What no foreign experience should be without....
Well, by this point, some of you probably already know I recently underwent minor surgery over here in Korea. Not having a clue of what to expect, I thought that I would just let you in on some strange and funny stories about my whole experience of two nights, and three days in a hospital in Korea.
Firstly, let me say that I truly hope that none of you ever have to go through having surgery in another country without family. Not having someone to complain to can completely understand what you want to complain about something, such as it pain, or just frustration in general, is mentally challenging. Not having someone to be with you can be tough, but not impossible to deal with. However, over here in Korea, I have been blessed with the next best thing to having family by your side - another family and army of friends who would do anything to help me out, in any situation. They are a true blessing to me, and if you are ever looking for a place to find friends, Korean friends are some of the most loyal I have ever known. My roommate himself spent over 2/3's of my hospital stay with me, just in the off-chance that I needed something, he could translate easier for me - not only must it have been incredibly boring for him (he swears to me that it was no problem) but I also know that I complained a fair bit at one point, and he faithfully asked the nurses three times, knowing full well what they were going to say, just so that I would probably stop asking....(more on that later)
Secondly, all surgery in Korea is always at least one night - that night being the night before the surgery. My surgery started at 7am the following morning, and my stomach and everything else needed to be completely clear. You also sign all of your paperwork and signatures the night before, everything except your final checkout signatures, so that the next day, your work is minimal. While this sounds ideal, it makes for a boring time after visiting hours are finished...You're healthy, so why in blazes are you sleeping on a crummy bed, for a crummy sleep, when your bed at home is much nicer - not to mention, cheaper than one night in a hospital....
Third. Nothing like a 5:30 am wakeup, for them to start up the old IV and put on the hospital gown....and then back to bed, until they wake you up again at 6:30 for the hospital porter to take you to the surgery waiting room until your ready. Normally, I'm not all that popular among Koreans anymore- in public, there's lots of foreigners always walking around. However, in a hospital, in the surgery room, I felt like the treat of the week....Everyone is stopping by, chatting in Korean, and then giggling and walking around, big smiles all around....
Fourth - and this is probably the most important. They're advanced with their medicine here, no doubt about it. However, whenever they get around to it, if in a North American Hospital, they ask you if you want a spinal anesthetic, instead of the old sleeping gas, opt for the sleeping gas. My surgery was only supposed to take 30-40 minutes max. So my anesthesiologist decided that I didn't need to sleep - a simple spinal freeze would do the trick...They stick a needle in your spinal column, and then your whole body goes numb. Only problem was a) she missed my whole spinal column on the first try, and only my right side when numb, while the left still had feeling. The second try worked, to a degree. The needle didn't go in far enough, so when they thought I was numb, they tested things out, and surprisingly I still felt a little. At this point, I start to get a little sleepy, so I must have missed the part where they said they were going to test my feeling again....I must not have heard, and they must have thought that it meant I had no feeling. So they started the incision, only, I was awake, and I surely felt it when they started....my lurch was enough for them to put me to sleep......
Now, I can laugh at it when thinking back...I still vaguely remember their shocked voices asking me what I think they just did, and me telling them, frantically, "I want to be put to sleep please....."..hehe....
Other than that, things have been going good. One of the frustrating things about having a spinal anesthetic is that (and this is even though mine didn't "work") is that you have to make sure that you lie flat on your back post-op, so that the spinal freezing liquid does not flow up to your head. So me, with no pillow, and in enough pain to be bitterly unable to sleep, was stuck lying flat on my back, and my everything below my chest was still partially numb from the spinal miss....so I had no feeling, and poor Kevin, my roommate faithfully went back and asked them every time if could please do something but lie flat on my back, starting at the ceiling...I couldn't see the TV, or barely even see any visitors who came by....I was a miserable bag.
Apologies aside, things are going great now, praise and thanks. Tomorrow I go back for my one week follow up, and things feel so good, I don't think there's anything amiss, and I feel great!
