“Come over here. Now wait here. Come over here. Now wait here. Come over here, now wait here.”
This was repeated numerous times as we worked our way through to see a doctor at the outpatient clinic of McCormick Hospital, the Presbyterian hospital in Chiang Mai. I wanted to ask “Tom My” many times, but felt that I wouldn’t understand the answer if I asked it. So, I let myself be in their hands trusting that really I was in God’s hands, as I often do here in Thailand.
Gary had gone to one of the local clinics before and found a very good, English-speaking doctor there. An appointment with her was much easier to get and go to. I needed a gynecologist, though, and I don’t think she did that. A gynecologist at McCormick was recommended to us, so we went to check that out. Gary also wanted some of his moles checked, and taken off if needed. He had heard they did that at a low cost. We decided to include my blood test for thyroid in our visit as well.
We went to the outpatient clinic on a Friday when we were downtown to check out how the appointment system worked. We found out that we had to fill out a form before we could get an appointment. Then we had to state exactly why we wanted to see the doctor. I didn’t know how to ask for a general female exam, so I asked for a Pap test. That they understood. Then they said we could have appointments that morning. That made me suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed when our appointments for the next Saturday morning were 8 to 11. They weren’t at a specific time. Then we tried to get our “How much” questions answered. The Pap test price was pretty clear, but not the price for checking the moles.
July 3, we arrived just before 8. A few people had beaten us there. We turned in our paperwork and watched and waited. We saw that, to get out of the first seating section, the nurses would first weigh us and take our blood pressure. When they called me for the gyn appointment, though, they took me to the women’s clinic section to get my weight and blood pressure. I grabbed my backpack and said goodbye to Gary for awhile. The rooms they led me to after that are only for women patients. (So, any men who happen to be reading this, unless you skip the next two paragraphs, you will get a peek behind some doors that are closed to you)
First a nurse took me to an office with many desks. We sat on either side of one while she took down information about my address, pregnancies, and menopause. She gave me a paper telling when the Pap test results would be available and a phone number to get them. Then she led me to another room at the other end of the women’s clinic hall. This was a large room with hooks on one side and a bench on the other side. She pointed at a bin full of white cloths and said those were clean clothes. She also pointed to some of the clothes hanging on the hooks and said to remove my lower clothes and underwear. After she left I pulled out one of the “clean clothes” and found it was a large tube “skirt”, at least ten times bigger than me. “Should I leave my pants and underwear hanging in here?” I wondered. “Who was wearing those really short jean shorts? How do I keep this skirt from falling down?” I decided I could leave my clothes on a hook in the room and folded the “skirt” over so it was tight enough so I could hold it on with one hand and still carry my backpack with the other. Then I joined the other ladies sitting on the bench in the hall in their “skirts”.
A short while later the nurse called me into the examination room. The doctor went over the pregnancy and menopause information the nurse had asked me about. Then the nurse said, “Come over here” again. This time it was to “the exam table”. The doctor took the sample and did a short exam after and it was all done. Back in the changing room I soon had my clothes back on and put the skirt in the dirty clothes bin. When I went back out in the hall the nurse led me over to the cashier section. On the way I spotted Gary so I could go get him when they asked me to pay. The price was 500 B, about $16.
Meanwhile Gary had been to see one doctor and was waiting to see a dermatologist. After the dermatologist he was sent back to see the surgeon. At every step he kept asking how much this all was going to cost. Once he asked me to talk to the nurse about it for him, as if I could understand that much Thai.
Since Gary was still waiting to see doctors, we decided I should see about having my blood test for thyroid. That meant I had to see another doctor. Gary said I should ask for a “full panel” of blood tests too, but the doctor I saw wanted me to list the names of the tests I wanted. I settled for cholesterol, glucose, and the thyroid one. That was a good thing. Blood tests are expensive compared with doctor exams. Those three cost about 1000 B. They made us pay for them before they took them too, which makes me think they know they are expensive too.
I had all that done and still waited for Gary to get done. Finally he came out of the surgery with five large gauze patches on. He denied screaming when they cut the moles off. He got close to screaming when he got the bill at the cashier, 5000 B. Most of the expense was from them sending them in for cancer testing. He did get some money back when he refused the pain medication the doctor prescribed for him.
Now we think the clinic we went to before was a better deal overall. Next time we need to see a doctor for something we will try to go see her first.
:J
