Before we close the chapter on my dengue fever incident, I’d like to tell you all about my recovery experience. A story that’s really all about cheap healthcare and the kindness of strangers.
First of all, I do have travel insurance which would have covered everything should I have been hospitalized. Luckily it never came down to that. Perhaps things would have been different if I’d actually visited a doctor when I felt the worst, but I’m stubborn. So anyway…
On approximately Day 5 of Feeling Like Shit, after diagnosing myself with the flu, I decided I’d walk to the pharmacy and try to find something over-the-counter (most things in Thailand are) to cure myself. The options were too much for me though, and as I stared out the window at two visible doors with the sign “Nursing Clinic” above them, I decided to do the responsible thing and see a doctor.
From there, you guys know the story. Slightly elevated temp, blood drawn. My full blood work was completed by 7 PM when the doctor called me up with the results and the bad news that it was dengue (the clinic also emailed them to me which was lovely). She asked me to come back in so she could give me instructions on how to proceed since I was leaving Koh Tao the following day. Of course, I was not pleased to hear that I’d need to get my blood drawn every day until my platelets were back in the “normal” range.
Total cost for consultation with the doctor (200 baht) and blood work (400 baht) was about $17 USD.
I nodded to the good doctor that I understood and left with a full printed list of my blood’s current ingredients. The next day involved a harrowing journey back to the mainland of Thailand, which included almost fainting while changing ferries and an attempt to follow doctor’s orders in the city of Surat Thani, a town that does not receive much tourism. It’s basically a jumping off point for the islands, and I was spending a night there before my flight to Vietnam.
dengue visa photo – will they even let me into Vietnam looking like this?
Still, determined to be responsible and go get checked out, I headed for the hospital that was located three blocks from my hotel. Wow. Such a different experience being in a busy local hospital on the weekend as opposed to a small clinic in a touristy town on a Thursday. Only two people spoke rudimentary English and I only think they understood what I wanted done. (Though it’s totally possible with my sign language for “getting blood drawn” that they thought I was a recovering heroin addict.)
Long story short, I had my temperature and my blood pressure taken (both normal), was handed a slip of paper with my name and a bar code printed on it, and proceeded to wait alongside some other, more obviously sick patients. It was like the urgent care portion of the hospital. It was a bit of a cultural experience though. The nurses wore those old school caps and some of them even wore skirts. Street food was sold in the parking lot.
And after two hours of waiting, I said “fuck it” and left.
I was feeling a lot better, but really, my main concern was how the hell I was going to get these results even if I got the blood work done? The point was to monitor my platelets, and I was getting on a plane out of the country the next morning. What was the point of getting this done here if I was never going to know the results? Judging by the looks of the place, they probably weren’t going to email them to me. So after that bit of rationalizing, I left and got some street food, my appetite slowly but surely returning.
After a night in my hotel, a visit to Surat Thani’s airport, and several hours spent hanging out in Bangkok’s DMK airport passed without incident, I reached my $21 a night hotel room in Hanoi, Vietnam. Not being certain I was well yet, I didn’t want to revert back to hostel living too quickly.
upgraded room, still $21/night
The next morning, I was incredibly stressed as I thought about how to explain to a whole new culture of people that I needed blood work done. After some googling on the subject, a quick browse of expat forums led me to a lab, Medlatec, that could check you for anything… you just had to know how to request it.
I really preferred to go to a clinic though, so I asked the very friendly lady at hotel reception where I could get blood work done, showing her my results from the Koh Tao clinic to explain myself (unfortunately printed only in Thai and English). Lots of pointing to the paper and myself, saying “dengue” and “need to do this again” and “I’m sick” got me some weird looks and a response of “We don’t really have dengue here.”
Of course, then I had to explain that I’d actually brought the disease with me. She suggested I go to a pharmacy to get checked out. I knew damn well no pharmacy was going to draw my blood, but hey, I’ve never been to Vietnam before so I could be wrong! I hesitantly got on the back of a motorbike with a guy from the hotel and was carted around to four different pharmacies. As I suspected, no luck.
When I returned to the hotel empty-handed, a man who was possibly the owner had taken the lady’s place at the front desk. He just looked at me, considered my situation, and asked plainly, “WHAT are you trying to buy?”
Now feeling like a drug addict attempting to purchase contraband, I explained what I needed and told him I’d read about Medlatec, hoping for his opinion on the place. He agreed with my suggestion, saying that, yes, they could definitely draw my blood and that they should speak English there. But just in case, he gave me the name of the international hospital located in Hanoi. The owner then called over his motorbike guy and asked him to transport me to Medlatec.
