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!