Hi Gram,
Well, today is the end of November, another arbitrary marker of the passage of time. It’s hard to believe that I left America almost three months ago and have had all the amazing adventures that I have. I got up this morning – I woke a little before the alarm actually – and did my morning walk. I tried running the stairs again and this time I counted the steps I had left. I ran 88 stairs before I ran out of energy. I’m going to use that as my baseline and try to improve by 10 steps a week. That would have me running all the way to the top of the stairs at the beginning of January, and my goal is to reach the top of the stairs before I leave a few weeks after that. I think it’s an attainable goal, so I just have to keep at it.

Once I got back to the hotel, I took a shower and packed my backpack for the day’s adventure. Today’s adventure was going to the hospital for a battery of tests. I haven’t had a complete physical and battery of tests in quite some time, so I figured now is as good a time as any to establish that baseline. I grabbed the Songtaew (green pickup truck/ bus) out front and rode it over to the hospital. I bought the tests a few days ago and was told to just walk in whenever I wanted and get them done. I fasted last night, having my last meal around 8 or 9pm, so I was hungry and ready to get these tests done. I wasn’t looking forward to the needles and poking and prodding and shuffling from point to point, but I steeled myself to getting it done.

I walked into the hospital and registered, then was shown to the waiting room where there were over 20 other people waiting for the same thing. I guess when the hospital has a sale on their testing, I shouldn’t be surprised when I’m not the only person to have taken them up on it. No worries, I brought my earbuds for a situation like this. I settled into my seat and started listening to my audiobook, watching people walk by and just tuning out. I barely got my book started when a nurse walked over to confirm my information again and escorted me to a room to get my blood drawn. These people are efficent! They’d processed the people ahead of me in what seemed like an impossibly short amount of time.

I’m no good at giving blood – my veins roll and the nurse often has trouble finding the vein, so I always expect to be poked two or three times. I warned her that my veins can be difficult, then she smiled and hit the jackpot on the first try. It was almost painless and faster than I would have imagined. This was a pro I was dealing with. She ushered me back to my seat and I started playing my audiobook again when someone else came and escorted me to change into hospital gowns to get ready for my chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound. She gave me a pile of water bottles and told me that I had to fill my bladder before they could do the ultrasound. Meanwhile, though, I left the water bottles behind and was whisked away for the chest x-ray.

These people are about as efficient as one could imagine! I’d barely arrived less than an hour before and I’d already registered, had my blood drawn, and gotten a chest x-ray. Back in my seat, I downed one bottle of water after another while the nurses stopped back every few minutes to ask if I felt like I had to pee yet. After seven bottles of water (they’re small bottles), she decided that my bladder was probably full enough and ushered me in for the ultrasound. She positioned me in an odd uncomfortable way, then a doctor came in and did a thorough ultrasound exam of my neck and abdomen. I never did figure out what he was looking for in the neck, but he was thorough.

After that, they handed me a specimen collection jar and told me to go pee into it. With my bladder full for the ultrasound, that was no challenge at all. After that, I was shown to the heart lab where they did a battery of EKG, stress tests on a treadmill, and other assorted pokes and prods. My head was spinning with how I was handed from one lab to the next, the tests done quickly and efficiently, then handed on down the line. All in all, I got a hearing test, dental xrays and exam, physical exam, fed lunch, given the results, and was out the door about 6 hours after I arrived. The results, for anyone wondering, are that I’m a healthy adult with a few things normal for my age to follow up with my doctors back in the states when I get the chance. The total cost was the icing on the cake. All of that set me back between $500-600USD. I’m grateful for their efficiency and expertise and am really glad that I spent that time and money.

Once I was out the door, I walked some of the way back to the hotel, then decided it was too hot and caught the Songtaew the rest of the way. Back at the hotel, I’d like to tell you that I got a lot done or made great memories for myself. The truth is, I watched a lot of YouTube videos, turned down a dinner invite from a friend because I was too tired, and just sort of existed until it was time for bed.