More Harris Family Adventures in Zhengzhou

Samantha and I can now check off another item from our bucket list - "take your sick daughter to the hospital in a foreign country where you can't speak the language." Of course I am joking now since everything is fine with Kaori, but really this is a parent's worst nigtmare. Before our trip, Samantha was so diligent about preparing medicine for Cuyler for any contingency we might encounter with Cuyler leaving the orphanage. It did not cross our minds that Kaori would be the one needing medical care! Kaori was running a temp of over 104 and we knew her body was fighting something. We consulted with our guide Rita that we needed to get to a hospital. Luckily there is a hospital within walking distance of the hotel. So Cuyler stayed with Gmama and Pop while we hiked over to the hospital. My mind was racing with thoughts like what if they want to keep her overnight? How do we get Kaori back to the states ASAP if we need to leave? The hospital experience was bizarre to say the least. We were in a waiting area on the 3rd floor for the pediatric dr to return to her office to see Kaori. An older Chinese lady started scolding us for not having Kaori in enough layers of clothes and that her coat was not zipped. Of course to us it felt like an oven in the room - but again they do things differently over here. The older lady was speaking in Chinese but I could understand her very clearly - she was saying "Of course your daughter is sick you stuipid idiot! You can't even dress her properly! Idiot!" Ok maybe she was not that harsh but that was the general sentiment. I could see the "mama bear" look in Samantha's eyes and that she was ready to pounce on everyone and tell them to shut up and leave us alone. Everyone stood around us staring at Kaori and I could feel them judging us - it was just a very bizarre moment. Then the dr. returned. Normally in the states the dr sees you behind closed doors. Not in China. Everyone in the waiting room now piled into the dr. office to watch the episode unfold. Then they pricked K's finger for blood and then came the prognosis. Kaori has a bacterial infection and they asked us if we wanted an IV or antibiotic medicine. We chose the medicine. We survived and thank God Rita was with us the whole time translating and guiding us thru the hospital. I will say this as a positive - the whole hospital trip only cost us around $12 US Dollars and that included the medicine. Praise God Kaori is acting perfectly fine, the fever is under control. Just another day in China!