2022년 1월 16일 일요일 – Mountain View 생활 14주차

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Heart Attack

Last week, I suddenly felt a stabbing pain in my left chest. I thought it was muscle pain since I trained the part last night. However, the pain didn’t disappear even on Monday. I guess that it must be a signal of a heart attack.

Google provides employees with One Medical, the primary health care clinic chain, services for free. I barely made an appointment at noon, but I forgot to bring my badge to enter the building. So, I could see a doctor on Tuesday.

I realized that some primary clinics don’t have labs for testing. My doctor just listened to my symptoms and tested my blood pressure. And she said that I must go to the emergency room for an examination right now.

Before I headed to ER, I should find ERs covered by my insurance plan. I called the 24/7 center, and they told me the nearest ERs. I visited the Elcamino Real Hospital, the nearest one.

They asked me whether I was vaccinated or not. I don’t know what would happen if I said no. Anyway, I finally finished registration, but it was a prolog of a long journey. I got 3-4 lab tests, including ECG and blood tests. I sat in the waiting lounge and followed the nurse when they called my name. It took 4 hours 30 minutes. Emergency means that I could get daily service at the day.

They concluded that I was not at risk of a heart attack. They told me that the pain was caused by high blood pressure. But they even talked with me while measuring it. I really doubt the result. They prescribed NORVASC. I thought that I could go back home and have dinner.

I hadn’t imagined that I would spend 3 hours at the pharmacy. The pharmacy was in the mart. They seemed to provide healthcare and consultation services either. The place was crowded, and I waited for an hour to know that my medication wasn’t ready. I don’t understand why it would take 90 minutes to give me 15 pills. But I should have stayed.

Finally, I got back home. I still felt the fear of death. And I realized that getting sick is disastrous in the US. COVID-19 made the system worse. If you got a disease and the symptoms are similar to COVID-19’s, you aren’t allowed to see a doctor. That’s how COVID-19 kills people even though Omicron is not fatal.

My goal is to survive next week.

Omicron

It was the first time that a person I knew was infected with COVID-19. Precisely, there are two colleagues. Hopefully, they have stayed healthy after getting a positive result on the test. Many countries withdrew their restrictive policies after Omicron had been turned out not fatal.

I expect that this pandemic will finish this year. It is definitely a happy ending, but I’m sad about what will happen when people come back office. I will miss the quiet and spacious office environment. House rent-fee will rise when people return from their hometown.