Not such a happy camper

I've been home sick for the past three days. I felt it coming on for a couple weeks, but I thought I was achy from all the hiking I've been doing and coughing because of a cold that would pass on its own. However, after two nights and one day of serious pain and coughing so hard that I was gagging and having a hard time catching my breath, on Thursday morning, I finally gave up, called in sick, and went to the doctor.

Joy went with me, and while I didn't actually need an interpreter, I was feeling so miserable that it was nice just to let someone else do the talking. One of the nurses even asked me, "You don't talk?" Every inch of my body hurt so much that even breathing was painful.

This was only the second time that I've been to a doctor since I came to Korea. The medical culture is different here than it is in the United States. Perhaps because of the national health insurance program, which makes medical care both easily accessible and affordable to everyone, people go to the doctor much more readily here than they do in the U.S. Medical privacy seems almost nonexistent. People don't seem to ask as many questions of their doctors here, and similarly, doctors seem to have less patience with patients' questions than they do in the U.S. Doctors seem to prescribe more medications but for a shorter duration than they do at home, and medications come in little packets with no labels. I lovingly refer to these as mystery pills. Here's my second round of them, acquired this afternoon.Joy and I arrived at the clinic when it opened at 10 AM. They took my height, weight, blood pressure, and temperature right there in the waiting room, in front of an audience of 4 elderly people who had arrived before us. Since the receptionist said there would be a wait, Joy decided I needed to eat, even though I had no appetite, and took me across the street for samgyejuk--a chicken and rice porridge that is the Korean equivalent of chicken noodle soup for someone who is sick. I generally like all sorts of juk but had no interest in eating and couldn't even finish a third of it, so Joy had them package the rest of it for me to take home.

Then we went back to the clinic. Even though the doctor could speak some English--as most educated people in Korea can--he was obviously nervous about the language and primarily talked with Joy. It made me feel a little childish to be spoken about rather than spoken to while I was sitting right there, especially since I could follow some of their conversation in Korean, but I was also so uncomfortable that I didn't care so much. Living here has made me learn to trust people and also to be okay with needing help. I made sure to describe my symptoms slowly and clearly myself, but I wasn't feeling chatty, so it didn't bother me too much just to be quiet. He listened to me breathe and then smacked me on the back . . . hard. I was in pain to start with, but that felt like a knife was going right through me. "Did that hurt?" he asked as if my wince and moan weren't clear enough indications that it did. Then, just to be sure, he did it two more times in slightly different places, each producing the same reaction from me.

He then wanted a urine sample, but unlike doctors' offices at home that generally have a toilet somewhere in the office, this clinic had none. The clinic is located with several other medical and dental offices on the 4th floor of a shopping mall, and they all share the public restroom, which was, of course, down the hall, around a corner, down another hall, around another corner, down yet another hall, around yet another corner, and down still another hall. Joy encouraged me, "You can do it!" So off I went with my little plastic cup to the restroom. As I returned to the clinic, carefully carrying my little plastic cup, which didn't have a lid by the way, I hoped that I wouldn't run into a student or parent--not that it's anything to be embarrassed about really--but carrying a little plastic cup of your own pee in public is generally not a socially acceptable thing to do where I'm from. I didn't run into anyone, however, and when I returned, Joy greeted me with an enthusiastic "Good job!" to which I had absolutely no idea how to respond.

The doctor concluded that I have a bacterial infection in my lungs and kidneys. He sent me off with a prescription for a bunch of mystery pills and told me to drink a lot of fluids and get a lot of rest. Joy took me to the pharmacy where I made them explain to me, much to their frustration, what each pill was--an antibiotic, a cough medicine, an anti-inflammatory painkiller, and an orange pill that they couldn't find a way to describe for me.

Joy took me home and waited while I wrote out a quick lesson plan for T who was covering my classes. It turns out that I wasn't thinking clearly enough to write down the correct page numbers, but he's resourceful, so I'm sure he managed just fine. I spent the rest of the day feeling miserable and sleeping. On Thursday night, Joy, Catherine, and H-k all came to check on me, which I really appreciate. H-k brought me some juice, corn tea, and fruit.

I was actually able to sleep Thursday night, only waking up three times. Friday was a little better than Thursday. I'm a far cry from 100%, but I'm in nowhere near as much pain and am not coughing as much. H-k called to check on me Friday morning, and T stopped by so I could write down a brief lesson plan for him. Catherine and Joy called to check on me in the afternoon and evening. It's really reassuring to know that I have such good friends who are so concerned and caring.

Since I was stuck at home yesterday but feeling a little better than Thursday, I tried to be productive. Between naps, I corrected 9 workbooks and 7 journals, graded 9 tests, and wrote 20 progress reports. The end of the month is always really busy--with progress reports and next month's lesson plans due--so I wanted to get some work done so that it's not such an overwhelming task when I return to school on Monday.

I went back to the doctor this morning for my next round of mystery pills (pictured above) and then stopped by the school to swap books, but I have no other plans for the weekend except continuing to pump fluids and sleep.