Dalian - the city of sorcerers
The Chinese resort city of Dalian is located in the south of the Liaodong Peninsula in Liaoning Province and is washed on three sides by the waters of the Yellow Sea. This relatively young metropolis by Chinese standards (it is just over 100 years old) is famous for the fact that the most famous health resorts of China are located there. The best doctors of the Celestial Empire, masters of traditional Chinese medicine have long gained fame, if not gods, then sorcerers - that's for sure. For more than ten years, Dalian medical centers have been receiving an increasing flow of patients from Russia and the CIS countries every year. I formed my own opinion about the peculiarities of treatment in Dalian, about the pros and cons of local medical institutions as a result of a health trip in September 2009. I will call some institutions in tune with their real names - so as not to cause aggression against this site.
I, like many of our compatriots, turned my eyes to the East after many years of futile attempts to recover in Russia. Every year my spine was destroyed more and more, bringing unimaginable suffering. All injections and pills, as well as ointments and physiotherapy, instead of improving, brought only additional problems. In desperation, I began to search for information on the Internet, on forums and medical sites. So I went to Dalian. With all the abundance of discussions and debates on the benefits of Chinese treatment, no clear conclusions could be drawn: I could not decide which medical center to go to. And then I decided to just go to Dalian, and then see on the spot where they could help me. And so it happened that I got acquainted with the work of several centers of traditional Chinese medicine at once. I started with the most popular among Russian tourists - Chengu. Building in the city center with its own hotel on the 3rd floor. I took the procedure for three days to start: pulse diagnosis, massage, acupuncture, medicines - it turned out to be a little expensive, but I wanted to get the best treatment - as it looked in terms of the level of popularity of the center. She stubbornly endured all the manipulations, drank herbal infusions. On the fourth day, I realized that there was no improvement, the translator found it difficult to explain the reason to me, and the doctor suggested the needle-knife procedure - almost a spinal operation. I refused, as I had already heard about the unjustified risk of this procedure. Moreover, I heard from other patients that instead of sterility, during this manipulation, the medical center resorts to the use of horse doses of antibiotics. This goodness was enough for me in my homeland. Communicating with other patients (and there were quite a lot of them), I did not hear satisfactory opinions, everyone was waiting for a miracle - which was in no hurry to visit them. In addition, it turned out that the medical center has its own specialty - these are ENT diseases and the gastrointestinal tract. And I needed the best specialist in the treatment of intervertebral hernias. After paying $250 for the procedures, I decided it was time to look elsewhere.
In Chengu, of course, they were not happy with such a decision, and, accordingly, admonished: "You won't find a better one anyway, you'll only lose time. "
But I didn’t waste time, didn’t get discouraged, walked around the beautiful green city, swam in the Yellow Sea, talked on the beach with compatriots who were treated in other medical institutions. On the advice of a new acquaintance, I turned to the medical center of the Overseas Combat Hospital - also very popular among compatriots. It is located closest to the sea and a good beach "Rakushka". And at the same time, it is located near the center.
Arriving at the hospital, I did not go with the flow, as in the first case, but began to demand that they give me a specialist doctor specifically for the musculoskeletal system, moreover, one that clients, current or former, can give feedback on. They looked at me strangely. They tried to pretend that they had not heard and took him to the doctor. The doctor turned out to be quite young, which, according to Chinese concepts, is not good. By that time, I had already found out from experienced people that only doctors with at least 20 years of experience can successfully treat. But I am not a bore and decided to first hear from the doctor his opinion about my health. He kept his hands on the pulse for a long time, looked at his mouth and felt his liver. Then he told almost word for word what I had already heard in Chengu. Moreover, not a hint of my spine. When I asked to see my back and took out the pictures I had brought with me, for some reason the translator began to look at them and explain something to the smiling doctor. They did look at my back, but they began to prescribe drugs for "fatty liver". I felt a bit uncomfortable and I bowed out. Although the budget, which was rolled out to me for consideration, was more modest than in the previous place.
