Golden Week train [+Medical story]

October 1st is National Day of the People's Republic of China, which is an excellent time to make a train. But because I don't really have much more to say about National Day I figured I might as well take this opportunity to share a little cautionary tale.

But first let's get the important part out of the way, the entrance to the train is right here
Level 4+, all bundled.
I promise there are no hidden links in the text wall below, so you can safely skip it if you don't want to read it. ENDED

I may regret posting this, but here it goes anyway.
This is the brief story of my two tumors and how I failed to care for myself.

I officially started my battle with this matter in 2013 and everything seemed to be moving smoothly for a while. I visited several doctors and had plenty of tests; everything you'd really expect while on waiting list for surgery in this sort of matter. It was early 2014 when I got the exact date for my surgery and was looking forward to it. I arrived at the hospital on time, changed into that fashionable hospital attire and even got premeds before a surgeon came to me with the information that they wouldn't be doing the surgery that day; something was wrong with the paperwork. Feeling confused I simply left the hospital and expected the matter to be solved in matter of couple weeks. It was the next week when I learned from a different doctor that it was not that simple and would take longer because I had been placed back at the end of the line – they treated the incident like I had canceled the surgery time myself.

This was where my visits to the hospital increased as you'd expect, having to hop around a lot and keep increasing the amount of bills I got from it. It was exhausting and it was confusing, but in December 2014 I learned that I should be getting an invitation to surgery again. Optimistic again, I waited. And I waited. I waited and I trusted, but finally in September 2015 I was convinced to call and ask about it; turned out due to a mistake I had been taken out of the list completely.

The same waiting continued and when I received a special letter in March 2016 I thought that was it finally. Turned out to be just another examination and that the doctor examining me then was only putting me on the waiting list after the examination. Exhausted with the way things were going, I made an appointment with a very expensive specialist, who noted that the doctor who had sent me home just couple hours before surgery had been guilty of malpractice. Figures.

During the summer I received an invitation to surgery. Of course it came during a time when almost everyone had their summer vacations, making it inconvenient to call and make sure all papers were in order. When I finally got the right person on the phone, the nurse I talked to promised to discuss it with the doctor and make sure. They were supposed to send me something to sign, so I waited. I waited a week and I waited two, still nothing. I decided to call again and the nurse claimed she hadn't had time to talk to the doctor. I requested the information where I could directly reach the doctor, but she insisted that it “wouldn't be a good idea” and again promised to talk to the doctor and then call me back when she had. I agreed to it but told her that I'd be calling again if I received no word from them during the same week; the nurse called me back 30 minutes later. Somehow she had not found the time in two weeks to talk to the doctor, but when prompted she found the time within the next 30 minutes. I received the papers, everything was in order.

1st of September I was on my way to the hospital when I got a sinking feeling. I was only a short distance away from the hospital when my phone rang, it was unlisted number but I had no time to answer it before it was disconnected. When I checked in, I got another bad feeling because the receptionist didn't ask me the usual questions and simply told me to wait until someone would come talk to me. Soon enough another nurse came to me, smiling politely as she told me that she had tried to call me and let me know that my surgeon had fallen ill, meaning my surgery would have to be postponed.

Finished with this sort of behavior from them, I told the nurse I would not be leaving before I had talked to a doctor who'd explain the situation to me and I'd want the right to record the discussion. I also mentioned a lot of other things (a lawyer and the previous sending me home incident, for example, I just went off completely) and the nurse agreed she'd let someone know these were my wishes. So I sat back down, in complete shock over what was happening again but determined to fight; 20 minutes later the nurse returned and said surgery would happen as planned. It turned out my surgeon wasn't sick, but some other doctor was and they were trying to lessen the workload by rescheduling people; basically the nurse had lied by claiming my surgeon was sick and because I wasn't a terminal case, I was instantly on their rescheduling list. After this point everything went as it should've, even though I didn't really believe it until I woke up after surgery. My journey isn't over yet but from now on I won't be as trusting.

My point here is not to attack any doctors or nurses personally as people, but to encourage people not to be as lenient as I was when it comes to their medical care. You are the one who cares about your health, not medical professionals, they are simply doing their jobs. Make the calls to ask things and make sure they won't slip you under their radar, it's in your hands to make sure you get treated like you should.