Traveling with Congestion/Cough is Not Fun

I am in the Atlanta airport dreading my flight home. I have been struggling with a cough and sore throat for over a week, but yesterday it started to add congestion to the mix. I can handle most anything better than a runny or stuffy nose and sneezing with pressure in the sinuses. ICK...I know people are THRILLED to be sitting near me on a plane as I hack, sneeze, and other such things. Hopefully resting this weekend will help...

Hopefully my ears will be good on this flight. They weren't so nice on the last one. At least my Vols won the SEC East in Basketball! GO VOLS!

Wed in St. Louis

Today has been an interesting day. I was up rather late last night working and getting ready to go out of town. I am still not quite back on the right time zone. I would take something to help with sleep, but my body is still fighting this freaking cough and such and I don't want to mix that much stuff together. I am sure I will adjust soon.

So, I got an email today from the hotel in Kuala Lumpur. It was the Mandarin Oriental, and I have posted at how impressed I was with the service. I had finished a book while i was there, and I had meant to give it to Christy as she was interested. However, in my rush, I accidentally left it in the room. So, in my life, I have left a LOT of stuff in hotels. Usually, you have to call and beg them to look for it and even beg more if you actually want it BACK. So, imagine my surprise when I get an email from the housekeeper saying that they found my book and asking what I wanted them to do with it. Amazing.

I am in St. Louis today in my birth state of Missouri. We had a really good steak dinner tonight at the Stoney Creek Restuarant. They had these blue cheese chips that were out of this world. We also had some really good wine. :) Yummmmm....

The best part of dinner though was that we had meaningful conversation around things that I had wanted to talk about for a long time. It is amazing how talking through things can make you feel better even without anything changing. :) I told some old Nashville stories. LOVE Nashville. Miss it. need to go there soon.

Good night. :)

Medical Care in Malaysia - My Visit to the Doctor

I visited a few offices in Malaysia, and I was a patient at one. It was really nice to get to see what it was like as a patient. It is one thing to hear about the workflow and a completely different thing to be IN the workflow. J So, I went to the Twin Towers Medical Centre.

It was a 21 provider office, and I was nervous about how long it would take as there were a lot of people there. I asked, and the receptionist was kind of vague so I am thinking it will be a long time. I decide that I need to go as my ear is really hurting and I am nervous about flying with my ear all screwy.

So, the receptionist has me fill out a one page form that asked for no insurance. It did ask for my name, DOB, passport number, permanent residence, temporary residence in KL, and what my complaint was. Efficient. I was given a paper number like you get at the deli counter in the grocery store and directed to a seating area.

Here, there is a sign that displays the numbers and the room to go to when it is your turn.

When your number appears, you go open the door. Of course, I feel weird just opening it, so someone has to tell me to walk in. :)

There are doors in a square with the specialty on the door. The physician stays in the room, and the patients come to him/her instead of stacking the rooms with patients to wait and then having the physician go to the different rooms.

My doctor was at her desk, and there was a chair next to her. An exam room was in the back of the room. She asked some basic questions, and then she listened to my chest, looked in my ears and nose, and looked at my throat. She said that I had some blood and bulging in my ear. BAD. She says that I need some medications. She writes FIVE prescriptions - an antibiotic, antibiotic ear drops, nasal spray, cough medicine for the day, and cough medicine for the night. She asks me to wait in the lobby again and to wait for my number. The lab draw is the same way. They put your number on the sign and you go to the lab. Then, when it is time to pay, your number is on the wall for reception and they call it - or maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to be quick. :) I go to the payment desk. She says it is $184.14 RM which is $54. WOW. Then, the pharmacist is there with my prescriptions filled and they are included in the $54. This has all taken slighly under 20 minutes. AMAZING.

So, I pondered this a lot. I like the idea of the specialists all in one place and the idea of the doctor waiting in the room for each patient to come in and out. I didn't mention the nurses, but they were there to assist along the way as well. I did see pharmacies there, but I guess they are mainly for uncommon drugs since all of the people I talked to there dispense their own meds.

