Don't worry, I'm fine. I decided to get the test done for several reasons. It all started when they painted the trunks of the trees outside our apartment. I guess it's supposed to prevent sun scald or protect them from bugs or something. But the first thing that came to my mind was that there's probably lead in that paint. There might not be, but I have to assume there is because this is China. Normally I wouldn't pay it any mind but Smudgie likes to pee on trees. And when he does, his fluffy fur brushes against them and sometimes little particles of paint brush off onto him. And I spend a lot of time with my face in his fur so I was little concerned. So I went online to research lead poisoning in China and I came across this article that talked about how rampant lead poisoning still was here. It's in the soil, it's in the plumbing, it's in the paint, and not only that, but the Chinese government's definition of a "safe" level of lead is much higher than the rest of the world's. So even when they do restrict lead use, it's still not safe. I don't really worry about the paint in our apartment, even though there are a few places that look like this:
As long as I don't go around licking the walls I'll be fine. But I am worried about the water. The plumbing might be soldered with lead so it could be in the water. In Huainan, we drank mostly bottled water but since moving to Rui'an, we've been boiling tap water and putting it through a little Brita pitcher filter. But I don't think the one we have is made for filtering lead. The package says it'll reduce copper, cadmium, and mercury, but no mention of lead. And I just read that boiling the water, if it has lead in it, actually makes the lead content higher because some of the water will boil away but the lead remains. Paranoid? Perhaps. But I've since switched to drinking bottled water again.
I figured it would be cheaper to get the test done in China than in America, since Adam's dental work last year ended up being half the cost even without insurance. If we were to get it done in America, it might not even be covered by our insurance since it's not a routine test. Plus, it gives us an excuse to have an adventure. And an adventure we did have!
The hospital
Vivian enlisted some family members to help guide us through the process. She drove us to the Rui'an People's Hospital, then handed the car over to her brother to drive it around because there was no place to park at all. Then we met her aunt, who took us inside. There were just swarms of people. It really was like being in a subway or train station.
The first step was to get a "Health Card". You put money on the card, then you can pay for services throughout the hospital with it. And you have to do it this way so they can charge you 2 RMB for the card. You just fill out a form:
Then get in line:
Vivian's aunt put up the front money because we didn't know how much the test would cost. She put 500 RMB on the card so I started thinking this might cost the same as it would in America. Well, it ended up being 27 RMB which is about $4.30. Can you believe that?! That's like a big bag of rice. Wow! I paid her back for the cost of the test and she'll be able to use that card or take the remaining money off of it later. Then we made our way through the hoards of people to the second floor. I was ushered into this lab which was right behind these counters where people were lining up. There were big glass windows in front of them (like a train ticket counter) so the people who were in line got to watch me get my blood drawn. That was pretty weird, and a big difference from America where everything is done in private rooms. Also, they didn't even give me a place to sit, I just stood there while the tech stuck me and filled a whole vile of my blood. Then when it was over, he gave me a q-tip soaked with iodine to press onto the spot to stop the bleeding. No bandaid or anything.
I just had to walk out of the hospital with my arms like that the whole way. He said it would take 4 working days to do the test so Vivian's aunt said she would pick my results up for me since she lives near the hospital. So there's obviously no doctor-patient confidentiality here. I don't mind, of course, it's not a super secret! So anyways, I found out today my blood lead level is 1.7 μg/dL which is well below the "you're not poisoned" limit of 9 μg/dL. Woohoo!! I just might make it out of China without contracting any weird diseases! Just a few more months to go!
Smudgie being fat:
