Emergencies

I already teased it last week: I was able to experience Japan’s emergency health services – all thanks to Pumpkin. And no, it wasn’t quite as many of you have thought, thanks for asking:

It was a Saturday when was brushing Pumpkin and he liked it – until he didn’t any more. And that’s when he bit me.

Usually, when cats scratch or bite during play, the wound is superficial and heals without problems. This one, however, went deep and even drew some blood, but not enough to flush the wound clean.

Now, cats have the second dirtiest mouths among vertebrates (#1: humans, yay!), so I already knew that I had to keep an eye on my hand. Nothing much happened that day, but the next morning, the back of my hand had started to swell. It didn’t look very serious, so I thought: Nah, it’ll be fine, I can wait until tomorrow to see a doctor.

And that’s what I would’ve done, but a friend of mine reminded me that the Monday ahead was a holiday. And if that wasn’t bad enough, both of the doctors in my neighborhood had taken the entire coming week off thanks to the Obon holidays.

So, with my friend prodding, I decided to go to an emergency room rightaway. After some research, I chose the Kyoto Urban Care Center near Nijo Station. However, when I arrived there and tried to navigate the waiting room overfull with screaming toddlers and their parents, a nurse took a brief look at my swollen hand and declared “We don’t do that here.”

“As in ‘we don’t prescribe antibiotics’ or what?” I didn’t understand. Not that she cared much. “You’ll have to go somewhere else.” And off she went.

One day I’ll speak Japanese well enough to properly deal with somebody like that. And yes, I do understand that she’s just doing her job. But that foreigner bonus must be good for something, right? Anyway, I managed to leave without strangling anyone, I’m so proud.

Unfortunately, pretty much all of those “somewhere elses” charge you 7700 yen just for the privilege of still being able to walk into their ERs; it’s free if you come by ambulance (but there was no way I could justify that, plus who knows what the co-pay is on that.)

So, at the thankfully nearby Red Cross Hospital #2, I had to agree to this charge, grudgingly. Having done that, a significantly kinder nurse helped me fill in all kinds of forms, a recently graduated first year resident took body temperature and hand photos (I refused a blood test) and after maybe 90 minutes, I could return home with a week’s supply of two kinds of antibiotics – in exchange for a total of 9990 yen.

Although my hand kept swelling until the evening, by Monday morning, it was almost back to normal, and in the end, everything cleared up nicely.

So yes, Pumpkin was always fine – thanks for asking about him – and still to this day is completely unfazed by the fact that he owes me all that money. Unfortunately, he’s quite camera shy, so I won’t be able to recoup my losses by making him an insta model or youtube star. But I shall consider my options.