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All my packed gear has been moved into the bike box. Even the handlebar bag. Makes life so much easier to only have one giant sized piece of awkward luggage. Sure, if I went with turning more of my stuff into carry-ons (which I could totally get away with) I'd probably manage tomorrow without having to pay overweight luggage charges, but, honestly, the convenience factor is just too convenient.

I've put the new backplate screws in place on my laptop and securely taped them down so they won't unscrew themselves and, despite a whole lot of curiosity on my part as well as the periodic "the USB device connected to this computer has failed" message which I get despite not having a USB device connected to my computer at the time, I resisted the urge to take the backplate off and have a look at the insides. It's either a weird generic failure caused by loose components related to the backplate being loose or it's not. If it is, the new screws will fix the problem. If it's not, I can buy an absolutely guaranteed clean laptop in Spain.

I intended to spend the afternoon getting my teeth cleaned and checked out for any cavities as well as having a quick meeting with the dentist on the topic of his advertisement in the Pocket Guide, but, I instead had surprise outpatient sinus surgery.

How does one have surprise surgery?

I have chronic sinusitis and have since I was a kid. It runs in the family. Additionally, at least once per year I get a nasty sinus infection that weeks of antibiotics simply won't clear up. It'll go away as long as I'm on antibiotics and come back days after I finish yet another extended course. This time I'd been almost 10 days without antibiotics when I stopped by the neighborhood clinic and, when I've reached that point, usually one more course will knock it out for good. However, the neighborhood clinic doctor instead insisted that I go to the Ear, Nose, and Throat Department at the hospital and let them take a look.

After looking up my nose and determining that it was in fact swollen and unhappy looking, the doctor ordered a CT scan. Two or three patients on gurneys rightfully jumped the line but my total wait in the radiology department was only about 30 minutes. While I was sitting in the waiting room, I scanned the QR code on the prescription and paid for my CT scan.

Back up to the ENT department to tell the doctor that radiology wasn't going to be able to give me my results until the next morning, I had another half hour wait as she was in surgery. She looked up my nose again, and sent me back to radiology to pick up my unread films for her to look at on her own at which point she decided that something definitely was wrong and I needed an endoscope shoved up my nose for a clearer look.

Back in line at the pharmacy to pick up my anesthesia and bring it back to her, I again paid the bill while waiting in line. Pretty much all medical treatment in China, even treatment with insurance, follows the pay first model. The lack of billing departments and other administrative layers (such as making the patient responsible for picking up and bringing their anesthesia to the ENT department rather than making the ENT department responsible for tracking their narcotics) is one of the many ways in which costs are cut.

The endoscope basically showed that I have a deviated septum. I already knew this. Also, the nasal passages on the left side of my face are so narrow and restricted a normal sized endoscope can't fit through them. This was also something I already knew. It's just that I'm scared of the ever-less-scary and ever-less-invasive surgery necessary to fix these problems. I also had nasal polyps. I say had and not have because she decided that since she was in there anyways, she might as well remove them and send them off for testing--the results of which I'll get on Tuesday.

In the US, this would have taken at least 4 weeks.
From arriving at the hospital to leaving including waiting in line to register, waiting in line at the ENT department, seeing the ENT doctor, waiting at radiology for my CT, getting a CT, waiting for the ENT doctor to get back, seeing the doctor again, going back to radiology and waiting for my printed films, seeing the doctor again, waiting at the pharmacy to get my anesthesia, having my surgery, and waiting at the pharmacy to get some nose drops and other stuff for afterwards, this whole thing took 4 hours.

Oh, and it only cost me around ~$200.
For people who read the Vietnam journal, it's treatment like this that is part of why I was so annoyed at the hospital on the China/Vietnam border.