Wednesday, July 16, 2008

LOOK AT THE LADY OVER MY LEFT SHOULDER!


Just like the title says, look at the lady over my left shoulder in the video. She is just a small example of what the hospital was like yesterday. It was hell! We went to the Hanoi Eye Hospital where they, well, just deal with eyes. Everyone at the hospital had some kind of funky eye thing going on: pink eye, droopy eye, big eyes (like Huyen), conjunctivitis, lazy eye, funky puss leaking looking eyes, lack of an eye/s, etc.

Some observations:

1. They have "observation rooms" where people need to stay for a few days to be watched by doctors. These rooms sleep about ten people on cots. The cots have no blankets or pillows. The rooms have no TV or any form of entertainment.
2. The hospital was -- what's a good adjectve for really really really really dirty? -- filthy.
3. I was by far the only non-Vietnamese person there. This was felt triply by me since many people would stare at me. And well, since it was the eye hospital they would get up really really close and stare since they had eye problems.

Turns out Huyen had some kind of, "reaction to the environment." I asked if it was allergies but she said she really wasn't sure what the doctor told her. He did give her a prescription and her eyes are already looking better. Now I'm just curious how my eyes are going to look because clearly I'm getting something from going to that hospital!