Happy to go to the hospital

A few months ago, I had a slight fever, felt dull and tired easily.
I felt like doing nothing.OR: I didn’t feel like doing anything. 
I thought it might be because I had walked in a heavy rain and 
I’d get well soon if I rested for a few days. 

But I didn’t.

One lovely Saturday in October, I left my daughter with my husband and 
was hanging out with my friend in Brooklyn. 
As she ran to Van Leeuwen’s ice-cream cart, 
I wasn’t excited but sank weakly to the ground.

Something unusual must have happened to me.

It didn’t seem to be simply a cold, then….
The next day I rushed into the drugstore and bought 
a pregnancy test kit and tried it at home.

The result was positive!
Amazingly, the test kit in America showed 
how many weeks into my pregnancy I was! 
As the number of weeks was beyond my expectations, 
I decided to look for an obstetrician right away.

In Japan, unless a pregnancy is high-risk, 
we usually search for a hospital first.
Many pregnant women tend to choose a hospital depending on its facilities 
and services; if it’s new and clean enough; 
how good the staff’s service is; if it has an aroma massage, 
or even if its meals are nice or not.
Then, after picking out a hospital, they choose a doctor if they can, 
but in many cases, there is no option.

But in America searching for a doctor is first.
A doctor seems to be more important than a hospital.
An individual is more powerful than an organization! 
What a difference from Japan. It’s a complete contrast.

So popular doctors have many patients.

Patients usually don’t change doctors unless they have special reasons.
As a doctor takes responsibility for regular prenatal checkups until delivery, 
their relationship will be long.

But I thought that if I felt uncomfortable with the doctor I saw first,
it’d be easy to find another one. 
So for this first appointment, I just wanted to see a doctor 
to confirm my pregnancy. 

I started to search for a doctor “for the time being.” 

I contacted some of my friends who had given birth here and 
asked which doctor they had been seeing. 
Many said they had been seeing the only Japanese obstetrician 
in Manhattan. 

I called his office to make an appointment.

The receptionist answered in Japanese and I felt comfortable, 
but she said the doctor was not in our insurance network.

Yes, the first point to consider in finding a hospital is learning 
about my own insurance.

I always talk about money in this blog…
but we pay about $1000 a month for insurance for the three of us, 
and it’s a lot for our family budget.

Insurance is so expensive that many people can’t pay, 
or some of them think it’s unnecessary in the United States.
According to 2014 data, more than 13% of Americans 
don’t have health insurance. 

An ambulance, of course, costs money.
I’ve seen a man on the street bleeding from his head and shouting, 
“Don’t call an ambulance!” 

That is too horrible...
I’ve never seen such a scene in Japan.

Unlike Japan, America doesn’t have national health insurance. 
We are the only ones who can protect ourselves! 

Can we receive some benefits from Obamacare?
I wish I could.

Anyway, if I go to a doctor out of network, it might cost a lot.
I again started to look for a doctor in our insurance network.

When I think about taking my daughter with me to a hospital, 
I want to choose a hospital near my home.

There are two hospitals where I can go easily, 
and I had to select a doctor connected with those
hospitals. In Japan, most doctors work in hospitals.

So the second point to consider is “ a doctor and connected with the hospital.”

Again I asked some friends, and many of them said 
they had been to Chinese female doctors because

“ They know Asian women’s bodies well.” 
“ Their English is easy to understand.” 
” As they also have some children, they understand us better.” 

OK, then. I checked on our insurance company’s website, 
filtering by language, to look for Chinese doctors and the hospitals. 
A few corresponded to that!  

Yes! I made it! 
Success seemed likely.

But….when I called to the doctors’ office:

“Sorry, our doctor will not take new patients.” Click! Beep, beep, beep, beep…
“Your due date may be June, 
but unfortunately the doctor is fully booked in June.”  

It may be difficult to see popular doctors. 

So the third point to consider is “doctors’ reasons.” 

I started the search ”for the time being,” 
but it was so hard for me to think about all  three points at the same time.

I expanded the language filter to Korean and searched again for Asian doctors. 
When I saw their profiles, there were too many technical terms to understand.
I tried to check them with a dictionary, but because of morning sickness, 
I suffered from headaches and couldn’t concentrate long.

I called other doctors’ offices using new terms I just learned, but 
”The doctor is a gynecologist, but not an obstetrician.”
“The doctor specializes in high-risk, 
 so we can’t take a patient for normal delivery.” 

Sigh…I couldn’t make it again.
Why? I just want to confirm my pregnancy.
Is that too much to ask?

I was getting depressed.

If I were in Japan, I could call the nearest hospital 
“ for the time being” and make an appointment in 30 seconds.
And I would be told “ Congratulations!” the next day.

Why is this so hard?
I don’t care anymore. _Any doctor would be fine
It doesn’t have to be a female doctor. 
I don’t care about nationality.

In desperation, I kept going down the shortlist, one after another.

“We’ll check the doctor’s schedule and call you back.” ( Of course no call back.)
“Our doctor can’t see you, but how about Dr. XXX?” ( I was rejected already.) 

Going back and forth for a few days, I called a doctors’ office 
that had already rejected me once.
The office said then no one was available, 
but this time it gave me a name of a young female doctor, 
and I could finally make an appointment with her! 

What a surprise!
Things go well in this country if I don’t give up easily.

The appointment was not the next day, but three weeks later.
I wanted to confirm my pregnancy as soon as possible, 
but the receptionist said I had to come 
when the doctor could hear my baby’s heartbeat.

Judging from the doctor’s profile, she seemed to be same age as me.
I wondered if she had experience giving birth, 
but I really didn’t care about such a small thing anymore.

I have to go forward, not be particular about the details.

Well, it took three days to make the first appointment, 
collecting information, making a shortlist and a call. 
I don’t think even a fresh young salesperson takes so long to 
make an appointment with a new customer for the first time.

I have never heard from my friends that they had such a hard time 
finding an obstetrician, and I didn’t have trouble making an appointment 
with my daughter’s pediatrician.
So it must not always be difficult to find a doctor in NY.

I’m not such a clever person, but this time, I may have been too clumsy 
or just unlucky, or maybe I didn’t follow a proper procedure.
That’s a long way around.

But when I think about so many uninsured people, 
I may be very lucky to see a doctor with insurance.

I feel happy going to the hospital…. 

I would never feel that way in Japan because going to 
the hospital is quite a normal thing.

Since I’ve been living in New York, I’ve felt lucky that in Japan 
I receive so many benefits easily. 
This time I made a new discovery, too: for the first time, 
I’ve felt lucky about going to the hospital.