I must share a bit about my return trip to China. The story began in Chicago, where my flight to Los Angeles was delayed 1 1/2 hours. When I finally reached Los Angeles, my next flight had already boarded, and I was not quite sure how to find it. It was not just at another gate; it was in a different terminal. I frantically searched and ran to the other terminal and went through security again. As I was running to the gate, I could hear the announcement: "Would the following seven people immediately board the plane: ... Philip Hallstrom ... The door is ready to close." I needed to poop, but dare not stop at the toilet. I was dreadfully thirsty from racing, but dare not stop to buy water. I reached the gate and boarded in asthma attack. The remainder of that flight was uneventful.
I arrived in Hong Kong at 5 a.m., passed the Swine flu checkpoint, and braced for a four-hour layover. I exchanged some money and ate breakfast at Popeye's Chicken, which advertised some Halal-certified selections. Right before boarding, I splurged on my last gourmet coffee for a long time. On the plane, they served me a second breakfast. I looked at the pork sausage and cheese sandwich, and immediately discerned that it was not the kosher meal that I had pre-ordered. I reported this to the stewardess and after several minutes, they found my special meal. I must say that this was the best Kosher meals I've ever had. Go Dragon Air! What I don't understand is the reason that Cathay Pacific's Kosher meal was so lackluster. They are owned by the same company.
Upon arrival in Xiamen, the stewardess announced that they would be doing the Swine flu checks on the plane instead of in the terminal like in Hong Kong. The officials boarded the plane, visited each passenger, and touched a instrument to our foreheads. When she touched my forehead, a solemn look came over her face. Then she touched it again, and there was no improvement. She asked me to stick a thermometer in my armpit and went on to assess other passengers. She came back, saw my reading, and went to confer with some other officials. When she came back, she demanded my passport and travel papers and ordered me to follow her. I slowly exited the plane while all the other passengers looked upon me like a Jewish leper.
She took me to a room where officials repeatedly interrogated me about my itinerary and my symptoms. I repeatedly recounted all the places I had been in the US. I repeatedly reported that I was only a little hot. They looked at my throat and became more agitated. They took a throat culture and then told me that I needed to go to the hospital. My friends Jordan and Eveline had come to the airport to pick me up. I contacted Jordan and told him that an official would be delivering my suitcases to him and could he help me by taking them home for me. When the official returned, she said that when she took my luggage through customs, the customs agent had found an entire suitcase full of theological books. I deflected as best I could by saying that it was actually a mix of theological and psychological books, and it is because I have an interest in those topics. I still do not know what became of my books.
Anyways, other travelers of questionable health came and went. This other girl Tammy and I were the only ones they decided to quarantine. Tammy was an American-born Chinese, but she could only speak Cantonese, not Mandarin. I ended up translating for her. Everyone was perplexed why she could not speak Mandarin, but I, a white guy, could. We waited a desparately long time until finally an ambulance arrived and escorted us to a hospital outside the island. They EMTs were dressed in gear like out of the movie Outbreak.
We were locked in separate quarantine rooms. The room was relatively comfortable except for being quite hot and there not being any windows to get circulation. It had a little door that opened into a chamber where people would leave food for me to pick up.
Another decked out doctor visited me and took another throat culture. He said that I could get out when I met both of two conditions: 1) My body temperature was normal and 2) My throat culture came back negative. A nurse asked me what I would want to eat for supper. I replied that I did not like pork, so could I just get green vegetables. She said that would be fine. When dinner arrived, it was pig intestine soup plus pig ... I cannot even identify the part of the body. I mean, if I am suspected of swine flu, is it too much to ask not to give me swine to eat? I ate it anyway.
My mobile phone had no money on it, so I could not make any calls or send text messages, but I could receive calls. Jordan called me, and I asked him to put some money into my account, which he did and for which I am very thankful. Not having a phone would have been hard. Over the course of the afternoon and evening, several friends from the Bridge sent text messages expressing their concern.
The hospital did have wireless internet, but it required an account with China Telecom, which I did not have. I contacted Jordan, and he let me use his account, and so I got online and was able to send my family an email to report my situation. I am so thankful that the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Oak Park gave me a laptop computer three days before I left the US. Being in quaratine without a computer would have been much harder.
They slipped me a piece of paper advising me of my right to be visited by a US consul. I declined the right since I fully believe that this is a false alarm. Every couple hours I took my temperature and eventually the fever broke. The throat culture was outsourced to another location, and the report had not yet come back, so I had to spend the night. Quite jet lagged, I went to bed at 7:30 p.m.
When I woke up on the morning of June 11, I really wanted to take a shower. Remember that the morning of June 8 was the last time I showered: I was ripe. The odd thing is that the bathroom did not even have hand soap. This struck me as really odd considering that I am trying to fight an infectious disease. Breakfast came: congee, breakfast cake, hardboiled egg, and milk. Eventually, a nurse offered to give me hand soap, a towel, and some hospital clothes. So I joyfully showered at 10 a.m.
It is now 5:14 p.m. I asked the nurse, and she said that my report has not come back. From reading the news, I see that it can take 3 days to process a throat culture. I guess the labs are overrun with samples. The doctor has not even visited me today since other people are much more severe than I. Note: I am not severe; I don't even have a fever any more. I just cannot get the results of my test back to prove that I am fine.
I will update this blog more later when there is something more to say.
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