Me-go: Around-the-World

Is There a Doctor in the House?

   

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My headache persisted for more than a week, although I gradually regained movement of my neck. I didn’t want to go to the doctor down in Osh and figured my best bet was to see someone in the capital, Bishkek. Sema put me on a night minibus to Bishkek and we said our goodbyes, but I’m sure to see her again sometime, somewhere. Being Turkish, Sema could communicate (the Kyrgyz language is similar to Turkish) and made sure I got a good seat. She must have said something to the driver because he wouldn’t let me take the bus to my hostel alone. A poor guy from Azerbaijan was stuck escorting me to the hostel and wouldn’t leave my side until he spoke to the hostel owners. As soon as I had my bearings I had begged off, but he had persisted, and ended up becoming my Bishkek stalker—showing up at the hostel over the next month asking the owners if I would date him.

My head was getting better but I had no Tylenol left and didn’t want to chance buying a blood-thinning aspirin at the Russian-speaking pharmacies around town. My first day was spent visiting the Uzbek and Tajik embassies to learn their visa policies. But the Tajik embassy had moved and had been replaced with a Doctors Without Borders office. A doctor was leaving at that very moment and he suggested that even if I was feeling better I should see a doctor.

So I had finally found a reason to use an U.S. Embassy’s services abroad and logged on to their web site for recommended English-speaking doctors in town. The first on the list was easiest to find and within walking distance so I headed to the “VIP Clinic” which turned out to be a typically dilapidated hospital. Before I could see the doctor I was given a bill in triplicate and waited to see the doctor. Instead of an English-speaking doctor I was presented with a teenage interpreter who spoke English as well as I speak Chinese—not well. From her follow-up questions I could tell that she had no idea what I was saying. I didn’t want to spend too much time in the building, which had missing windows and hallways full of nurses in tall paper hats and cloth masks right of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest . They held up x-rays to show that I needed them and I nodded my understanding. Back downstairs in the administration office I was told that x-rays would cost an astronomical price. When I protested (I had learned the Russian word for “no” by now) I was promised that the English-speaking doctor would be back in the afternoon.

My patient forms at the hospital... diagnosis: something Russian The hostel in Bishkek Wedding chapel near my hostel

There was no English-speaking doctor in the afternoon and when I started to talk myself into getting the x-rays anyway I was told that the doctor I saw in the morning wasn’t around so I would have to see a new doctor and pay another doctor’s fee. That was it. I left in a huff, dismayed that the U.S. Government would recommend such a shoddy practice. On the way back to my hostel I sent an email to the embassy to expect me in the morning. The U.S. has a large military base in Kyrgystan and I figured they would have any facilities I needed.

The next morning, armed with the address and “American Embassy” translated to Russian, I hopped onto a local bus heading to the outskirts of town. The closest bus only came within a mile of the embassy so I walked down the long tree-lined street until I came upon a large gated community straight out of the Southwest USA. Beside it was the embassy and after two searches and an x-ray of all of my belongings I was allowed in. The first woman behind the glass wall asked me to wait and I was soon talking to a typical American man in a business suit. He looked at me and asked if I had contacted my family, because he noticed that my last blog post was from Kashgar. He didn’t want to field worried calls from my mom. I was a little shocked to have been investigated after sending an email the day before. He told me that there were English-speaking doctors in Bishkek, despite my experience, and that the U.S. government’s facilities were not open to U.S. citizens—they couldn’t help me. When I protested he leaned into the glass and whispered “well, this is Kyrgyzstan!”

All the stress and desperation poured out of me and I couldn’t hold back my tears. I had finally reached someone who could help and they wouldn’t. The officer must have felt bad and went back to talk to one of their nurses. She told him that there was one public cat-scan machine in Kyrgyzstan but if I was alive after seven days I was probably going to be okay. So, in the end, my diagnosis was “you’re not dead, so you’re probably okay.” I left the embassy with my permanent amnesia and throbbing head and continued walking all the way into town, lost in my thoughts and feeling let down by the very people I was taught to trust.

9 responses to “Is There a Doctor in the House?”

  1. kimberley Avatar
    kimberley

    Wow. Now that I read the whole thing and after seeing the picture of the minivan I still can’t believe that you’re okay (except the amnesia and all) I can’t believe you took a picture, but thank God that you did. I’m glad you’re okay!

  2. chup Avatar
    chup

    well, at least there are still nice people around 🙂

  3. Stu Thompson Avatar
    Stu Thompson

    Wow, Megan. That is one hell of a tale. Glad to hear you are alright.

    The kindness of people, like your Chinese truck driver, relaxes my bouts of pessimistic thoughts on the existence of basic humanity. And trying to get service from a US facility? Whahahahah! Revoltingly laughable expericance, isn’t it?

    The “don’t tell mom” phenomenon seems oh-so-very common. 🙂 I’ve even seen other folks setup password protected, secret sections of their blogs to hide these kinds of stories!

    I find it impressive that you continued on. Seems to me that most people would have been plotting the quickest route back home. Good for you.

    Stu

  4. Brooke Avatar
    Brooke

    wowww Megan I have been a silent reader for a very long time now. Your travels abroad are unlike any other blog out there, and this just blew me away! I’m so glad you are OK!!!

    I am thinking of spending time in Kyrgyzstan next Spring/summer, so I will be emailing you sometime soon with questions.

    If you’re ever in the bloomington/normal area, look me up – i’d love to chat about your travels.

    Brooke

  5. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    I think it’s pretty funny that my prevailing mindset was still “must. take. photo!”