On this day, I went to the zoo and cheered up so much that, returning in the evening to the excellent Kempinski hotel, where I lived at ridiculous rates for this international chain, I fell into bed and fell into a serene sleep. As if I knew that tomorrow everything will be fine!
The morning turned out to be really successful, and I am wiser. I went to the reception desk and asked for an interpreter. A young creature came out to me with a unique English pronunciation for the Chinese. And I asked her not about a medical center where you can treat your back, but about a GOOD DOCTOR who treats the Chinese! It was an instant insight, probably sent down to me from above. The girl was not found immediately - at first she made several calls, asking questions in an excited voice. And after a few minutes, I had a phone number in my hands, by which I was promised to find "the best doctor in Dalian. "
At the other end, they answered me in a female voice in quite decent Russian. This is how I met Lelya, a translator who works with several medical centers in Dalian. We met and immediately went to the Tongzhentan Clinic, located near the city center. On the way, Lyolya told that the Tongzhentan brand has a long history, that it is the most famous pharmaceutical enterprise in China, known throughout the world. But we went to the doctor. "He is already about 80, " Lyolya said, "but he is very strong and very literate - he raises people to their feet even in the most difficult cases. " I already thanked all the saints for having guessed to look not for an institution, but for a doctor, when the doors of a pretty mansion, made in the national style, opened before us, the administrator girl smiled towards us... However, here I was in for the most bitter disappointment of those that I had already experienced in Dalian: the wonderful doctor was going to leave for a week in Beijing and could spend only one session with me - today!
With tears frozen in my eyes, I looked at Lelya and did not know what to say. I wanted to turn around and wander anywhere - just not to see the surprised faces of the Tongzhentang employees: they obviously did not expect such a sharp reaction.
Lyolya caught up with me at the exit and was already waving her hand to a taxi passing by. "Don't! Don't be upset! There are excellent doctors here - the Russians just don't know about them! Now we will arrive at a good medical center for the Chinese. There is a doctor there who will help you, " Lyolya spoke quickly, trying to prevent my tears.
Half an hour later, I was sitting in a perfectly clean small office of a doctor named Peter - as he was introduced to me in the Russian manner. He looks about 60 years old (later it turned out that he was over 70), in a snow-white bathrobe with perfectly manicured nails and a very attentive intelligent look. The first thing Lyolya translated to me from the words of the doctor was a statement that I have one shoulder higher than the other and a noticeable curvature of the spine to the left.
This happened even before I sat down on a chair and held out my hand to feel his pulse. Not a word about the liver - thank God! Demandingly outstretched hand - the doctor asks for pictures. Everything. I found him.
The week I lost before meeting with Dr. Jao Xing Li, the head physician of the Spring Medical Center (Bai Yun), was not in vain: I looked at the doctor as a miracle given to me for previous trials. I believed him unconditionally, but he did not lose sight of anything: he asked me in detail about all the diseases that I had since childhood, asked questions about the visible traces of medical interventions, inquired about heredity and previous treatment, it seems to me that he even sniffed, trying to catch some the changes in my body. And right away, without letting me collect my thoughts, Dr. Peter took hold of my spine. And how did it come! Frankly, on the first day I left the office with tears in my eyes, but... without back pain. Then he managed to set another hernia - in the neck area. After a day or two, I stopped taking painkillers - needles and herbs relieved the pain syndrome. The doctor did the main job of restoring order in my spine in the first week of daily hourly sessions of massage, acupuncture and various warm-ups. It took another week to consolidate the achieved effect, and I left quite happy, with a supply of Chinese herbal medicines in my suitcase.
What's the point of this whole not-so-fun story? And to the fact that even in such a city overflowing with doctors as the Chinese Dalian, real sorcerers must be looked for by name, and not by the name of even the most advertised institution. Knock and it will be opened to you!
