We all have been there. Getting hit hard with a cold or flu. All you wanted to do was to just lay in bed and sleep the misery away. Then your mother came in to take your temperature, wipe you down, and feed you the delicious hot koa tomm (boiled rice).

Just the thought of that homey feeling makes you warm and fuzzy inside already, doesn’t it?

But what happens now that you are far, far away from the comfort of home? Sorry to hit you with the truth, folks. But being sick away from home is absolutely horrible. Actually, being sick away from home sucks!

Undoubtedly, whatever ailment you have causes your physical discomforts. But what actually makes you miserable is homesickness. As you try to endure all the horrible symptoms, your mind starts to wander, and your emotions run wild. You blame yourself for getting sick, and then feel sorry for yourself for being sick. By the time you are done blaming yourself, nostalgia creeps up on you, and all you want is to go back home. I have been here over 7 years now and I still miss my mom every single time I get really sick.

Of course, the nostalgia hits you much harder when you’re still very much new to the country. I still remember the very first time I got sick in the U.S. No one was home that day. I ate breakfast, took some medicine, curled up in bed and sobbed. I wished desperately that I was home. As I slipped in and out of sleep and various degrees of fever that afternoon, I dreamed about being with my family and my friends.

That evening, my host mom Bonnie woke me up to a surprise. She made me some kai jiaw (Thai omelet) with a side of moo yong (dried shredded pork), and steamed rice! My Aunty Tim just dropped off some moo yong over the weekend, and I taught Bonnie to make kai jiaw just the other night. Might as well practice making it now before she forgot, Bonnie said with a wink and a smile. At that particular moment, the simple kai jiaw and moo yong were the most glorious cure! I felt right and ready again, at least mentally, the next morning. (Bonnie kept me home one more day just to be sure.) It was a blessing that Bonnie understood that my illness was beyond medicine. Now that I am on my own, for the homesick cure, I have to rely on instant joak (porridge) or noodles, and that I have the delivery menus on hand.

I was also very fortunate that I didn’t get any sicker than some head colds and some cases of flu during my 2 years of high school. At the time, none of us have thought about health insurance. In the U.S., medical services are extremely expensive if you don’t have insurance. Some hospitals might even deny you treatment.

Do not panic! Finding an affordable health care plan is not going to be your problem when you go study abroad. All universities require international students to have proofs of health insurance. Your university should provide you with some choices like university’s own plan and other recommended agencies. The plan usually covers services at university student health center, university-owned hospital, and other services just in case of emergency. I went with USC Student Health plan, and still grateful everyday that the university required us to have it. I spent one weekend at a hospital for a collapsed lung in February. When the medical bills trickled in, I realized how I would rather die than be healed without any health insurance. Without the insurance, my 3-day stay would have been around $8,000 or more!

What happened was that I started coughing one morning, and I coughed for another 2 days until my chest started to really hurt. The doctor said that I coughed so hard I popped a small bubble in my left lung. The air leaked into my chest cavity, and the pressure flattened the lung like a leaky balloon. USC health center called for an ambulance to transport me to the nearby hospital. The doctor cut a hole in my side, put in a rubber tube, and attached the other end of the tube with some equipment and vacuum. We just needed to get the air out of my chest, and the lung would inflate and repair itself. If not, then a surgery is required.

Three days and two nights later, my lung healed beautifully so they removed the tube and released me. I didn’t remember if I was homesick, or much of anything else because I was kept well-medicated with Vicodin. Aunty Tim picked me up from the hospital, and took me out to a nice Thai lunch with lots of to-go orders to keep my spirit up. With all the love and care I received, I was back on my feet in a couple of days, and start my busy life again, slowly and carefully.

There are two things that would have prevented me from ending up in that emergency room. First of all, I should have gotten to the health center earlier than just trying to ride out the illness at home. The health center would have prescribed me potent cough medicine, and I wouldn’t have coughed my lung out. Secondly, and most importantly, I shouldn’t have gotten sick in the first place if I was taking better care of my health. I should have taken my vitamin C, worked out constantly, and gotten enough sleep.

I don’t know who Albert Schweitzer is, but I should have listened to him. He is quoted saying, “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory”. Having gone through that lung episode, and many more cases of homesickness, I couldn’t agree with him more.

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