He handed me a helmet and we set off into the ridiculousness that is Hanoi traffic. Thankfully it was only about a ten minute ride (on a highway, through a neighborhood, and down several alleys) before we arrived. Nice guy that the driver was, he even escorted me inside! We walked into a busy hospital-esque floor that contained a small front desk with three people manning it. I handed them my blood work from Koh Tao, pointed to my arm (yet again), and the motorbike driver did some talking. They quickly printed off some information with my name on it and a label with a bar code, then asked me to pay before showing me to the guys with the needles.
Literally eight feet away, I presented my paperwork and they drew my blood, labelled the vial, and told me how I could check my results online in two hours. Still worried about what the hell kind of results they were going to give me, and whether or not “platelets” would be listed among them, one lady spoke reassuringly in English saying, “This will have everything.” The whole process took less than five minutes.
Cost for blood work in Hanoi, Vietnam: 100,000 dong. That’s $4.48 USD. (I tipped my moto driver 100,000 dong as well.)
On the way back to the hotel, my motorbike man stopped to have a cigarette with some of his buddies on the side of the road. At this point I was elated to have accomplished my one task for the day and just grinned like an idiot as I sat on my tiny plastic stool and sipped the hot tea that I was handed while they joked and asked how old I was. I was also offered a cigarette, which I kindly declined. Another fun cultural experience caused by dengue!
Devastatingly though, at 1 PM sharp, I checked my results online only to find that my platelets levels had dropped even more. They weren’t at hospitalization level yet, but I was still stressed. The doctor had said that this could happen before I got better, but it was upsetting nonetheless. What the hell?! I’d been sick for a full week now! Not to mention I was lonely in my solitary hotel room. I spent my days eating street food and tried to fill myself with pho, fruit, and juices, willing my body to make more platelets.
I knew that visiting a lab wasn’t really what the doctor in Thailand had intended. I should’ve been seeing another actual doctor who could read my symptoms and blood work and then throw my ass in a hospital if needed. But I didn’t do it. My solution was easier… as long as I was getting better.
So I decided to skip a day of testing and let my body work on those platelets, adding two nights to my hotel stay just to be safe. With a little embarrassment, the next morning I trudged downstairs to the lobby and asked if I could get a ride to the lab again. I did my best to convey to them that I wasn’t just some hypochondriac girl who liked getting poked with needles, and that this was really doctor’s orders!
The owner seemed to understand, made a phone call, and we had a repeat of the first day, with the motorbike man carting me off, coming into the clinic with me, watching me get blood drawn, and then safely returning me to the hotel.
Get this, I got a discount for my second set of blood work! 95,000 dong or $4.26 USD.
Two hours later, I waited with the stress equivalent to checking my law school grades online to before logging in to see my results on Medlatec’s website.
PLATELETS IN THE NORMAL RANGE! I WAS BETTER! HOORAY! BACK TO TRAVELER LIFESTYLE AND HOSTEL LIVING TOMORROW!
No really, I was ecstatic.
And when I finally got a chance to speak with one of the ladies at the front desk who was more fluent in English, she was so concerned about me. “Dengue. That is very dangerous. I am so glad you are better. If you need anything at all please let us know. We don’t want this to feel like a hotel. We want it to feel like home.” SO NICE!
The people I encountered while I was sick in Thailand and Vietnam couldn’t have been more accommodating and friendly. And while I’m thankful that I didn’t have a horrendous case of dengue and especially that I didn’t have to go to the hospital, I’m even more grateful for the kindness that I was shown in a country other than my own. And of course, also for the cheap healthcare – I was able to monitor and combat dengue for less than $26 USD. For once, I wasn’t nervous about the cost of going to the doctor. (United States: Get it together!) As for me, I can only hope that in the future I’ll be just as friendly and helpful to strangers in my home country.
For anybody who happens to be in my situation on Koh Tao, I had a great experience at Sawasdee Clinic. The doctor spoke fluent English. She saw me twice, phoned me, and the clinic emailed me my results for 600 baht.
If you need to get blood drawn in Hanoi, you can visit the very efficient Medlatec (they have an English portion of their website and your results will be in both English and Vietnamese). They are super efficient and results are online within two hours. The words for “Complete Blood Count” in Vietnamese are “tổng phân tích máu” which would have been very helpful to know at the time.
Where I stayed: The Parkson Hotel in Hanoi. These people could not have been more helpful and I highly recommend them for their service and great location in the Old Quarter.