Some problems in the US to adopt something similar:

Doctors are probably not paid as much in Malaysia as in the US.

Doctors rule the office here and I don't know that they would like sitting in the room waiting for patients.

Drug costs are much higher here, but that is a whole other discussion probably.

Insurance - I doubt they are having to pay crazy malpractice insurance.

Payment - $184 RM didn't seem like too much based on the prices for other things. It might be though for those outside of the tourist areas. Not sure how that affects the pricing.

Public Service - there are private hospitals and public hospitals. Each physician is required to work for the public hospital for 3 years before going into private practice. This helps with coverage. Interesting idea...

The hospitals we saw were also very nice. I did hear that there aren't enough hospitals for rural areas, but that is a problem in a lot of places. :) Anyway, I was very impressed and thought it was a very efficient and productive visit. The doctor I saw was also very nice and so was her nurse.

Change of State

When matter changes from one state to another, it is called change of state. Usually, this involves a temperature change. So, I am pretty sure I went through a few temperature changes today. First, Morgan was sick with a fever and a cough again. UGH. Mike is also sick. I am still hacking up a lung. So, off we go to the doctor first thing this morning. Gotta love it. Apparently, half of Tampa also had the same issue, so the office was packed. Not quiet as efficient as Malaysia but pretty damn good, Dr. Yousef got us in and out. A shot for daddy and none for Morgan. It was the only smile on Morgan's face for hours when she found out that the tables were turned and DADDY would get a shot and she wouldn't. He said that he would rather try basic stuff first with Morgan.

Prescriptions in hand, we go to the pharmacy where it is of course an hour wait. Do they ever say anything else?

Morgan says that Dairy Queen will make her so much better, so off we go for some ice cream. :)

After being gone for a couple of weeks, it was very odd. I felt out of touch for many things and right like I had never left in others. Weird. I played catch up and got several things knocked off my list.

Morgan is feeling better and has no temp tonight, so off to school tomorrow! :)

HOME!

When I got to baggage claim, Mike was pulling around in the car. He sent Morgan and Michael in to help me with bags. I was SOOOOOOO happy to see them. We were only about an hour late, and it was fabulous to be in Tampa. After I got my bags, I walked outside. Did I move north? What happened to this sunny, warm city named Tampa? Geez... On the way home, I want some very boring food, so we get Subway sandwiches. Perfect. Yummy. Not spicy. Plain. Yummy. :)

It was so nice to be home. The cats were all lovey. The dog has grown a ton and is just as crazy as ever. I unpacked and got the gifts out for the kids and Mike. I think they liked the stuff. I told lots of stories, and they seemed to like hearing about Ganesh, the Indian god who is an elephant head and a human body.

The Taylor Swift concert was tonight, so we had to get ready to leave. I took the best shower I have ever had, and then we went to get Katie for the show. It was at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City. Gotta love it. When we get there, we find out that you ALSO have to pay for a ticket into the festival. NICE. We enjoy a little fair food (NOTHING that could have been found in Mexico or Malaysia!). Gotta love fair food. :)

The concert was great. Uncle Mike had asked if Morgan had her cell phone to hold in the air for the encore. I giggled because I hadn't heard that before. A cell phone? Seriously? No, Morgan doesn't have hers, so I promise to loan mine. Mike has this row of girls behind him belting out each and every word. He was too funny right in front of them and had hysterical facial expressions. There is also a little 5 or 6 year old girl singing every word. Morgan and Katie sang almost all of the words. Michael piped in for the ones he knew.

The girls behind Mike were wanting her to change outfits more, and that made me think of my dad taking me to see Elton John when I was in high school and wanted to know why people would want to hear Elton John! I don't know how my dad put up with me, but he took me anyway and we watched all of the outfit changes. She only wore jeans...

and a gold dress...