Well, in order to keep this short, I'm going to end it now. I hope that this finds everyone well. Other than this, there hasn't been a whole lot to report on. If anything's new with anyone, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an e-mail.....
God Bless,
me
Firstly, let me say that I truly hope that none of you ever have to go through having surgery in another country without family. Not having someone to complain to can completely understand what you want to complain about something, such as it pain, or just frustration in general, is mentally challenging. Not having someone to be with you can be tough, but not impossible to deal with. However, over here in Korea, I have been blessed with the next best thing to having family by your side - another family and army of friends who would do anything to help me out, in any situation. They are a true blessing to me, and if you are ever looking for a place to find friends, Korean friends are some of the most loyal I have ever known. My roommate himself spent over 2/3's of my hospital stay with me, just in the off-chance that I needed something, he could translate easier for me - not only must it have been incredibly boring for him (he swears to me that it was no problem) but I also know that I complained a fair bit at one point, and he faithfully asked the nurses three times, knowing full well what they were going to say, just so that I would probably stop asking....(more on that later)
Secondly, all surgery in Korea is always at least one night - that night being the night before the surgery. My surgery started at 7am the following morning, and my stomach and everything else needed to be completely clear. You also sign all of your paperwork and signatures the night before, everything except your final checkout signatures, so that the next day, your work is minimal. While this sounds ideal, it makes for a boring time after visiting hours are finished...You're healthy, so why in blazes are you sleeping on a crummy bed, for a crummy sleep, when your bed at home is much nicer - not to mention, cheaper than one night in a hospital....
Third. Nothing like a 5:30 am wakeup, for them to start up the old IV and put on the hospital gown....and then back to bed, until they wake you up again at 6:30 for the hospital porter to take you to the surgery waiting room until your ready. Normally, I'm not all that popular among Koreans anymore- in public, there's lots of foreigners always walking around. However, in a hospital, in the surgery room, I felt like the treat of the week....Everyone is stopping by, chatting in Korean, and then giggling and walking around, big smiles all around....
Fourth - and this is probably the most important. They're advanced with their medicine here, no doubt about it. However, whenever they get around to it, if in a North American Hospital, they ask you if you want a spinal anesthetic, instead of the old sleeping gas, opt for the sleeping gas. My surgery was only supposed to take 30-40 minutes max. So my anesthesiologist decided that I didn't need to sleep - a simple spinal freeze would do the trick...They stick a needle in your spinal column, and then your whole body goes numb. Only problem was a) she missed my whole spinal column on the first try, and only my right side when numb, while the left still had feeling. The second try worked, to a degree. The needle didn't go in far enough, so when they thought I was numb, they tested things out, and surprisingly I still felt a little. At this point, I start to get a little sleepy, so I must have missed the part where they said they were going to test my feeling again....I must not have heard, and they must have thought that it meant I had no feeling. So they started the incision, only, I was awake, and I surely felt it when they started....my lurch was enough for them to put me to sleep......
Now, I can laugh at it when thinking back...I still vaguely remember their shocked voices asking me what I think they just did, and me telling them, frantically, "I want to be put to sleep please....."..hehe....
Other than that, things have been going good. One of the frustrating things about having a spinal anesthetic is that (and this is even though mine didn't "work") is that you have to make sure that you lie flat on your back post-op, so that the spinal freezing liquid does not flow up to your head. So me, with no pillow, and in enough pain to be bitterly unable to sleep, was stuck lying flat on my back, and my everything below my chest was still partially numb from the spinal miss....so I had no feeling, and poor Kevin, my roommate faithfully went back and asked them every time if could please do something but lie flat on my back, starting at the ceiling...I couldn't see the TV, or barely even see any visitors who came by....I was a miserable bag.
Apologies aside, things are going great now, praise and thanks. Tomorrow I go back for my one week follow up, and things feel so good, I don't think there's anything amiss, and I feel great!
Well, in order to keep this short, I'm going to end it now. I hope that this finds everyone well. Other than this, there hasn't been a whole lot to report on. If anything's new with anyone, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an e-mail.....
God Bless,
me