My Doctor Makes Housecalls

Maybe it's because I teach his son during the week, but I just got the kindest phone call ever - from my doctor!!

You might remember when I first moved to Korea that I found this really nice English-speaking Dr., Dr. Gwak, who chatted with me about kids, and child psychology, and ADHD during my first visit to see him. Then the next time I saw him (about my sore hip/leg!) he asked me if I'd consider teaching his son. Well, I said 'yes,' and for the past month I've been making the hour commute into the city to his place to teach his lovely 10-year old son, Vio.

Viot is quite wonderful, particularly for a 10-year old boy! He's interested in English and speaks it quite easily. He loves science, and of course is then easy to entertain, even during our 2 1/2 hour Saturday lessons - all in English!

I went to see Dr. Gwak on Friday after leaving school with the very baddy-badness of food poisoning, and he was of course very concerned, and very helpful. He didn't let me pay for the consultation (we usually pay about $12 per visit, which the school reimburses us for), and he texted me about a hundred times through the weekend to check in on me.

Okay, so at 100 I'm of course exaggerating, but he texted a lot, including (in typical Korean fashion) a list 4 messages long of different diagnostic possibilities and potential symptoms to watch for that ranged from the banal to the most terrifying!). He asked about dizziness, what kind of dizziness, a schwack of other symptoms and starte ranging a bit on the paranoid side by the time the weekend was coming to a close.

Then today came, Monday evening after a long day of work and yoga and the doctor's number popped up on my cell phone. He told me Viot and the rest of the family had been concerned about me, and that Viot had asked his dad to call me and make sure that I had recovered well from the Friday badness. My little 10-year old boy (make that 8 1/2 in North American age) was worried about me... aww...

How sweet is this kid, and his dad???  Mind you, I'm glad we live far enough apart that he's not comfortable showing up on my doorstep, because I have this feeling that they juuuuuuust might!!


P.S.  Mom, I am fully recovered from whatever it was that was trying to get grips on me... back to normal, healthy and happy and addicted to hot yoga, so don't worry!!  :)

Acu*PUNCTURE!

I noticed my hip was a little sore getting on and off the bus with the kids this morning. Nothing too bad, but increasingly worse after each stop. I was fine while making my homework in the morning, and while teaching my first class. Halway through my second class I couldn't sit, I couldn't stand, everything hurt. I mean, I could do it, but it really hurt!! I sucked it up and got through my class, trying not to be an angry bear with my babies. At the break time boss offered to take me over to the hospital (I declined), one of the teachers ran home to grab some muscle relaxants, and at lunch I filled my prescription from Tuesday afternoon's doctor appointment and then promptly took one of my PRNs. That, in combination with the over-the-counters dulled it all enough by about 330pm for me to teach without straining, just alternating between sitting and standing. When I was done at 5pm I was done, and decided to go find some needling.

At 530pm one of the Korea teachers walked with me over to an acupuncture clinic that's right by my house, only 5 minutes from the school. When we walked into the clinic it SMELLed like you'd expect a herbal medicine shop to smell. Not unpleasant, but a very distinct smell. One of the girls had lived in Canada for a year so her English was great. I met with the doctor about my leg (turns out she's the mother of one of my favorite students (Connie) who gave me the lovely umbrella for teacher's day!!) and my hip. She asked me a few questions, tapped my wrists a few times while seeming to listen for an echo or something, and then (through her assistant) that it was 'no big problem,' I would have to come for 4 or 5 appointments and I would be fine.

I've been for acupuncture before for my neck, it wasn't too big a deal, didn't really hurt and overall left me feeling pretty relaxed... so... I was *NOT* prepared for the very ouchie badness of having deep-muscle work done!!!!

I changed into shorts and t-shirt in the middle of the room with everyone else (all women at least, lol) while chatting with the assistant. I was all calm and ready for the tiny pokes I remember from my last appointment. Only one thing to say... NO SAME-SAME!! 

Turns out that the muscle that's been causing all of the pain is quite deep in the butt, so while I tried to maintain my composure I was a pretty noisy jumpy pincushion while she was putting the needles in!! I was embarassed and tried to lie still and be quiet, but I couldn't help it!!! After being in pain most of the day I'd had about all I could take, so I was nearly in tears by the time she had done with the needling. The needles were all across my lower back, down my spine, one at the back of my neck, several in my hip and all down my right leg. Of course I couldn't see them because I was laying on my stomach, but if I could have taken a picture I would have!!
After the doctor inserted the needles (during which time I was on the edge of screaming "Ok! Ok! Connie has no homework for a year! I'll even do it for her! 100%! No Problem!!" wondering how she would treat me if her daughter DIDN'T like me!!) they turned on a heat lamp and I stayed there for 40 minutes.

As long as I didn't try to move they didn't hurt once they were in. The woman on the table next to me had a brief conversation with the assistant about how a foreigner managed to find her way into the clinic, and her opinion that foreigners didn't believe in acupuncture (hence much confusion on her part, thinking I came by mistake, lol). The assistant politely talked with her and kept tying to steer the conversation away from me, but the patient was curious, lol... where is she from, what does she do, how long has she been in Korea, on and on. Good thing I've been here long enough not to be too bothered by it all, I just pretended I had no idea what they were talking about and drifted off to sleep.
 

