Universal Health Care

Shortly before coming to Japan I saw Michael Moore’s latest movie, Sicko. I even wrote two posts about it. I was pretty sold on the universal health care system before even living with it, but now, after a small experience, I am completely convinced that universal health care really is the way to go.

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I fell off my bike. I was biking along the cycling road and I came across one of the many on/off ramps for the highway. I started slowing before approaching the intersection and looked both ways. All was clear, so I started to proceed. Just as I was approaching the road, a car began coming down the ramp. It sort of surprised me and I found myself paying more attention to the car than to me and my bicycle. As I did so, I clipped the left pedal on one of the gates to the cycling road and fell over into a patch of gravel. That is the bad news.

The good news is that a gentleman was riding right behind me. He stopped, helped me get my bike up, and helped wash out the wound with a bottle of water that I was carrying with me. Then, we walked together for about 15 minutes to the bridge where I usually turn towards home. I was amazed that I was able to communicate with this man, in Japanese, for as long as I did. It was quite broken Japanese, but we were understanding one another, and that is what counts. It actually turns out that he and I have mutual acquaintances and he invited me to a barbecue on Saturday being hosted by that mutual acquaintance (I had received an invitation previously as well). It truly is a small world.

The bad news was that when I got home I could not get the cut on my arm cleaned out. Aaron and I tried everything and the dirt was still stuck in the gash.

The good news is that we have a friend, Alex, who has been here for two years already with her husband and two kids. I called to ask her advice, figuring that she has probably washed out hundreds of cuts and scrapes for her kids. She came over on her way out to dinner to take a look.

The bad news was that she took one look at it and recommended that we go to the hospital.

The good news was that the hospital is close, about a 15 minute walk, and she was able to drive us there.

The bad news was that we waited over an hour and a half to get in.

The good news was that I was able to spend that time with my JET diary (which has a list of common medical words) and the Japanese dictionary writing down what happened and what was wrong.

Jitensha kara taoremashita. (I fell off my bike)
Kirikizu ga arimasu. (I have a cut)
Watashi no kata ga itai. (My shoulder hurts)

Hospital Waiting Room

That is me sitting in the waiting room. Waiting. . .

The really good news was that they had us waiting for a long time while they found an English speaking doctor. Once I was in he had me fixed up quickly. He cleaned the wound and put suture tape on it to help it close, luckily I didn’t need stitches. He also checked out my shoulder. We decided to take the wait-and-see approach. I have to go back to see him on Friday to get the wounded checked for infection and the suture tape removed, if my shoulder is still painful/swollen then, we will x-ray it and see what is going on. Seemed like a sensible plan.

The good news kept getting better. We went to leave the hospital and had to check out at the counter. Due to the miracle of universal, affordable health care, we had to fork out 1,230 yen (a little over 10 dollars) to pay for the whole ordeal. I love it!!

The bad news was that it was late, too late to make the Japanese Curry I had planned for dinner, so we went to the circle K (convenience store) and picked up something quick to eat. We went home, sat around eating our cabbage salad and kitsune tofu rice balls and relaxing before bed.

The Wound

The good news is, I felt good enough to give a little smile for the camera. Excuse the hair-do, this is the first day since I arrived in Japan that I didn’t take two showers.

So, yeah, I am good as new, just a little sore, and I have survived my first run in with the Japanese health care system. No worries!

Posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 7:12 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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