Month: August 2014

Our stay in Wuhu lasted 2 weeks although we had planned about a week and a half. The first 3 days was the dull grind of just going to the plant and doing work like stuff including taking a peanut butter sandwich for lunch since there are not any close restaurants. Thursday of that week Mary had a meeting in a place about a 3 hour drive from Wuhu so we got in the car and drove there on the genuine Chinese highway system. We survived. On the drive home Mary complained of being cold even though it was about 95 with 99% humidity. As it turned out she was getting sick. Friday she had fever, stuffed head, cough, and sore throat. Classic signs of summer cold or flu. At some point we went to the drug store to get Tylonol and she also found some Chinese stuff that is made just for this condition so of course she bought it. She said it tastes terrible but it cures this condition so she took it. Later that day or the next morning her fever was gone and she was on the road to recovery because the bad tasting stuff was a miracle drug. Add to that we went to the 5 star hotel next door on Saturday for a sauna and massage. This consisted of getting in a pool of very hot water for a while and then getting in a pool of water so hot you would swear your nuts are going to become hard boiled. Then go sit in a sauna for a while. That would cure any cold. By Sunday she was more or less recovered.
Monday came and it was back to work. We were to go to Shanghai on Thursday and fly back to Zhuhai on the weekend. So only 3 more days of the Wuhu boredom. I should note that Wuhu has a big military base so it seems that the internet is even more censored and just plain unusable than the rest of China so there is nothing to do although Mary was able to binge watch some Chinese doctor soap opera that had like 24 hour long episodes of 4 people talking to each other about the weather or something. By noon Monday, as we went to lunch at the big hotel, I could tell that I was coming down with something, either The Ebola or a cold. I went to the apartment for the rest of the day and by the time Mary got home I had a fever, stuffed head, sore throat, and lungs completely full of crap. Based on her recovery time I figured 24 hours and I would be much better. Of course she insisted that I take the miracle drug which I was not overly inclined to do but ended up doing anyway. This was a little 1 inch plastic bottle with maybe 1/2 ounce of black liquid. When I asked what was in it I was told that it was 50% various plant oils and 50% alcohol. It smelled horrible and in fact tasted worse. My original taste thought was that it contained something like condensed anteater farts. Which of course causes you to ponder life at the condensed anteater fart factory. Envisioning some little Chinese guy going down a row of penned anteaters trying to collect farts in a fart collection container and then delivering them to the compression machine that probably leaks smell like a tomato canning plant. The alcohol had to be rejected stuff from the “Chinese Wine” which is not actually wine but basically Chinese moonshine and is the worse tasting stuff I’ve ever drank. This alcohol was rejected for tasting too bad to be used for that. (A few days later I identified the actual taste and smell. It was in fact creosote the stuff they treat railroad ties and telephone poles with) The next morning it was obvious that it was not a miracle drug as I was worse than the day before. I ate just a few bites of lunch Tuesday and that was it. By that night since if anything I was getting worse I agreed to go to the hospital the next morning. I didn’t really want to get mixed up in the Chinese medical system.
Wednesday morning we took of for the university hospital towards the center of the city about 20 minutes away. We get there and low and behold there are about 10000000 sick Chinese there. We parked and went into the building to start the procedure of getting cured. Now the Chinese hospital is not exactly the same as the hospitals I am normally familiar with. First off what we were dealing with is more like a walk in clinic except it is spread through out many buildings. One for nose stuff, one for stomach stuff, one for ass stuff, and so on. So we go in and first pay some money and are given documents to go see a doctor in another building. We get there and ask around and are pointed to a small room with a desk and the doctor comes out of what I assume was the smoking lounge and sits at the desk. I get to sit on a short stool. The doctor and Mary begin discussing my condition in Chinese and at no time did I catch the word Ebola. About this time the next people to see the doctor show up. By show up I mean the mother and her sick kid along with grandma grandpa uncles aunts and I think Chairman Mao’s brother in law all crowd right in the tiny room with us and get real interested in my condition. By crowded I mean if the doctor had needed to check my prostrate for some reason the mother and sick kid would have passed their proctology exam and became certified. After more discussion and the taking of my temperature the doctor decided that I was sick and prescribed a couple pills. I have no idea why or what they were because the whole thing was in Chinese and Mary was not exactly translating. So we get up and crowd through the family with the sick kid and go to another building to get the amazing wonder drugs the doctor ordered. We get them and head to the car.Once there Mary insisted that I had to take them now, but she couldn’t tell me what they were  because they were in Chinese. I took them finally and we headed to the apartment and I tried to sleep. I did try to find what this stuff was and the only way was to look up the chemical formula which I found on the inside paper. When I searched I only got about 5 hits, all Chinese web sites. One was in English and told me the name which I had never heard of and don’t remember, didn’t find any interaction issues but did note that the possible side effects include things like nausea, vomiting, liver stuff, kidney stuff, and a whole bunch of other things and I think it noted that all appendages may shrivel up and fall off. With absolutely no major drug company cross link or any rest of the world link I was somewhat concerned. It did note something about antibacterial. The other drug was some herbal crap. As the morning progressed I was feeling worse and worser. Since I had not eaten since noon the day before I felt I had to have something for lunch because the lack of food could be adding to my condition. When Mary got home at noon she cooked one egg and 1/2 piece of toast. I recall commenting that I didn’t really feel like eating it because the thought of it just made me want to throw up. I set down and took 1 bite of egg and didn’t feel great but tried another which immediately triggered an involuntary stomach rejection of said food so a quick run to the toilet to empty said stomach. I have not had a regurgatative event in decades but apparently the warnings weren’t kidding. I began to be concerned about my shriveling appendages. So with that I decided we needed a different doctor input as I wasn’t taking any more of these torture pills.
We found another hospital less than 5 minutes from the apartment and was there for the 2PM return to work. Saw another doctor and pointed out I thought penicillin would be best. They agreed after finding that my temperature was now about 103. Now in the
US you would get some big pills to take. In China you go to a room with a bunch of other people and sit in a chair and get hooked up to an IV and sit there for a couple hours. After 1/2 hour my fever broke and by the time I left I felt much better. I did this for the next 2 mornings and by the time the last one was over Friday morning I felt Ok other than a nagging cough and being 8 pounds lighter. Since I seemed to have recovered it must not have been The Ebola.
Since Mary rescheduled here meeting in Shanghai we said good by to the Wuhuvers Sunday and took the train to Shanghai. stayed in our usual hotel behind the Russian embassy, had dinner at the expensive Peace Hotel restaurant, went to the meeting Monday and flew back to Zhuhai Monday night. Here are a couple typical Shanghai pictures since I didn’t take any sickness pictures.

With the return to Zhuhai we had 3 days to continue to recover from Wuhu and The Ebola before we took off for a week vacation at the Grace Vineyard and Dunhuang home of the Mogao Caves so study up.