As you may remember， dear Reader， I have had my first encounter with the Chinese health system in NanTong where I had the mandatory medical examination before getting a working permission. This way I had already acquired some basic knowledge which I urgently needed. Without it， in a Chinese hospital you will fight a hopeless last stand (if you are able to stand， that is).
In the meantime I had gathered some additional minor experience from getting injections against hepatitis and during a medical examination of my knee that for a while had made trouble. But now there was a different problem.
During my winter vacation I had slipped and fallen on an icy descent， and from that a painful spot at the right elbow had remained. During the next weeks， a blister turned up there. I felt increasingly uncomfortable， and the sore elbow restrained my actions in goal-keeping. For inevitably you drop sometimes on your right elbow： A goalie after all cannot choose just to jump and roll towards the left only！
Finally I decided to get this elbow examined in China during a free forenoon. Chinese hospitals – at least those I know – are similar in structure to those medical centres that in Germany are called Polykliniken or General Hospitals. In China they are known as “SheKou People’s Hospital” or “NanShan People’s Hospital”.
There the People first accumulate at the registry. You pay a basic fee， and then you receive an examination log booklet which will hold the individual diagnostic findings. Once I had gotten that far， I felt on familiar territory： Just find the bones department and then use the book to make sure that once it will be your turn.
Well， yes， like that it works here， too – the door is standing open， some people are waiting inside， it is someone’s turn. I put my booklet down on the others. Well， the physician has something different in mind： He looks at my booklet， then he looks at me， then at my name， he addresses me， nods at me – and stows my booklet away， below the heap.
Before I start complaining I try to think about that and decide to wait until the next patient will enter， whether walking， limping， carried， or pushed. And so the next booklet turns up. The physician looks up and into the patient’s face， examines the name – and stows the booklet away， below the heap， under mine.
Well， well， this man has no particular objection against me， he has just established a FiFo system – first in， first out – unlike in NanTong where they work according to the LiFo rule： last in， first out. After all， a patient has to be adaptable and proceed according to individual custom.
A line of patients is waiting there before me. Some of them have brought their x-ray images. That of the patient who is currently treated has been fixed at a light box. Now the physician explains the diagnostic findings. If some among the interested audience cannot see the x-ray image properly because they are standing too far at the side， they advance to the centre of the room and happen to comment on what remarkable things they are seeing.
While the physician is examining my elbow I can be sure to attract the attention of everyone around – especially as they may test my handling of the Chinese language. But since I am able to say “elbow” and “swelling” and “fall on ice”， I pass the test and am honoured with approving murmur.
I am sent to the x-ray department. There I have to pay. After a while it is my turn， I take the image back to the physician in charge， and he explains to me – beneath a chorus of thoughtful murmur by the audience – that a small part of the elbow bone has splintered off， and this probably has caused the swelling.
He wants to puncture this， he says， if I should agree to that. I do agree， and finally we leave this public space， and I am getting punctured in another room where they provide injections and other niceties. Four “nurses” are busy there， discuss the matter， suggest to the doctor what better to do， but he holds sway and proceeds in his way. Out of the swelling at my elbow he extracts a light-red， watery liquid.
Now my arm gets bandaged. I receive a couple of recipes； the pills are supposed to prevent inflammations and improve the general strength. I can buy them at the ground floor as soon as I have passed the row of waiting persons at the counters of the issuing office.
Just a few months later， during a football game， I get injured. It is Saturday evening， and we are playing under floodlight. At a distance of eleven or twelve meters from my goal， our left defender， hardly challenged at all， suddenly squares the ball to the right. I mean， it was a totally meaningless thing to do， for not even our right defender was dozing off there somewhere， there was not even an opponent！ He did not intend that as a return to me， neither was it a square pass to the sweeper (who was at that moment about two meters outside the box)， it was just plain bullshit. At once I start running after the ball， one opposing striker approaches both me and the ball， feeling that he got an advantage a) because the ball is approaching him off-key ahead b) because he is less than half as old as me and probably thinks： “Now it’s easy to outplay this yeye” (爷爷， this “granny” – the striker knows me， and I know him to be an extremely fast and tricky young player).
But Granny YeYe is fast as well， especially in defending the goal. Today he has heroically stopped some balls already， and this time， Granny YeYe is one tenth of a second sooner at the ball than that striker. So， where the ball had been one tenth of a second before (but kicked away be me) there are now two things： the inner side of my shank and the striker’s shoe. Very soon， a third thing adds： an acute pain below the rim of my shinpad.
For minutes I feel so much pain that I am unable to get up. At last I find that nothing seems broken， I do get up and (first mistake) continue painfully to play for another ten minutes， till the half-time break.
Then during the break I willow my trousers， remove the shinpad， and discover that a considerable swelling has developed， a giant bruise spreads along the shank (at least it is not an open wound， I think). I tell the other players that I will not go on playing but rather ride home to cool my leg there (we do not have a cooling spray or ice near the field).