Except for the health physical we had to have at the beginning of the year in order to get our visas, Sean and I haven't had to go to the doctor. But last week we decided we should go after a few symptoms from traveling were being a little too persistent. Not surprisingly, the occasional squalid conditions of backpacking around southeast Asia on a shoestring probably caused some of our minor physical problems. Fortunately, we didn't experience anything serious and most of our discomfort was caused by bugs/bites, small jellyfish stings, ringworm, bad food and occasional colds. Last week Sean's stomach was still not back to normal and my ringworm (it's not a worm but another term for athlete's foot) wasn't going away so we called up Teddy and he made an appointment for us with the campus doctor for the following morning.
During the appointment the doctors spent about 45 seconds examining us, asked Teddy some questions and then prescribed an elaborate regimen of Chinese traditional medicine for Sean and some antifungal cream for me. The appointments and the prescriptions cost a total of about $7 which the school paid for.
Sean is supposed to continue taking his medicine until he feels better. His daily routine consists of three pills three times a day, a powdered hot beverage two times a day and a vial of liquid two times a day. I was pretty suspicious of all this and asked Teddy to ask the doctors what was in all of it. The doctor assured Teddy and I that everything was completely safe, plant material and that all of the medicines had been used for years and were quite common and effective.
So far Sean has been taking his traditional meds for about 4 days now and feels just about back to normal. He says the flavor of the medicines is pretty bad and that it tastes like a mix of strong, sweetened perfume and herbs. So far his thoughts on using Chinese traditional medicine are that it is worth a try but he remains skeptical if the medicine was what did the trick or if it was simply that his body needed a little more time. I hope you all have enjoyed this little intimate glimpse into the current ailments of Sean and I - I know I had fun writing it =)
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