Before I end up on the missing members' list, I should report that I am on the back-in-hospital list. While this is obviously not a good thing, it has some benefits.
This is my third stay in hospital in nine months but this time I had the choice of which establishment to grace with my broken body. I chose the city's largest non-TCM hospital rather than the TCM place I used before.
Within an hour of arriving at this hospital they had diagnosed what the TCM had missed and therefore left me suffering for nine months.
Now I'm being treated with good, healthy drugs and painkillers instead of witches' brews and tiger penis soup.
For the technically minded or just the purient, I am suffering from a previously undetected compression fracture probably caused by a fall in September last year and which erupted in excruciating pain yesterday.
I feel better already just from finally knowing what the problem is rather than having to make increasingly ridiculous and ever more terrifying guesses.
Two main problems remain now.
First a near total lack of internet. This hospital doesn't have wi-fi so I'm reduced to my cell phone which sadly has no VPN to get me past China's insane censorship.
In addition to a lack of internet, there is a lack of food. The choices for lunch and dinner is limited to two set meals at each. The 14元 meal or the 17元 meal. There is no indication what these may be until they turn up at your bedside. Breakfast is slightly better with a choice of buns, rice porridge (congee) or noodles.
Here is my 14元 meal tonight. 茄子肉末 🍆, eggplant with minced pork; 莴笋肉片, celtuce with sliced pork; stir fried cabbage and a ton of rice. It wasn't bad but could have been better seasoned - as ever
Not only is my meal choice sparse, so may be my posts here for the immediate future but don't give up on me yet.