I woke up about 2 minutes before time was up, and the assistant pulled the needles out (which hurt a smidge but I was happy they were out). After that was done she put a series of hot glass cups on my back to withdraw toxins from the body. She heated the inside of each cup with a lighter stick and then applied them to my lower back. I tried to ask more about it, but of course the assistant has minimal knowledge of it and the conversation ended in "I don't really know, the doctor just says so," and I left it at that.
 

The cups stayed on for about 10 minutes or so (maybe 5?) before the were pulled off one-by-one. Now they didn't hurt going ON, a bit of pinchy feeling for awhile until you get used the it, but coming off... WHAT DID I DO TO THESE PEOPLE???! After she pulled off each cup she slapped the area to dissipate the pain, all the while giggling through my torture as I grimaced into my pillow, glad I was having my back worked on and not my stomach!! 

 
Then she told me the doctor would be coming back to do a bit more acupuncture work... nooooooooo!!!! This time she did some meridian work, some rhythmic tapping of my foot up to my hip, wrist and elbows with a very small needle in a poker stick... difficult to explain but easy to sit through and didn't hurt at all (even when she poked the soles of my feeet and teh tops of my toes - phewph!).
 
I resisted the urge to scowl at them while rubbing my 'wounds' as I paid, until they told me I had to come back 3 days in a row - then I scowled, lol... oh man... Connie's dad was at the desk when I was paying (it's their clinic), and they altered my fee. Foreigners are supposed to pay twice the fee of Koreans for medical attention, but they entered me in under my coworkers name and charged only charged me the regular half-price, lovely lovely people!
 

The best news? I walked out of the clinic with no pain in my leg or hip, and I went right to sleep when my head hit the pillow after Korean class. Next appointment, Friday 2pm... ugh... well, if the puppy can do it I can do it...

Happy Friday everyone!!

Not So Much Just Allergies

In the past few days since getting medication I have not felt any better. The night before last I actually woke up in the middle of the night because of the sinus pain, and woke with an uneducated but stuffy medical opinion that it is not (only?) allergies making me ill, but indeed a tried and true good ole' sinus infection like I first thought. Soooo.... I went back to another doctor (same building as the last of course!) who turned out to be an ENT (just the guy for a sinus infection!).

I went to the appointment with a coworker, so when they finally called us in they called us in to the room together (of course assuming that if you're a foreign man and woman in public in Korea that we must be married). So we saw the doctor together, he for the green-tinged infection he was growing in his finger, and me for my overcrowded sinuses. The doctor looked at us in disbelief even after the 3rd time we told him we were not married, and continued asking one questions about the condition of the other. Eventually he veered off to an actual medical line of questioning and I was a bit less annoyed. So while Jerry sat in the chair about 3 feet from me after receiving a 2-day antibiotic prescription, the doctor moved me to the 'dentist' chair (same-same but different) and then proceeded to stick sharp instruments up my nose, including some strange suctioney thing (yes, that's a thing, look it up!) that he sucked all of the grossness out of my sinuses with: yuck and OW!

Following that he shook his head and then paused before confirming the diagnosis I had suspected. He scratched his head and asked, "how is it you came to know that you really had acute sinusitis?"... like I needed 10 years of medical school to tell me that!! So, after I convinced him to give me at least 5 days of medication (he suggested 2, like that would somehow fix the infection right up!) I came home with a large prepacked strip of pills. I have NO idea what any of them are, and so far they're doing me no good (but it's only really been a day).

After the appointment Jerry suggested Butterfingers for dinner since we were both starving, and I would never turn down the chance for french toast from this much talked about spot! Butterfingers is an all-day pancake and waffle house (which I never knew existed in Korea to this point), and I had an amazing pile of whipped cream and strawberry compote with a big thick slick of beautiful french toast on the side with vanilla butter (who else would think of putting vanilla in the butter for your pancakes?? these people are geniuses I tell you!), and OMG it was so good, my stomach is remembering it as I type...mmmmmmm! That, and I ordered a great big cafe mocha. Once I had taken care of most of the whipped cream and chocolate syrup piled on top (because I didn't get enough with my french toast!) I noticed a bit of writing on the inside of the cup... "Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. John 37:7-8." and I couldn't help but giggle. Somehow I don't think that's quite what they meant in the bible, but hey, this is Korea, everything is marketable!!

So another day came and went, and in the midst of it all I taught, I cooked, I ate, I giggled, and I shopped. More on the shopping later, can't wait to share my finds! Talk soon... S.

The Verdict

Good news: Not sick, just allergies! While actually finding the doctor's office took me some time, I finally found La Clinique Bundang. I obviously didn't listen well to the directions from one of my co-teachers, and I'm not even sure I ended up in the right building, but by that time I didn't care!! I spent some time reading the building's info board trying to figure out where the heck they kept the plain old doctors. I saw ENTs, Gynos, Plastic Surgeons, Pediatricians and Dentists listed, but no plain old ooee-sahs... so, I decided it was time to guess! I caught the next empty elevator, got in, closed my eyes and pushed a button, lol. Turned out to be a good shot because when I landed on the 4th floor the doors opened the the Riche Clinic, and beauty of beauties they had an English-speaking plain-old-doctor!

