The Doctor Touches My Leg

This past week was awesome! I went to all three of my schools and I must say that I have a bit of a soft spot for Tsurugamine because when the Vice Principal heard that I liked Ramen and I mentioned how there were a lot of Ramen shops around my house but that I hadn't tried them all, she asked if we could go get Ramen together! W00t~

I must say that I'm growing really fond of the second graders because 1) they're ridiculously adorable and 2) almost all of them (boys AND girls) like Pokemon and therefore love me because I drew Chikorita (my favorite pokemon) on the board. lol.

One of the teachers at Tsurugamine looks exactly like my friend Andrew, which is hilarious because Andrew is Chinese and this teacher is obviously Japanese. Just goes to show that all Asians look alike, right? XD

Sadly, Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat. The weather went from really warm to suddenly really cold, and the fact that it was raining probably didn't help. Well, I went to school and got through my classes, though it proved difficult because singing the Hello Song with all the kids and then singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes really made my throat turn to sand paper. Nagashima-Sensei asked the Vice Principal if I could leave early because I was sick, so they let me leave an hour early. I dropped by the Shiseido drug store on my way home and got Stona (I love that name) cold medicine. I had already promised to go to Tanyisha's house for the weekend, and I didn't think my cold would get much worse.

Well, it got worse. I had a slight fever by the time I got to Tanyisha's place. It really doesn't help that it was still raining, the temperature had dropped drastically, and that I had to transfer to a lot more trains that normal because I didn't take another train. Tanyisha and I had pizza that night while talking to her boyfriend via Skype. I have deemed her my surrogate mother for when my mommy's not around because she took really good care of me and ended up babying me. She made me a hot tea that consisted of whiskey, lemon juice, honey, and tea. I drank a lot of it and probably got a little tipsy because drinking it not only helped clear my sinuses, but also made my throat hurt less.

I woke up the next morning at about 8. We had gone to bed past midnight, but I just didn't seem able to continue sleeping. The original idea was that we were going to call up Arvin to swing by Akihabara because I'd never been there. After looking up the weather, and seeing that it was raining in Akihabara and that my condition had worsened, we decided to try Harajuku instead. But first, breakfast.

We had breakfast at Denny's, which was really interesting because they offered not only American breakfast, but also Japanese breakfast. I can't begin to tell you how weird it is to walk into Denny's, look at the menu, and see miso soup, rice, and other stuff offered for breakfast. Anyway, we ordered the 2 eggs, bacon, one pathetic piece of sausage and salad set along with a side order of mini pancakes because they don't make full-sized pancakes. I had come to Denny's with the intention of ordering pancakes, so it was really disappointing not to be able to have full ones. We split an order of french toast as well to satiate our cravings for an American breakfast.

After swinging by a drug store to pick up some Vitamin C lemon drink, face masks, and some various other things Tanyisha needed, we made our way back to her place. I took a nap that only lasted about an hour. Tanyisha played Oblivion IV while I checked emails on my laptop. Soon, I started getting chills. Tanyisha had me check my temperature, which led me to look up how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit.

I had a fever of 38 Celsius, which translates to 100.4 Fahrenheit. We called Hikki-san, who was a representative from Interac who helped Tanyisha get settled in Odawara, to ask him if I should go to the hospital. He said I should, so we called Arvin who speaks more Japanese than I do. He said he could come along as a translator, but he'd need an hour before he could make it. I volunteered to take a nap to buy him enough time before we went off to the hospital.

An hour later, I had a fever of 38.7 Celsius, which is 101.6 Fahrenheit. We went to the hospital, where I was told to wait and fill out some paperwork. Arvin arrived shortly after I finished filling out my paperwork. After that, the nurses secluded me off in an area that was closed and being cleaned. Arvin, Tanyisha and I waited there for about five minutes before a nurse stuck a q-tip up my nose (it was really weird and slightly painful) to get a sample and test for Influenza. I knew when I came in that I didn't have the flu, but they had to make sure. Half an hour later, she confirmed that I didn't have Influenza and took me and my friends off to go see a doctor. He was busy, so we had to wait out in the hall.

And now to explain the title of this entry. I bet you're all wondering about that perverted doctor that touched my leg. Where on my leg, you ask? It's actually quite innocent, but still kind of odd.

