Sick for three weeks
In my previous post, I mentioned a couple of minor health issues. Since then, one of them got a little worse…
This was the first time I’ve been truly sick in Taiwan. Not dangerously sick, but very life-disruptingly, annoyingly sick. And it’s been three weeks and counting.
As mentioned in that previous post, I saw a family doctor within hours of my first symptoms. But three days later, when my prescription ran out, I was getting worse.
This month, flu cases in Taiwan hit a 10-year high. It seems I’ve been following the trend.
The second doctor I saw, at a clinic closer to my apartment, prescribed a different set of six medicines.
But three days later, when those meds ran out, I was worse still. I returned to the clinic, and another doctor prescribed me three days’ worth of “stronger” medications.
I improved briefly, then got even sicker.
Doctor four said it seemed to be an especially severe virus. She said she’d switch me to something stronger again. I received another three-day prescription; seven medicines this time.
Then, three days later, doctor five suggested I might have a bacterial co-infection. He prescribed five days’ worth of antibiotics in addition to eight other meds.
Finally, a couple of days after that, I started to get incrementally better. I returned to doctor five when the meds ran out, and he prescribed another five-day supply. As I was leaving his office, he patted me on the back and said (in English), “You speak good Chinese. You’ll be fine!”
I’m not sure if that second sentence was referring to my incrementally-improving language skills, or my incrementally-improving health.
Hopefully both.