It was SO cold. We are having a grand ol time, and Taylor says to get our your cell phone and hold it in the air. That Uncle Mike is So with the times! I am mortified that cell phones have taken the place of lighters at concerts, but I tried to be brave.

We got tshirts for the kids on the way out. Ahhh...life is grand.

In Atlanta Airport

Woooooo Hoooooo! Back in the US! We are delayed so far about 45 min
but there are a LOT of cancelled flights so I won't complain. The
journey through Mumbai was insane again. I do not recommend it as a
transfer stop on the way somewhere. I think most fly in and out of
there or connect to domestic flights, so that is what they know. I
will post the story later when in front of a real keyboard. Man, 18
hours is a REALLY long flight!!!!!!!

Sent from my iPhone

The Mumbai Airport

Remind me to NEVER fly through the Mumbai Airport as a transit passenger again. Please, in case I forget in the future and say, "wow, this flight through Mumbai is much faster than the one through X city," PLEASE do not let me do it.

Let me first say that I think this issue is not really Mumbai's fault. I don't think they get a lot of international transit passengers like other places do. One reason I say that is that the transit area that you can go into is VERY small AND it was empty each time I went. :) I think most people fly to Mumbai because they are going there or they are going somewhere in India. I might be wrong, but that is the feeling I got.

So, we were delayed by almost an hour leaving KL. Of course, I knew I would want a bottle of water for medicine and just to drink since my throat was sore and I was hacking up a lung (don't you wish you were sitting next to ME on the plane). I bought a water and a diet coke for 8 RM. I was all happy and proud, and then I had to go through a security thing at the gate itself. And I couldn't bring my drinks. :( :( Very sad moment. So, they start boarding the flight on time, and then all of the sudden they announce that they are going to stop boarding. They don't get the people off which I think is a good sign. I am worried because there is only one flight from Mumbai to Atlanta a day. Since I don't have a visa in India, I would rather stay in KL if I am going to be stuck for another day. I want to get home, so I just sit there playing all of the scenarios out in my head. Finally, they say that they are going to start boarding and that the delay was due to the air traffic in Mumbai.

I get on the plane, and I am sitting next to a nice lady wearing orange and white. I felt right at home. The flight is rough on the way to Mumbai, but not too bad. I sleep for a while, and I watched TV for the rest. Somewhere along the way, I hear that the delay was due to a mechanical issue. Of course, I think of this every time the ride is rough. There was a really nice flight attendant who brought me hot water with lemon and honey to see if it would help my throat. It did help for a bit.

We land in Mumbai, and I now only have a little over an hour. I have a man who takes me to the transit area and he tells this other man that I am a "Hot Transfer" which I assumed meant there wasn't much time. One of them goes to get my luggage moved and the other goes to get my boarding pass. I am left alone again with no passport, but this time I was at least in public. :) After about 35 minutes, the first man comes back and says he got my luggage. Then, almost immediately, the other man comes and says that he got my boarding pass. So, they tell me that I have to go back through security and that I need to hurry because the flight leaves in 30 minutes and is already boarding.

The nice hot transfer man takes me to security. I almost pass out as the line was REALLY long. The nice hot transfer man was going to take me to the front of the line, but this evil lady says, "the American will wait in the line like all of the other passengers." Well, that wasn't very nice at all! The nice man wants to help and I can see that. I just follow him and I see him looking to help me. Then, he sees that hateful woman staring at him, so he goes over to her. He makes a motion to me to go in front of everyone. I feel a little weird pushing my way through such a long line in a foreign country, and I don't want to do it. But, I don't want to be stuck in the transit area for 24 hours either. I must look worried as this very, very, very kind woman asks what time my flight is. I tell her 12:10, and she says that I must go. She says to just go through the line and just keep saying 12:10, 12:10 and that people will let me through. So, I do what she says with a lot of "excuse me" and "I'm sorry" and "thank you so much." I get to the front (finally!), and there is this security man there. He has to put some tags on my carry on bag which I think is weird but I don't dare question. He sends me on my way. I go through security, and then lady wands me (no alarm went off) AND she pats me down - a lot. Then, she says that my boarding pass doesn't have DT on it, so I must go BACK trough the line of all of those people and get them to put DT on it. WHAT??????????????????????????????? This other lady says that I should refuse and she is arguing with them about the same issue, but I am a foreigner here so I just start going back through the line with tears in my eyes but refusing to cry. I now have about 20 minutes to my flight. I think I am not going to make it, but I am trying so hard.

