the doctor is . . . in?

Okay, so I was right about that visit to the doctor's office being something to blog about. Sheesh. I just got home about 10 minutes ago. And it turns out the problem is exactly what I thought it was: the ankle isn't broken, I've just injured the ligaments. A moderate sprain.

A lot of the doctor's office experience was exactly what I expected. There were several people already in the examination room when we went in. That's kind of par for the course around here, I've learned. People listen in and look on while you're being examined. More than one patient may be examined in a room at a time, and that was certainly the case today. Anyway, I consulted with a doctor, showed him my ankle, and after looking at my ankle for a bit, he sent me to have an X-ray.

So, we went down the hall, paid an X-ray fee, waited a little while (that part of going to the doctor's office is pretty universal), and then I went in for the X-ray. The X-ray tech was a really nice woman who was impressed with my Chinese ability, which was kind of ridiculous, because I know how poorly I was communicating with her. But, I guess I should take a compliment where I can get it.

After the X-ray was taken, a second doctor, a specialist, took a look at the X-ray film, and determined I didn't have a break, but he could see evidence of previous injuries. Sam was kind of impressed by that, since we didn't tell him I had previously injured the ankle. Then we were sent back to the original doctor, who gave us the whole speech I had expected before we went: rest, elevate. He prescribed some meds: something for pain, and another something for joints, although I'm not entirely "for joints" means.

And then it turned bad. They were going to put this medicated wrap thing on my ankle, but before they did, the doctor and another guy (physical therapist? another doctor? I have no idea.) grabbed hold of my leg and started massaging the injured area. Which hurt. A lot. And I tried to pull away. And the doctor kept telling me, "Relax, relax." Which is really hard to do when you're in pain. And the the doctor grabbed my foot, and the other guy grabbed my calf, and they pulled in opposite directions. At which point I started crying, finally convincing them to give up. Meanwhile, I had a room full of people looking on at me crying, which was embarrassing, which made me cry more. I'm a little ashamed of the amount of crying that's been going on around here in the past couple of days, but sometimes, it's the only way to get your point across.

I'm still not sure what that massaging/pulling thing was all about. I mean, I understand the value of massaging an injury, of making sure the muscles and ligaments don't get too tight. But trying to massage and stretch the ankle less than 24 hours after the injury?! That was not good. As Sam said when we were walking out, "If we'd been in America, we would have sued that guy."

Not that it was an all bad experience. But it also definitely was not an all good experience. On the up-side, the whole thing (examination, X-rays, medication, everything) cost less than 300 yuan, somewhere around $40 USD. That's a co-pay in the U.S.!

That being said, it wasn't really an experience I want to go through again. But, as Sam jokingly suggested after we left, maybe that was the point--they make you so miserable when you go in with an injury, you'll be much more careful in the future so you don't have to go through it all again. If that was the idea they had in mind, I'd say it worked for me.