    Stu,
    I really did get much more help from poor Chinese, Uzbek and Kyrgyz people after the accident than my own countrymen. Maybe I should be happy that they even let me in the facility that my taxes paid for! I don’t think most Americans realize just how many bases the US has around the world and how those bases function.

    While I was in Kyrgyztan I met an American who was riding a newly bought Russian motorcycle through Kazakstan to Russian. I heard that he got caught trying to enter Kazakstan without a passport (he lost it on the way) and the black suit, sunglass-type US embassy men in Bishkek were none too happy.

    I didn’t think about not continuing. If I was hurt I would have tried to get to Bangkok for medical help. Going home would have meant giving up. I didn’t even stay in a nice hotel after that. Maybe I should treat myself better!

    Brooke,
    I was in Kyrgyzstan in August and October and it was beautiful. I don’t often find myself heading South (I’m in the NW suburbs right now) but if you’re on your way to Wisconsin or in Chicago let me know. I’ve met up with quite a few of my readers locally and in far-flung places.

  6. Kent Avatar
    Kent

    Hey Megan,

    You’re blog’s really cool and your (harrowing) stories are helping me work through my own travel plans for Central Asia this summer.

    My biggest concern is travelling alone. It sounds like you did this much of the time. Accidents aside, how was it in terms of safety, comfort, lonliness, cost, etc.? I’m definitely hoping to go a few sections with fellow travellers, but since Central Asia isn’t exactly Thailand or Spain, it’s been hard to find people to link up with. I noticed in your the comments that Brooke is headed to Kyrgyzstan this summer and I was wondering if I could get in touch with her. My email is kkuran@princeton.edu.

  7. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Kent,
    There’s some things you just can’t control and you’ll learn that on the road. It’s hard to guarantee road safety even in privately hired vehicles.

    I’ve been traveling alone for about 10 years now so it’s natural for me. I often meet people along the way and travel with them as well. That usually lasts about 3 days, to be honest, but others last longer. One woman I met in Tibet traveled with me all the way from Tibet through Nepal and then we met up again in India.

    I find that I meet more people in out of the way places. For instance, in Bangkok there were hundreds of backpackers but they have friends and plans and lots of distractions. They were hard to meet. But in somewhere in the middle of nowhere there may be one hotel and just a few restaurants to eat at so you’re bound to run into those people. And if you’re in an out of the way place those people will probably be more interesting to talk with and open to new people and experiences.

    I would head into Central Asia and find people once you get there. I don’t often get lonely but I don’t mind being alone. If I’m bored I read a book or write. If you’re the kind of person who can’t be alone, even at home, then you won’t do well traveling alone either. If you’re afraid to go to a movie by yourself than I can’t help you.

    I’m not sure Brooke will be looking at this comment section again so I suggest you contact her through her website. It’s UsVersusTheWorld.com.

    To address your other comments, safety is okay and people are generally very welcoming. I got a hostile vice in Uzbekistan every once in a while but plenty of people pass through without any incident. It’s not a comfortable place to travel by any means. You will be squished into vehicles with many people, use recycled toilet paper with chunks of electrical tape in it, eat the same 4 meals for months and sleep on smelly blankets on the floors of strangers. But hey that’s the fun of it!

    Lonliness I can’t predict.Like I said, I was much more lonely in Bangkok than in Bishkek. There are much fewer people traveling but the caliber of the people is much higher.

    My costs are broken out for you on my finance page so you can judge for yourself. Visa and permit cost is very high. Hotels can be cheap or expensive depending on what your standards are. Transport out of the way in hired vehicles will be pricey.

    If you have any more specific questions feel free to send them my way.

  8. eva Avatar
    eva

    megan, im planning the kyrgystan-china trip for this summer but this story of you having a bad accident scared me to death! is this common? maybe i should use osh-kashgar bus instead? what mean of transport would be safer in your opinion?is it best not to travel during night? im thinking of competely avoiding southern kyrgystan because of your post-scared hell out of me!-so please tell me this is not common!

  9. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Eva,
    I think my experience was uncommon. I haven’t heard of anyone else who was in an accident on that road. On the way back to China I took the Osh-Kashgar bus and it was a real pain in the a**. It costs about the same as getting a car with a few other people but takes a lot longer. Part of this is because you have to wait for everyone on the bus to be processed, stop to pay bribes etc.

    A lot of the locals don’t speak/write Chinese or English so they need help filling in the forms on the Chinese side which are in Chinese and English but not Kyrgyz or Russian. They also bring loads of cargo which, in my case, was inspected by hand in the middle of the road and then x-rayed on the Chinese border. They would be more lax if you’re leaving China.

    If you were on the bus and it broke down there would be more people to hang around with but I don’t think it’s necessarily more safe. We weren’t driving fast in the minivan and the driver wasn’t drinking. I think he lost control because he was unfamiliar with the route and possibly had a brake malfunction or something…

    I’m not sure which way you’re going. You say Kyrgyz>China, so assuming that, the bus leaves at 8pm so you’ll do the whole beautiful route in the dark. Private cars often go at night too. If you have tourists in the car you could probably arrange to drive to Sary Tash in the day to see the scenery and then to the border early in the morning.

    Don’t be scared, it’s okay! Say hi to those little kids in my pictures from Southern Kyrgyzstan. I hung out with them at the border for hours while the car was being fixed. On the way back I ran over to the trailers while the bus parked and they had left for the winter already. I gave my photos to a neighbor so I hope they got them.