Time is a nearly flat circle, one sitting on its edge.
It’s 8am when we walk into Capital Children’s Hospital. It’s been 20 years since I last entered that hospital, with Yang and Lydia. Lydia was maybe two years old and had a mild flu. They wanted to put her on an IV so we took her home and later to a Western style clinic which treated her with a round of antibiotics. She was fine. This is not a critique on the Capital Children’s hospital, more of a reflection of our attitudes at the time. Capital Children’s hospital is in fact the best children’s hospital in Beijing if not all of China.
On this day, we are taking Amanda in. She’s had a persistent cough for a couple of weeks that just won’t seem to go away. It particularly bothers her at nighttime. The hospital routine is a modernized version of what we experienced 20 years ago. First, Sabrina makes an appointment via an app. Then, at the hospital, Sabrina gets in line to pay the 20RMB for the doctor appointment. Then we are off to the doctor’s office on the first floor, where Sabria scans a code and we wait. Our wait is not long and soon we are in front of an older doctor who shares the room with a younger doctor. He uses a stethoscope to check Amanda. All fine. Then he gets out a mini flashlight to check Amanda’s eyes but it’s out of battery. He searches for a replacement and then settles on using Sabrina’s phone’s light. He orders a blood test.
We shuffle back to the counter to pay for the blood test and this time Sabrina uses a kiosk. Then up to the second floor where they do the blood tests. We wait for a bit and my mind sees the same floor where Lydia got her blood test. They made it more kid friendly since then, with decorations on the small opening where the nurse draws blood. Amanda looks away as blood is drawn from her finger.
Blood taken, we go to a nearby shop for a breakfast snack with Amanda asking for a toy along the way. 30 minutes later, the blood tests are in. Everything is normal except for CRP which is a bit higher than the normal range and indicates inflammation, probably caused by some kind of infection. ChatGPT suggests doing nothing, that it is most likely a viral infection that will clear up in a week or so. The doctor suggested four medicines including antibiotics, a cough medicine, and a traditional Chinese medicine. ChatGPT saw the diagnosis and prescriptions with some concern. Antibiotics, probably not needed and three days is too short. Cough syrup, not recommended for children under four. Chinese medicine, no evidence of efficacy. My 20 years ago self would have listened to ChatGPT, had it existed then. My current self said the doctor was being aggressive in treatment to prevent anything more serious. As Sabrina paid for the prescriptions, the hospital which was crowded at 8am was nearly overflowing at 9:30am. I pushed Amanda’s stroller in a zigzag until we were finally out and it was time to buy that toy. A rabbit balloon as it turned out.
Amanda took the medicines, patiently given to her by Sabrina. After two followup appointments over six days, Amanda’s CRP level is back to normal and she seems well. My younger self might not have agreed on the course of treatment. I’ve grown to trust the doctors and Sabrina.
Sometimes time is a flat circle. Sometimes it’s a line.
More on revisiting places in the next post.