Ice Cream and Tears..

About the "getting jabbed" comment in my last post before I get lots of concerned phone calls and emails....... she is fine. There is nothing wrong. We simply had to follow up on some tests that were done in NY when we saw the doctor there. Specifically, a blood and poop test.

This does let me explain about Japanese health care and give you some idea of what it might be like if we had universal heath care in the US.

We were sent to one of the local hospitals by the pediatrician we saw here in Tokyo. It is a big hospital with many different departments for all sorts of things. We were given the name of the doctor to see, with the times he (turned out it was a she) sees patients. Thursday morning we set out.

9:15am - We arrive at the hospital where we are greeted by hundreds of people waiting in a large room, with a row of tellers on each side, kind of like a bank. The kind (aren't they all?) woman at the information booth brings us over to the ticket machine and gets our "number" for us, shows us how to fill out the form and tells us to wait until our number is called. We are #110. They are on #57.

9:40am - Our number is called. "Yeah", I think. "This shouldn't be too bad". I am wrong. Once we get to the first window, our paperwork is checked and we are given another number to wait again for the next bank of tellers.

10:40 am - After many trips around the waiting room and up and down the stairs, our number is called. Our paperwork is reviewed again, we are given the paperwork in a plastic folder, a plastic card looking very much like a credit card and a map for the second floor, with the Pediatric area pointed out. We make our way upstairs and looked around for someone to check us in. A nurse comes out and I give her the paperwork and card. She says to wait. We did. Wait.

11:00 am - A kind (aren't they all) looking woman calls our name and we follow her into a small office. Ariana starts howling, and in the midst of her screams, the woman asks why we were there, if she is allergic to anything (I don't know) and if she has any brothers and sisters (I assumes she means birth siblings and again, I don't know). This is always the hardest part of the exam. The questions about family history (I don't know), the diseases that may run in the family (I don't' know), the details (I DON"T KNOW!!!). And it bothers me, this not knowing. I tear up at the question because it is the big thing I will never be able to answer for her.

We make it past the questions and were asked to wait again.

11:25 AM - We are called into an exam room where they ask me to undress her. You would think by the screams that the blood is being drawn , but no, it is only the weighing and measuring. Finished with that particular torture, we go out to again wait. This time for the doctor.

11:45 am - The Doctor comes out and we follow her back to her office . We speak about what is needed, she reviews the paperwork I brought. She leaves, returning several minutes later explaining that they could do the blood test, but we had to go to a different department for the poop test on a different day, because they don't do pooptests on Thursdays. Not only that, but Ariana would need to actually poop in the hospital because the sample needed to be warm (say what???!???) We are asked to wait (AGAIN) for the blood test to be done.

12:30 pm - we are called into the room. Ariana knows this is the bad part, because she immediately starts screaming. They immediately tell me to leave, ushering me out the door. I stand in front of the door silently debating what is worse - being in the room being able to both see and hear your child screaming for her life or being outside just listening.

They both suck.

12:40 pm - my child is returned to me, very quiet (in shock probably) and yes, again I am told to wait. Ariana promptly falls asleep.

1:00 pm - The doctor comes out and says to go have lunch and come back in an hour or two - they will have the results.

The ice cream part comes next- after a nutritious omelet lunch of course.

2:30pm - we make our way up to the Pediatric area. I find someone and tell them I am here to see the doctor. They tell me to wait.


2:40 pm - a nurse comes out with a stool sample kit, which I am supposed to take home and do. Apparently there is no need to actually poop on the premises. The test looks like a tiny little toilet bowl brush - on which you are supposed to collect the sample - not too little and not too much - there is actually a diagram. The nurse explains how to do it and when to do it - in Japanese. I think I am actually understanding and then another nurse comes and says the doctor will come out. Just then, Ariana fills her diaper (yes, thank you God!!), so we can leave the sample right there.

2:50pm - the doctor appears, saying only half the blood test results are back and that I should come back next week for the results. I am to stick the little credit card thing into one of the machines downstairs, which has the appointment information on it. No need to wait on the various lines again.

We were finally finished. Or so I thought. I was given paperwork and told to go to the cashier. So, back downstairs to the hundreds of people waiting in a large room, with a row of tellers on each side, kind of like a bank. We gave the cashier the paperwork, who then told us to wait until our name was called.

We waited.

Another 15 minutes goes by, during which I debated whether or not to just leave, as we were going to be late for her class.

Name called, we approached the window, where they told us we didn't owe anything.

Nothing.

Not a cent.

Or a yen.

Free.

It was 3:15pm.