Just went to the hospital. No no, nothing life threatening, but that’s where you go when you get sick here. I have had a breathing problem of late and went to have it looked at. I went once before to the Adventist hospital in Ogikubo, which is the biggest hospital in my area, but the sign on the entrance said they only accepted walk-ins from 8:30 to 10:30 in the morning, which is a pretty bad window for me.
I went back today just before 8:30 and was really impressed with the whole experience. I was told to sit down along with three rows of other patients in a little TV salon. A hospital employee came to welcome us promptly at 8:30, announced the opening of services and explained the procedures like we were about to start a ride on a roller coaster. Well, we were…sort of. By 10:10 they had supplied me with my own new patient card; sent me to a nurse for the measurement of height, weight, and blood pressure; sent me to a doctor who discussed my problem with me; sent me to their X-ray division for a chest X-ray; sent me to their “heart” section for an EKG, and their “general inspection” area for a blood test. Everyone was incredibly friendly and simply took my patient card, and one of the pieces of paper that the doctor had handed to me, performed their section’s task and sent me packing to the next stop. Most of my time was not spent waiting for anything, but in getting from one section of the hospital to another. From the time the doctors started working at 9, it took just over a single hour to go through everything, including the half hour that the doctor spent with me. Since I am on the $25 per month national Japanese insurance plan my hospital visit and all of these tests cost about $110.