My Visit To The Ear Doctor

[lifemagic]

Re: earlier post, my six year cyst/tinnitus.

I looked at all the advice and decided on Suan Duak aka Sriphat Medical Centre.

So today, I asked the hotel how much to get there in tuk tuk, but she insisted go songthaw, 20b. So I ate at Darat, stood outside and hailed one. First one, no English. Second, fifty baht wouldn't come down. Second, 40 baht, came to 20 with me saying, yi sip, yi sip.

Off we went. He went round, and up Ratchadamon road towards the wat where he picked up another farang who sat next to him. We got close so I got out thinking perhaps he'd gone past it. I pressed the button and got off. I asked specifically where the hospital was and he told me, and the farang said, 'good luck', which was nice.

I turned left onto Suthep road. The first two buildings were too small to have a thirteenth floor so I entered the third. There was a little desk where a man didn't speak English but called someone who could, and told me to keep walking forward.

I walked through the ground floor to the other side of the building and entered a room. There was a desk with one woman behind it and two in front of it. I got the 'Oh God, a farang' look from the two before but the one behind was reasonable. I asked to see an ENT and she said you can't see anyone without appointments. It will be a four hour wait. I thought, considering how long it's taken me to get here, what the hel_l. So I was told to go register at a counter in the same room. I got the same 'Oh God' look from the counter with two women there, who argued as to who had to deal with me, but the one who did spoke English OK and I had to just fill in contact details, no medical history, nothing to pay.

I looked back to the first counter and the two 'Oh God, a Farang' women were staring at me and talking and obviously don't see a lot of farangs. I spoke to the one behind the desk and asked if I could sit there, or go upstairs for four hours, and she said either, so I left. No one came with me and there were two areas with lifts but one seemed to be service, so I went up to thirteen on the other ones.

I had been given a receipt and plastic card. There was another reception upstairs, cramped with about seven nurses, no one particularly pleasent. I showed them the card and asked if I could wait there and they said to go in this room nearby and give the card to number nine room at half five pm.

So I went in. It was a bigish room with chairs in the middle and rooms with sliding doors all around, with, clinic 1, clinic 2 etc. I found a place in the corner to sit. It was a bit shabby and unpleasent but I was there. A farang couple turned up. A young woman in a wheel chair being pushed by her boyfriend. They wheeled her away and he sat down and said something to them. A while later they returned to him with some sellotape and he sat there repairing a cracked motorcycle helmet with it.

I didn't feel good. Most of the 'clinics' were unoccupied. Occasionally a name would be put on the front, meaning a consultant or whatever was there, and patients would come in. Each one would go in, with charts or whatever, and be in there about three minutes. The door was rarely closed. Other staff would wonder in and out while the consultations were going on. There was a guy who would walk into unoccupied 'clinics' with an ice coffee and just hang about. The staff outside were eating and using their mobiles. I went to the toilet and realised there was no door and the urinal was visible from the corridor.

I sat back down and had brought some work to do, plus my mp3 player. I listened to ocean music to lessen the tinnitus while I meditated a bit. A few other farangs came and went. I notice the staff would talk about them and seemed condescending, sometimes holding pieces of paper over their faces while they looked at them and laughed.

At about four, room nine (my room) had a name put on and people started coming and going for about three minutes each time. I went and showed them my card. She motioned for me to sit down and indicated she wanted to take my blood pressure. She tried but there was no reading, so she kept pumping and pumping while she talked to her friend. My hand started swelling and was a purply colour and I complained but she just kept talking to her friend. Eventually I said 'it's too tight' and touched it to try and loosen it but it was pumped up so tight it came flying off accross the table and they gave up.

She gave me a number and indicated for me to sit down. I asked if she would call it in English. She didn't understand. She called someone else and I asked again if they could call it in English, but again this one didn't understand. The third one didn't either, so I just went and sat down.

I looked at the way it was working. My number was 19, and there were numbers hanging up on the wall, which I had assumed were the queue tickets themselves as they were identical to what was given out to patients, but actually, it indicated the number they were seeing. So, in other words, when it was my turn, I was holding a number 19 with an identical 19 on the door. So I went in.

It was a guy. THANK GOD, he spoke English. I explained the problem. He asked me to describe the ringing. He looked in my ear and said there's a ball of compressed wax (yes, I know) and he'd get it out. He opened the draw, took a metal pokey thing, and a sucky thing in the other. He fished about for about six seconds, and levered out this... black ball of about 1.8 cm. covered in white dots.

I was shocked. The door was open (of couse). The 'nurse' ran in and put it on a piece of gauze. I started laughing and took a photo of it.

