn't understand is that at home we would have been put on a waiting list and probably waited for months. Another one of those advantages of being a foreigner in China.

During the time that Dick was having his scan, another doctor from the hospital, an ENT specialist, visited with me. I talked to him and moved around quite a bit. I found out that I shouldn't have done that. I wasn't nearly as comfortable that day, and when Lu came back, she was also concerned about my skin being red from the heat lamps. Little do they know that it happens very easily in us fair people, and I really wasn't burning.

But, because the doctor had to look at Dick's CT scan, and he had a lot of patients that day, my needles stayed in a little longer than usual. After he took them out, he was really concerned with the fact that it was bleeding quite a bit. He warned me that it could leave a bruise. I told him that fair skinned people have a tendency to bruise easily, and showed him the bruise on my upper arm caused by his squeezing it. This bleeding may also have been caused by my moving around so much. I laughed it off and told them I was OK.

The scan showed what the doctor suspected, and the treatment for Dick would start the following day. That was a Thursday, and we made the appointment for early afternoon. He did my treatment as usual, and Dick got his needles in the back of the neck area. After we both got our pummelling, we went back home to find out that Dick's class is not at 3:50 but at 2:50. He had missed half of it, but he went to teach them anyway. A short class is better than none at all, and no one seems to worry about it too much around here.

On Friday after teaching the normal school classes, we asked Bill to tell the driver to drop us off at the hospital for our appointment. He did so, but seemed concerned and asked if he should come along. We told him there was no need, but he could if he wanted to. He came. He and Lu had a conversation in Chinese while we had our treatments, and Bill walked us to the bus stop. We told him that we had some friends who were having a grand opening of their restaurant, and invited Bill to come with us. He did, and we all got on the bus.

We arrived at Mork and Mindy's new place and introduced Bill. They showed us around, all three floors of the place, and then we went downstairs to a small table by the window. They asked us what we wanted to eat and we asked them to surprise us. Well, they did! What a fabulous meal we got, and on the house too.

Then a couple of young entertainers came into the room and started singing to the other table. Apparently it was 2 Yuan per song, so we had them do a couple of tunes for us, some traditional ethnic songs. The guy had a pretty good voice and he played the guitar. The girl mostly held the microphone, but she did help out with some singing. After a fabulous meal, Bill walked us to the corner, and we said our goodbyes.

Sunday our appointment was at three, and we both received our treatments as usual. Lu was there, and afterwards we walked home with her. She had told us that her husband was at home preparing for us to make dumplings. She lives in an apartment that is only a couple of blocks from the hospital. We arrived at her building and went up to the second floor. She had apologized that her place is quite small, but we found it to be a very comfortable apartment. They had two bedrooms, a bathroom with a western toilet and a bath tub, a small but cozy living room, a laundry/washing room and behind that a small kitchen.

Lu's son had a little friend over and they were playing computer games, making noise like all little boys like to do. We smiled, it was so good to hear. When we sat down on the living room sofa, Lu's son came into the room and brought out an apple peeling machine. He peeled an apple for each of us, and even used the sharp knife to remove any apple skin that had not been removed by the peeler. He had obviously been taught by his father (the doctor!) to cut away from himself, and I found him to be very accomplished at it. We enjoyed the apples while having our conversation with Lu and her husband.

We were shown how to make dumplings, and managed to actually get them put together, but the shape of ours was quite a bit different from theirs. Oh well, they would still taste the same. No one minded, they just said it was a different technique.

Then we heard the little boy play the piano. He was doing a study, and Dick said that the kid had very good timing, possibly due to the six months of violin lessons he had had the previous year. The other boy also played a little bit, and then they allowed Dick to sit down at the piano. It had been eight months since the last time he played a real piano, so it took a few minutes for him to get the feel of it, but then he played a few tunes. The little boys thought it was great, and I noticed the little one pointing at Dick's feet on the pedals. They were in awe of him and Lu's son apparently said "He's better than my piano teacher". It was so cute, and Dick really enjoyed playing. The piano was an upright, but it had a very rich sound, really close to the grand we have at home.

Now the dumplings were ready to eat, and we were asked to come to the living room and have our meal. It was good to have this simple meal with these wonderful people. They are well educated, but still so down to earth. They care more about people here, not so much about stuff.

About halfway through our meal, the little boy's parents came in and we were introduced. The woman immediately washed her hands and started helping with the dumplings. I could tell she had done that once or twice before, she was really fast at rolling out the dough.

Lu told us that the man was a fireman. We entered a bit of a discussion about the war, and I showed them the symbolization in the word "war" (We Are Right). It took a bit to get them to understand what we meant, but they did catch on and laughed. At times like that it is good to be Canadian so you can say "we are peacekeepers, we don't want war". It's a way to avoid political discussion and indicates you are not ready to take sides. The Chinese are not in favour of the States, so it could be difficult for some foreigners here.

After visiting for quite a while, we decided it was time to go and they had a driver, who was a friend, take us home.

The next day was the last day of my first course of treatment. We both had our needles and massage, and then I had to pay for my treatments. Dr Tian wrote out a bill, but he had me write my name on it, and then he and Lu accompanied us downstairs to the cashiers' office and we paid the bill.

I was told that I could come back for another course of ten treatments, which I ended up doing, but first I had to give it three to five days rest. I could understand why. I had been pummelled for ten days in a row, and my muscles needed to relax for a while. What I did notice is that the skin on my back wasn't sore anymore like it had been before the treatment. There definitely was an improvement.

Dick was also finding that after a couple of treatments he noticed a slight tingling sensation in one of the two fingers that had been numb. We were surprised at how quickly that had happened. But don't think this is a miracle cure, it does take time and Dick's condition is difficult to treat.

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