A main reason for my lag in posting is that I have had an ulcer on my right cornea for almost two months now (minus a couple weeks when it seemed to “heal” temporarily). The likely cause was a pair of old contact lenses combined with nasty up-country water being thrown in my face during Songkran, the Thai waterfighting holiday. Something has been living in my eyeball since April, and doctors here still are uncertain what it is.

I have gone to four different hospitals and seen about five different doctors. I’ve been on anti-biotics and anti-fungals. I’ve had a corneal “scrape” culture done and, most recently, a corneal biopsy. A more serious post about this whole experience will come soon; for now here are some observations about the Thai medical system.

First of all, there are few free-standing medical clinics here; rather, doctors have their clinics inside hospitals. In the private hospitals I went to there was a good amount of English on the signs, paperwork, etc. and not too difficult to navigate. But lately I have been going to a government, university hospital which is absolute chaos. You have to make a hospital card, find your clinic on one of 12 floors, sit in the waiting area until you are called to sit (or stand) in the next waiting area. You may have an appointment card, but really that doesn’t mean anything– it is first-come, first-served. I’ve heard that people line up at the doors at 5 a.m. On my worst day there so far I had to wait 4 hours for a 15 minute appointment.

On the times I was prescribed medicine I had to take the initial prescription slip outside to a well-hidden pharmacy. Here I was given a receipt (but not yet the medicine) to take back to the cashier at another building. After paying I had to return to the pharmacy with yet another paper, wait and then receive my meds. Wouldn’t it be much simpler if the pharmacist could just take my money as well?

My biopsy was done in the operating room for the opthalmology department, in a separate building that I was able find using a map drawn by my doctor. This procedure is over a half-hour long. My eyelids were taped open and a bright light was shown into my (already light-sensitive) eye. Anesthetic eye drops kept my eye numb, but I was still forced to watch the blade come into my eye to take out a chunk of my cornea. Luckily, the light was so bright it was practically blinding me, so I could only make out blurred images. After the procedure they typically have the patient take the sample themselves to the laboratory (??!!) and pay for the visit. Fortunately, they took pity on me as a foreigner and had someone take it for me, though I did have to wait at the cashier counter with a huge patch over my eye and the anesthetics quickly wearing off.

One up-side to Thai healthcare is how cheap it is. The biopsy and subsequent labwork was under $100. The most expensive doctor’s fee I’ve paid was about $25. Just a few days ago I purchased antibiotic eyedrops and oral medicine for less than $2.

As for my eye, it has healed from the biopsy and the ulcer is not improving or getting worse at this point. Initial results from the biopsy showed no organism (which can’t be possible); on Monday I will find out the culture results. Until then I am on anti-biotics to prevent a new infection, but the doctors are still in the dark as to what I have or how to treat it. Pray that Monday’s findings would be conclusive and lead to my healing. I do trust the doctors I am seeing, as this hospital, for all its craziness, is seen as the best in the country. Because it is a university hospital they are up on the research and have access to the best equipment. God knows every detail of what is happening in my eye– pray that he would reveal that knowledge to the doctors.