Then he spent about ten seconds with the suction machine. He asked me about the hearing loss. I told him. He said there's some infection inside. We should wait two weeks, then do a test to see if I'm deaf accross the range of tones, which means there could be a tumour on the inside, or only a specific range of tone, in which case it's standard tinitus. I said OK (inwardly thinking, get out, cancel tomorrow). I asked him if the cyst caused the problem and he said no (weird, a cyst which has twice been going on the size of a golf ball is nothing to do with it), he said it was because I used Q-tips (I rarely do). I asked if the cyst has damaged my hearing, he said no, that's because I've been listening to music (but mostly ocean music to take away the tinitus). I asked if I should have it taken out (it's currently only around 1.5 cm and has swollen to bursting point twice in six years). He said it's on a junction of muscle and nerve and if we tried taking it out and something went wrong, 'you might be ugly'.

... I mean, that kind of means by implication, that I'm good-looking now then... or what?

OK, whatever. It's done, go. I thanked him and left. I stood there for a moment and was told to sit there and wait. I waited about five minutes and she gestured me over to a room and pointed to it to go in but it was a bare room. I came out and followed her to a counter. A woman gave me an 'itemised receipt'. It says:

1.1.14(2) Other medical charges: 100.00

1.2.1(1) First outpatient care 200.00

1.2.2(2) Doctor fee + procedure 100.00

total 400.00

Discount: 000.00

Total 400.00

I asked what 'other medical charges' are. I think she said, it's one hundred because I didn't need any medicine. I asked, 'I have to pay 100 for not having been presribed medicine?' but she tutted and was angry that I didn't understand what she had said. She spoke around her collegues but no one spoke English. So there was nothing to do but pay and go.

Man, it's a fast lift. It went down so fast, it had come up again before I realised I'd been to the ground floor and back up. So I went down again, got out. It was confusing as it was very quiet then but had been busy when I arrived.

I walked back out into the street, turned left. Crossed the road and sat and looked at the water. Then I looked at my picture of this 'thing' they pulled out. Then I performed the 'experiment' that had let me know I was half deaf, i.e. put on my ocean music and put one headphone in my good ear, then the same headphone in the other and compare the hearing. It had been 100/50 this morning. Now it was 100/100... as far as I can tell, obviously, there's a fair bit of ambient noise round the moat.

So then I put the headphones away and pressed my ears shut to see how bad the tinnitus was.

I don't want to count my chickens yet, but, it seems to be (dare I say) gone.

I haven't been anywhere quiet yet so I can't say for sure. I walked back and went to Chiang Mai Saloon, as I've never been there in all these years and wanted to try it. I wanted coke, a veg burger and a spud. I ordered the coke and spud but the woman walked off to talk to her friend before I could say 'burger' (what is it with these people?).

So I sat there listening to the music for two hours. It's a very strange feeling, to have heard a constant tone for six years and it's gone (or much improved, I'm not sure yet). Plus, it seems so loud on the right, at the very least, there's a very, very big improvement in hearing.

Then I checked my receipt and realised, 'first outpatient care' means the biggest expense was 200 for a blood pressure reading I didn't need, didn't ask for and she couldn't take. Ugh God.

So, It's nearly midnight. I live somewhere quite quiet. I haven't done my proper meditation yet, usually I use ocean music to mask the tinnitus. This will be the real test, in the quiet with no music, plus I'll do the 'headphone test' again to see how it's all lying, and will report back tomorrow.

Yep, that was my day today.

I don't want to draw any firm conclusions or make any recommendations/warnings because I don't really know what I should have expected. I'll sleep on it and see if there are any comments and conclude tomorrow.

[lifemagic]

OK, just read it back. Two quick clarifications before I go home.

One, the consultant arrived at four, an hour and a half before my time, but I sat until half five as instructed by the staff (fair enough, as other people booked before me).

Also, when I wrote: It was a guy. THANK GOD, he spoke English. I mean, (just in case it isn't clear), thank god he spoke English. I don't mean thank god it was a guy. I didn't mind the gender either way; I just wanted someone I could communicate with.

[john_bkk919]

Sweet, thanks for that post.

I've had similar 'care' here from the biggest hospitals. Usually it's better than nothing, though not always. At least it's only a few hundred baht and relatively easy to get seen, if what ails you is common enough.

Edited March 15, 2010 by john_bkk919

[garyh]

400 baht is cheap price to get your hearing back to normal, just shows to all the others that are afraid to go to the doctor that it is not that painful in the wallet.

[noise]

I take my MIL there a lot so let me ask questions to insure I understand where you checked in.

Did you check in at the desk just inside the door with the "traffic circle" in front? The building closest to the street next to the emergency building? It sounds like you did.

I take my MIL in through the back of that building where you have to climb a few stairs to get to the door. We pay a little more, but are not immersed in the poor/charity cases and do not wait hours and hours.

I see a lot of expats back there and have the impression that there are quite a few people who speak English. Usually my wife checks her mother in, but when I do they always start speaking English with me. You story about effectively not finding an English speaker makes me think you did not check in the "paid" section. Even the other section pays something, but in my MIL's case it would be no more than what she can claim on my FIL's govt medical coverage.

