The kefir (thanks Stephen!) and the apple cider vinegar seemed to work really well for a couple of days, but last night suffered a great blow to their credibility in my mind. Last night whilst (a word I was reacquainted with at work today) shopping, I felt very ill very suddenly. The last place you want to feel really nauseous is a Japanese grocery store. Yuck.
Anyway, all that to say that despite trying these remedies last night and this morning I seem to only have digressed. I might keep trying with the kefir, but the apple cider vinegar isn't doing it for me. So tomorrow I'm reconciling with traditional medicine and going to the doctor. Please pray for me.
And now for the spectacle part, which might become a weekly Wednesday installment if the trend continues. Today was Health Check day, which meant that my co-workers and I went in for our yearly physical for those under national health care. I was actually kind of excited about the whole procedure because they are very thorough and check you for pretty much everything. Alina, Ishii-san (the Board of Education secretary) and I went together. Ishii-san is pretty good with English and Alina is great with Japanese, but as we still had some fun trying to decipher some of the ailments listed in the family history portion of the paperwork. We went through lots of tests-- chest x-ray, heart monitor, urine, vision, and last but not least, bloodwork.
I don't especially like blood work, but I don't become overly anxious about it. So my turn came and I bravely sat down. Alina and Ishii-san had already gone so they were waiting in the wings for me. They started, and despite my limited vocabulary I was able to ask my standard blood work question, "Daijobou desu ka?" or "Is everything okay?" The nurses assured me it was and so I waited. Then I realized that my hand was going numb from my fingertips up my arm. Sometime soon after that realization I started feeling very bad. The nurses must have realized it and stopped the procedure, but I was down for the count. I blacked out for a little while, but was still somewhat cognizant of what was going on around me. It felt like there were about 10 nurses gathered around me propping me up and asking me various questions in Japanese. Finally they got me to my feet and ushered me to the waiting lounge that had a couch and laid me down there, elevating my feet over my head.
The nurses were great. They just kept trying to soothe me and encourage me. One especially kind nurse stayed by my side through the whole thing and held my hand. Soon my blood pressure leveled out and I was revealed that they, in fact, did not get enough blood to do the tests, so I had to go for one more round. However the second time was a piece of cake and afterwards we got to go home.
So today, perhaps rather than having a "look at the foreigner!" moment I had a "look at the poor foreigner..." moment. I don't know which I'd rather have.
Overall... rough day. But I have faith that the Lord has provided thus far and will continue to do so.
2 comments:
Sounds like a rough day for you! Glad you got to feeling better. Never in my life have I passed out and I always kind of wanted to. Crazy huh?
Kiefer is very well excepted and shown to help people in my community, however vinegar is not as promising some say acid is the culprit.
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