There was much frowning and facemaking over my not having insurance or an alien card, so I was pretty worried what the cost was going to be, but I thought it'd be best to worry about later. I was sure I wasn't in the office the other teachers go to because these receptionists had never heard of my school, and they kept making tsk-tsk noises about the cost of the visit without insurance. Oh well, nothing to be done about it!

After waiting only 15 minutes I spent about half hour in the office with the doctor. He didn't do any kind of physical exam, like they would at home, I just sat in the chair across his desk (in his actual office, not in an exam room) and we chatted. First he asked me to type my English name into the computer (I'd given the desk girls both so they would know how to say it!), and then he asked me a few questions about being sick and typing my responses into their diagnostic system. His verdict: I am having a sinus reaction to the Korean pollution and the abrupt climate change since arriving, and I'm probably not sick with any kind of cold or flu because I have no other symptoms. With the usual talk of 'come back if this doesn't help so I can prescribe something different', and 'take it until the end and then see if the symptoms come back again' (e.g. make sure it's allergies before I give you more medication), Dr Guak prescribed me 'anti-allergy medication' of some kind, and then we just chatted.

His English was really good despite the fact that all of his diplomas, degrees and certificates were from Korean universities. Turns out Dr. Guak actually studied neurology and brain-mapping when he was in school, so we had quite a discussion about brains and neuroimaging and rehabilitation (it was actually really interesting!) based on my last job.

Then when I told him what I was studying he asked me about my opinion on ADHD, and we talked about that for awhile. His opinion was that it's a profit-grab from pharmaceutical companies, and that it just makes parents, doctors and teachers lazy so they don't have to do more to help difficult children. He said ADHD is becoming an increasingly popular diagnosis with Korean Psychiatrists and Pediatricians, and I can genuinely say I was really sad in that moment, as the diagnosis wasn't used here that I knew of in my last visit. I talked with him about a bunch of different ways you can help kids with attention problems, both at home and at school without relying on medication... also about things he could talk with parents about if they came to him for a referral for ADHD. He was very excited to hear that current best practices at home (at least in my program) don't push medication, but rely on other interventions first... I don't think he was surprised to hear that it is still a rampant diagnostic concern at home with doctors and psychiatrists. It was such an interesting Dr visit!!

So, with much trepidation I approached the reception desk for my bill and prescription, and held my breath... this was gonna be bad, I could see it on their pretty apologetic faces... "Ok, sorry, that will be $16.80 please." Were these girls serious?? Sure, $16 is much more than the $2 you pay if you have insurance, but... seriously - all that grief over $16??!  Phewph, I was so relieved, and much less concerned about going to the pharmacy. The clinic's pharmacy was way too busy so I went to the one across the street from my apartment building... only $12.70 for the meds! So the total cost of the doctor's visit (plus social call, haha) was less than $30 - that was nothin'!

Much better.. so now I have an idea of what's wrong (I hope that he's right, it does fit with what I think about me and Korean pollution), medication that should get rid of the symptoms, a new english-speaking doctor about 10 minute's walk from my apartment, and an english-speaking pharmacist across the street... whatta morning! I also stopped at the fruit truck and the market on the way home for some feel-good food to help me feel less sucky.

Christmas oranges, strawberries, and citron tea... yum!! So I'm going to spend some time overdosing myself on vitamin c and then I'm going to go into Seoul for awhile, just revisit the old haunts and such - sounds like much fun to me!! Hope you're having a beautiful weekend, talk to you again soon!

Ok, I'll Admit It...

I'm willing to admit it now that I'm sick enough to go to the doctor. Today my eyes hurt, I have a bit of a headache coming, and while I have no cough,  no fever or any of those other things, the tops of my cheeks and my eyes are starting to get sore, and it's going to be all downhill from there, I remember it well!!

So, if I've got it right, I can actually see the tower of the medical clinic out my window, and it's a measly 4 or 5 blocks from the apartment - easy peasy! I've taken a deep breath and I'm ready for the long strips of blue and white pills that will surely follow from the pharmacy (I'll show you when I get home!).

My school doesn't provide medical insurance like many others do. The cost of that is about $30 per month for both the teacher and the school, and most of us almost never go to the doctor, so that's more than $350 per year spent by and for each teacher for much of nothing. What my school does do though is FULLY reimburse us for ANY medical expenses we have, so going to the doctor or accupuncturist and all of those things doesn't cost us a cent in either prescriptions or insurance, yay! It's surely much cheaper for boss in the long run so he seems to be happy to do it that way. We'll see how that goes, lol... Our other teachers go to the same clinic because one doctor apparently speaks English well. Oh, just remembered I have to bring my passport! Ok, I'm going before this cold thing gets outta control...

Wish me luck!  :)