You can get a schedule of clinics showing what doctor is working what days of the week and what hours. You can call and make an appointment and minimize the waiting time. But even paying instead of using the free clinics, we still end up going to a large waiting room on a upper floor and taking her into one of the cubicles with a partially closed sliding door.

We get appointments that are the most convenient for us and that involve the least waiting time, but still takes at least an hour. We pay the extra because we know we are seeing more experienced doctors, spend less time, and the difference in cost is insignificant compared to having to show up hours before the doctors in order to get in line.

Maybe you could find someone who knows the hospital a little could take you on a short tour and point out that office and get a schedule for future reference?

[Bill97]

Lifemagic,

You need to see a urologist, unless in your detailed description of your day, you forgot to tell us that you took a pee.

[Carib]

so, where is the picture ??

[orang37]

Khun LifeMagic,

Most of what we read in your account is, in our opinion, just an extended whining, probably biased by your going there with an attitude that everything was going to go wrong. It really fits together quite well with a picture of someone who has neglected to deal with a potential major health threat for years.

Too bad you didn't take a good book to read, rather than keeping a diary of every minor hassle.

You went to the major public hospital serving all the people of Chiang Mai. Try going to the public out-patient clinic at San Jose Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California and see how long you have to wait unless you have a demonstrable emergency : try weeks to get an appointment.

Once again, we'll probably waste our words, but we strongly suggest you go and see Dr. Rat : we actually went across town in heavy traffic specifically to get you the directions to his clinic.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Ear-nose-thr...39#entry3418139

~o:37;

[isanbirder]

Lifemagic

Did you go to the 13th floor, as instructed? Sorry they didn't put out a red carpet for you... they keep that for people who appreciate them. All this fuss about a simple visit to the doctor, which is all it should have been.

Anyway, you seem to have got the desired result, so what are you complaining about?

[chiang mai]

Good man, well done, small lesson learned maybe - thanks for reporting back, we were all worried.

[PeaceBlondie]

Cured, Four hour wait for the clinic. 400 baht for the cure. Cured.

[chiang mai]

Cured, Four hour wait for the clinic. 400 baht for the cure. Cured.

Er, Seven years of anxiety, visit, then go, "cured, four hour wait for the clinic. 400 baht for the cure. Cured". Result. Shakes head.

[Dr. G]

Had you gone to McCormick Hospital as suggested in my previous post you would have been met by the Triage Nurse who is fluent in English. She would have directed to you reception to register and then measured your blood pressure successfully. Weighed you and guided you to the appropriate clinic. Called you when the consultant was ready. Even a dumb and blind patient would have no difficulty.

The nurses there do NOT joke and make comments behind a patients back.

There behaviour is proper and correct at all times.

I have been going to the McCormick Hospital for over 20 years and never had a complaint.

g

[lifemagic]

Not sure if the picture will show up. It's a bit dark but you get the idea of scale as some of the nurse's finger is included. I lightened it with picasa but can't get that one to upload. It looks awful, there are kind of white spots in it.

Did my 'home tests' today. Hearing 100% both sides. Tinnitus completely gone.

Thank you for posts and any trouble. It's a mixed bag of replies when you post something on the web isn't it? But the fact I did so and said I'd report back kind of goaded me into doing it.

I'll bear the other advice in mind if I need something again, though hopefully it's all done and dusted.

[elektrified]

I've never had a problem communicating with the staff or any of the doctors at Sripat. Sounds like you went to the public section of Suan Dok. But even there, many, many of the nurses are fluent in English.

You could have spared the photo.

[NancyL]

After wading thru that harrowing tale of waiting in such trying conditions, some of us readers were expecting to be rewarded with a view of the planet formerly residing in the OPs ear. I would suggest that the OP should have a complete physical just to find out what else is lurking inside his body.

[PeaceBlondie]

Cured, Four hour wait for the clinic. 400 baht for the cure. Cured.

Er, Seven years of anxiety, visit, then go, "cured, four hour wait for the clinic. 400 baht for the cure. Cured". Result. Shakes head.

His seven year wait was his fault. They told him the clinic opened in 4 hours. Cured.

Maybe he did go the the free clinic, but then he wouldn't have paid a satang. I paid not a satang for my consult with the specialist at the free clinic.

[lifemagic]

Oh for God's sake. Yes, I'm happy. I'm sorry if that post was too long or harrowing/irrelevant. I'm obviously particularly sensitive to such things in a way that other people aren't. But I'm done with this. Thank you for the posts.

I'm happy.

_____________________________________

[wimpy]

These days I use the Sripat special clinic exclusively.

Reception is nice and modern, certainly more so than McCormick. Never had a problem communicating with the staff, and always found them pleasant. Doctors have been great, and I have never felt rushed during the visit.

I wouldn't go anywhere else.