So I finally get to see the doctor and he checks with me again about my symptoms and does like all doctors do and checked where my jaw meets my neck to see if my lymph nodes were swollen and then checked my throat and made me say ahhh. It was quite hilarious because I hadn't brushed my teeth, so I felt really bad saying ahh in his face and worried about having really stinky breath. It didn't help that he was a cute doctor. Then it came time for him to listen to my breathing with a stethoscope. Here's the interesting bit. So I'm wearing my camisole and Lennox Brigade shirt (because that's what I fell asleep in) as well as two sweaters. No bra. It's quite embarrassing, and I said as much, as he reached up my shirt to listen to me take deep breaths. I don't know about you, but all the doctors I've had have only ever needed me to take two deep breaths for the chest and two more for the back. I was sitting there taking at least six deep breaths while the cute doctor has his hand up my shirt!

So after not finding anything wrong with me, he has me get a chest x-ray. He asks if I'm pregnant, because it's bad for the baby to get a chest x-ray, and I very adamantly say that I'm NOT. I was sitting there thinking: Come on! I'm only 22! Anyway, I go, get the chest x-ray, and then come back and sit out in the hall with Arvin and Tanyisha cracking jokes about how the doctor is totally going to ask me to come back into his office to ask me out on a date because he had his hand on my leg while he was listening to my breathing with a stethoscope. I swear, I cracked some really good jokes last night while we were sitting out there in the hall. It really didn't help that when I laughed really hard I also started coughing. @_@

Anyway, so he eventually calls me back into the office and there's this big monitor with my chest x-ray on it (and I must say that my lungs are magnificently clean) and he once again checks my lymph nodes and has me say ahh and puts his hand up my shirt AGAIN to listen to my breathing before asking me to give a blood sample and a urine sample to check if there's really anything wrong with me.

2 1/2 test tubes of blood and one flush later, I'm sitting out in the hall again waiting for test results while my friends and I crack more jokes. We're called into the office again and he tells me that the blood and urine tests show nothing, so essentially there's nothing wrong with me other than that I have a cold and a high fever than I really should. But there's nothing wrong with me. So he prescribes me some medicine and has me sit out in the hall again while he gets some paperwork put together for me to bring to a hospital or clinic near me should my condition worsen.

Finally, we get the paperwork and go to the window to pay. Now, because it's a Saturday and the office isn't open on the weekends, the man at the window says that he's not sure if I owe more money than I'm being charged (5000 yen, or a little over $50) because we need to check with the national health insurance to see if they're going to cover everything or not. I might get my 5000 yen back, or I might receive an extra charge. I really couldn't care at the moment because my friends and I had been sitting in that hospital for three hours just to have the doctor tell me that there's nothing out of the ordinary wrong with me.

So we leave and manage to finally get some food at a place called Sukiya that has cheese burger curry that was positively delicious and I ended up bringing leftovers home. After that, we went browsing at the Odakyu OX shop before leaving Arvin at the train station so he could catch the train home while Tanyisha and I took the bus home. I'm glad we took the bus because I totally fell asleep in the minutes we were on it. Once we got home, it was tea, a little bit of ice cream, and another temperature check (I was 36.6 Celsius/97.8 Fahrenheit) before off to bed.

Now, I bet you're wondering about that medicine the doctor prescribed me. Well, to tell you the truth I didn't realize that the doctor had prescribed me anything and the guy at the window didn't tell me that the 5000 yen I had paid had actually been for some medicine that I hadn't received. While relaxing at home with some hot tea, I got a phone call from the hospital telling me that I hadn't picked up my medicine, to which I explained that the man at the window hadn't even told me that I had medicine to pick up. The nurse said I could pick it up the next day.

Now it's Sunday. I woke up at 9 am, took a gloriously hot shower and totally blew my nose so much that it's raw, but at least i'm getting rid of all the phlegm. I dropped by the hospital to pick up my medicine from the cute pharmacist (why does Odawara have all the cute guys?!) and came back to Tanyisha's to write this blog entry. It's a beautiful day outside. I have the window open and can hear the river alongside Tanyisha's house flowing happily by.

You know, it's really ironic. Tanyisha has a fiancee and yet she lives in an area with a lot of really attractive Japanese men. While I am totally single and live in an area without a lot of attractive Japanese men. It's just not fair. Though Tanyisha says that it's partially a way for her to bribe me to come visit her more often. haha. She said that I can't come over every time I get sick to come see the cute doctors, which is a shame. Oh well~

But the plan for the rest of the day is to relax, possibly take a nap, and drink more tea before heading back to my house. Hopefully by the time I get back home, it'll be a decent time in America and I can talk to mom and dad via Skype and wish mommy a Happy Birthday. :3