Being a Very Ill Zoo Animal in China

A few days ago, I recently got out of the hospital after five weeks of having an IV stuck in my arm and a drainage tube in my side. Long story short: I have liver cirrhosis type one brought upon by years of excessive drinking. Type one is not a condition that will kill you, as that would be type two. However, people in my medical condition can longer consume alcohol of any type, and a high salt diet is a big no-no.

Managing such a health issue is a challenge in and of itself, but if you add to this the fact that I have lived in China since 2014, other problems begin to crop up. If one lives outside of Tier 1 urban centers like Shanghai (like I do), you will likely end being the only foreigner getting treatment. Sure, there is a language barrier that comes with this, but the other much more tha that. We now live an age of phone translation apps, and the isolation when feels in not speaking or understanding Chinese is not what it was more than 10 years ago. The main cultural problem has never changed. If you are foreign in China, you will always be 老外. In all of my time in the Middle Kingdom, never did I feel more like a zoo animal than did getting treatment. The only way to get privacy is to shut the room door, and that is next to impossible if the IV in your arm only always four feet of slack. There is no way to actually get to the door, and doctors and nurses come and go all the time. If not for me, then the other patients sharing the room. Literally your life becomes an open door allowing any curious Chinese passerby a chance to gawk at you, and, at the worst, take a selfie in front of a door. As I said, it makes you feel like a zoo animal.