Ow

Corbett | January 28, 2007 12:44 PM

My belly button started changing a few years ago. It was slowly turning into an outie. I figured this was just a side effect of the inevitable beer belly I had grown, but about a year ago it starting irritating me, so I asked a doctor what was going on. He said I had an umbelical hernia, which was probably a congenital condition worsened by years of saxophone playing. I asked him if I needed to do anything about it, and he said if it started to hurt I should.

After my last trip back from Beijing it started to really hurt. I got bronchitis in Beijing, and was coughing up a storm, which seemed to make the outie even more sensitive. So I called my tennis partner/doctor friend and asked him what kind of doctor to see about surgery since I didn't want to have an emergency in China. He asked me about it, and said, "That's my speciality. I operate on hernias every day! Get down to Miaoli tomorrow and I'll get you taken care of."

So in the morning I drove down to Miaoli to Da Chien General Hospital where my friend is a general surgeon, and got the full VIP treatment. I was in there at 10:30, and by 11:30 I had had a complete check up, blood tests, and x-rays. By 12:00 I was on the operating table, and by 2:00 I woke up with a new scar on my belly. Talk about efficiency. My doctor friend insisted I hang out for an hour, so we chatted for a while, and he insisted on no alchohol or sax playing for a month.

The entire operation, including meds and parking cost only NT$600. I must say I love the Taiwan national medical insurance system. The same operation would have cost $5000 in the US.

I wish Hillary Clinton could have gotten her universal medical coverage proposal passed in the US. Maybe next year when she becomes President.

Category: Mr. Asia

Comments (1)

Comments

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cyn

February 14, 2007 9:04 AM

you better send your absentee ballot in time next election, corbett! 8)

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