I get back to that mean woman, and I tell her that someone didn't do their job and my ticket doesn't say DT on it. She hastily writes DT on it. GRRRRR....she doesn't even put initials or anything. I could have written DT, but I didn't want to go to Indian jail so I didn't.

I make my way BACK through ALL of the people with more "excuse me" and "I'm sorry" and "thank you so much." I get back to the lady who made me do that and she wands me AGAIN. She then says I can go. I am so thankful that my two carry on bags are there (my computer, phone, wallet, everything was in those bags but they made me leave them).

I run to the gate where this lady is waiting for me and asks if I am going to Atlanta. "Mrs. Gleason, you are very late" she says to me. I fight the urge to explain and just say that my inbound flight was delayed. She says I have to put my bag through the screening thing AGAIN at the gate. Man, this is one secure plane! So, my bags go through again and then she takes me to this curtain area. Here, this woman doesn't even wand me. Instead, she pats down EVERY inch of my body. I think we are dating now. She decides that I don't have anything hidden in my bra or panties, and she lets me go. I think I am done, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOO....

So, then, the lady opens this door and there is this LONG metal staircase outside. She says we hvea to go identify my bags. Seriously????? So, I lug my stuff down this slanted, metal staircase hoping that it doesn't fall, and I see my suitcases on the ground at about halfway (just kidding, I could see them the whole way). So, I get all the way down there where it is very loud, and the lady asks me nine million security questions. "Where have your bags been?" Uh, duh, on the plane? "Did you pack them?" Oh yes, and I had to go shopping to buy that other bag because I had too much stuff...oh, sorry, short answers, yes. "Do you have any weapons?" no. "Anything that LOOKS like a weapon?" No. "Did anyone give you anything?" No. "Do you have any liquids?" In my checked luggage? uh, yeah, isnt' that why you have checked luggage?? No, I did't say that out loud but I wanted to say it. I just said yes, in my checked bag and the allowed size in my carry on. And on and on and on. I think there must be a camera somewhere, but she keeps going. Finally, she says that if I swear I have been truthful that I can go back up the stairs. I lug my stuff BACK up the stairs (praying that they don't fall), and I get on the plane. Of course, by now, I am THE last person on the plane. THE last one. Do you think there is a place to put my bag in the overhead? You guessed it. NO! :) Before I can have a breakdown, a nice flight attendant comes and says that there is room in first class for it. Whew. I sit down in my seat, drop my backpack, and collapse for a second. MAYBE 10 seconds. This guy next to me says, "can you put that bag under the seat?" OBVIOUSLY, he did not know what my last hour was like. So, I ask him if he can just please give me a minute to get settled and that yes it will go under the seat. Even tough I was prepared to hate him, he actually was nice once the evil bag was properly stored. :)

I watched Lost, so I am now all caught up. :) I watched "Definitely Maybe" and I watched "Love Actually." They were good. I also took ambien and slept. Ahhhh...sleep. 18 hours is a LONG time. A really long time on a plane. I was very happy to land in Atlanta.

When we get off the plane, I notice that most of the flights say cancelled. UH OH. My flight was delayed about an hour, but it wasn't too bad.

So, remember, friends don't let friends transit in Mumbai. :) And, this is not a reflection of Mumbai - just the airport. :)