Gulou Hospital

Well, no adventure in China is complete without a four week stay in the hospital and unfortunately I managed this feat.

I had a private, air conditioned room that had wireless internet. The Doctors and nurses were very professional. The Doctor who was head of the department (gerontology) spoke excellent English and the Doctor that looked after me also spoke English although I had a hard time with some of her pronunciation. In China they believe in long hospital stays. They insist that antibiotics have to be given IV. I would still be there if I hadn’t insisted on getting out.

The nurses all wore the cute little caps like my mother wore when she nursed. They wore white or pale blue dresses, but instead of the long white stockings my mother wore they wore pants underneath the dresses. Many of the nurses were young and spent a lot of time giggling when they were in my room. They didn’t speak a lot of English, but had a paper with some English translations on it. They would go down the paper and find something such as, “Are you nervous?” and read it to me. I would say, “Yes” and they would look at their list again and read, “Don’t worry. You are in good hands.” and they would giggle.

The patients in the hospital wore pyjamas (color coded by the department) and not the gowns worn in Canadian hospitals.

Being in the hospital was a good way to get my daughter to come to China and spend 10 days with me. It was certainly good to have her there.

From my hospital window I could see the building that will be the 8^th tallest building in Asia when it is finished.