Interesting news.

I have a few more monster entries to make about some of the first few days we were here but I wanted to fast forward to yesterday and report some interesting news.

Yesterday, we had to go to the hospital in charge of the medical examinations of all foreigners who come to Taiyuan and have physicals done. This involved, a blood test, urine test, EKG, u/s of the abdomen, height/weight/eyesight eval, and a chest x-ray. Nothing serious, they just want to check for contagious diseases and major health issues.

During the abdominal u/s the tech was having me take deeper breaths and hold them and taking twice as long as she did on Donnie's exam. We called our friend back in to translate and he said that one of the organs has a small problem, but it is not serious, just that it needs to be checked in 6 months. He didn't know the translation for which organ but from the location of the exam, we were assuming appendix, maybe.

Turns out it was not my appendix, but my gallbladder. And, like he assured me, it is nothing serious, just a polyp in my gallbladder. Seems they are quite common and, as in my case, symptomless. Apparently, it is small enough that they are not concerned it may be pre-cancerous (1mm or less, I believe) and they just want to check in 6 months that it is either the same or smaller to be certain it is harmless.

Talk about serious moment of panic, though.