Other than birth, I was never hospitalized in my life. Thirty-one years later, I was hospitalized for 4 nights in South Korea.
Yay.
Not quite sure when it started. I thought the cause came from Saturday night when Danielle (my 1st international guest), Sungsu (friend and Seoul-resident), and I went to Myeongdong for street food.
I forgot exactly where it is, but there's a corner that sells 32 cm. tall soft-serve ice cream (#8 on that link). I am slightly lactose intolerant, but I was set on getting one cone for my friend, and one for me (Only USD 2.50--if that). I started feeling pain on Monday. Perhaps that was a lethal amount of dairy, and it had given me an equally lethal amount of gas (but 2 days later?). I couldn't lie down. I could barely lean against anything. For 2 nights, I slept on a small couch in my place. I started to release and feel better. Didn't think anything of it until I had an up to 39-degree (Celsius) fever on Thursday.
I went to a clinic. That doctor suspected I had appendicitis and needed surgery, and sent me to the large hospital in the area, Yonsei Hospital.
Surprise!
The doctor there did some tests. He had good & bad news. The good, I didn't have appendicitis. The bad, I have an ovarian cyst and could need surgery.
Surprise!
So I got changed into hospital PJs and got all hooked up. That Thursday night, I spent my 1st night in the hospital. Friday morning, the doctor said I didn't need surgery but needed me to take some rest. That meant I had to stay in the hospital that weekend--and in bed (not wander/explore the hospital).
Surprise!
 |
| Curious, yet not excited. |
So I spent 4 nights in the hospital, attached to an IV drip the entire time. I was given antibiotics via my arm--boy, was that junk strong! Even as I type this, I can feel it.
I was in a room with 5 other ladies. Four were middle-aged to older Korean women. The fifth was a middle-aged Vietnamese lady. We all had our respective guests. They had family, and I had a friend (who is like a sister) come and visit me every day I was there. Not gonna lie, I really looked forward to her visits. I can't complain about the company. Even though we had our language and cultural barriers, they were an entertaining bunch. Also, whenever a family member visited them, generous amounts of snacks to be shared amongst everyone in the room were brought along. A couple of times when my friend was there for a mealtime, they would give her their food tray (i.e., force feed her). As a mutual acquaintance of ours once said, "Food is love." You know you are loved when those older than you force feed you.
I stayed in bed the entire time--except when going to the bathroom (less than 20 steps away from my room). I was yearning to be released--and to take a shower without worrying about the needle and tube(s) attached to my arm.
Late Monday morning, my doctor came in and checked me. He said I was very stable and free to leave--and see the gynecologist he recommended in Gyeongsang University Hospital in Changwon.
Yay.
First things first. My co-teacher drove me home, and I took a much-appreciated blessing of a shower. With the joyous sensation of being clean again, I was ready to see this gynecologist with my co-teacher.
After waiting about an hour and a half, answering a personal (yet understandable) questionnaire, and going through a violating check, the gynecologist said I indeed have an ovarian cyst, but I was fine. I could continue living my life, doing whatever. He just wants me to return in September to see how I'm doing (his definition of "keeping me under surveillance").
This concludes my story of being hospitalized in Korea.
