We booked this trip about 6 weeks after we arrived, we knew we were going to work through the Christmas period to save holiday so got this in the diary as something to look forward to. It was supposed to be our first trip in our 'explore as many places as we can while we're here because we're unlikely to be coming back' series.
Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be - stupid me ended up with a stupid ear infection and being told not to fly by a doctor, sad face!
On Monday I admitted defeat since my cold had finally cleared up but I still couldn't hear out of my left ear and that I should probably go see a doctor. I'd heard that they hand out pills like sweets over here but even I was surprised by what was handed to me, I actually laughed in the nurses face as she handed them over explaining their dosage.
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| That's 3 different pills, cough medicine, throat sweets and ear drops! |
Turns out I had tonsillitis, burst ear drum (this had happened a week before so the hole had healed but it was still a bit blood stained and messy so wanted to see me again a couple of days later after I'd been taking the drops), bad ear infection and conductive hearing loss.... oops.
I went back on Wednesday for a checkup, told him I felt absolutely fine, just annoyed that I still can't hear very well.... he then prescribes me exactly as per Monday night, minus the ear drops! I now have a good stash of pills since I gave up taking everything apart from the penicillin, the others are just over the counter stuff - no way in England would you get drugs given to you in little packs like that (i.e. not blister packs!). He also referred me to an ENT specialist since my infection hadn't cleared up at all.
So on Thursday I took myself off to see specialist man - seriously impressed with the efficiency of healthcare here (although think I'm in the private system with my health insurance card from work, but not entirely sure....) - no appointments necessary you can just walk in and see a doctor whenever or make an appointment if you don't want to wait.
He looked in my bad ear and told me it was 'very very bad', then looked in my good ear and told me that 'wasn't very well either', bummer. He then told me not to fly for at least two weeks, double bummer. I told him I was flying tomorrow, he said that wasn't a good idea. I then questioned him for a good 5 minutes as to the severity of this advice and why and how etc but he just told me that although it wouldn't be life threatening by any means, if I flew but I would be in 'intense pain' which would last the full weekend and take a lot longer for the infection to clear, great.
That's when I realised our weekend away really was cancelled and I was pretty upset! I left the docs with only one set of drugs this time (just more of the same antibiotics) and a checkup appointment for Monday. That's four doctors appointments in a week, more than I've had in about 10 years!
The most upsetting/annoying thing? I feel absolutely fine! A little bit lacking in energy but that may just be a function of my own laziness! Needless to say we were both pretty gutted! Fortunately we were flying with Cathay Pacific who have been really good about it and given me a full flight refund (with doctors note) and Stephen a full refund minus $600 (~£50), we also got one of the two hotel nights back. I know my hearing is worth more than a couple of hundred quid but it's still rubbish and at least getting some money back softened the blow at least!!
I'd be a lot more upset if it was our trip back to the UK that got cancelled and Taipei is an easy enough place to visit from here in future (only 90min flight) so I'll stop my moaning now! Hopefully doc will tell me my ear is ok tomorrow because I don't want to be banned from flying forever.... might take me a while to get home on a boat!!
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