Life These Weeks in South Korea: March 25-April 7, 2024
Monday, March 25
I am finally fully insured here!
Well, the visit with the sports clinic was disappointing πΒ While no one WANTS surgery, it’s painful and inconvenient and disruptive…I DO want my knee fixed so I can enjoy my time here (and the rest of my life!!!). But they did new x-rays, and while 3 other doctors/radiologists have now said, yes, surgery, definitely, it needs to be fixed before it gets worse…THIS doctor was more conservative and was like…mmm, let’s try another injection first and see how that goes. He said the injection would relieve SOME of the pain and I should just walk less if walking was painful for me. SOME of the pain?? Walk LESS?? He was like, “why do you have to walk so much??” I laughed. CUZ I LIVE IN A CITY WITH NO CAR AND I HAVE CLASS EVERY DAY AT THE TOP OF A HILL AND EVERYTHING INVOLVES WALKING! What does he MEAN, walk less?? I mean, he was very pleasant, he’s just taking a very conservative approach, which I GET, and I can imagine that many people would appreciate that….but I was literally ready to be admitted into the hospital this week to get this thing taken care of,
The timing of this couldn’t be worse, with the doctors’ strike still going on, it’s been 6 weeks now, with no end in sight. That makes second opinions with doctors who are actually performing surgeries very difficult to find.
Ugh.
It was raining again when I left school at 5:30 but since it wasn’t Friday I was able to get an uber relatively quickly…AND I was able to pay for my health insurance that evening in a convenience store around the block.
Oh, so, I did have the injection this morning. So far, no change. We have a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks…and he said we’d re-assess the situation after a month.
Tuesday, March 26
So, Day 2 of injection, a little difference is noted – I’m at about 50% pain. Which, while lovely, is not a solution as far as I’m concerned.
I’m not a fan of masking pain (as a solution) in load-bearing limbs and joints. We have pain for a reason – to let us know there’s something wrong that needs attention/to be fixed. If you ignore or mask the pain and just continue walking, running, whatever…you risk further damage. Pain is a signal to stay OFF that foot ankle knee hip wrist shoulder, etc. If you mask it, you don’t know to stay off it (whatever IT may be). This bit of medical wisdom coming from a non-medical professional but…it’s how I feel.
So, while my pain was less, I continued walking with the crutches to avoid putting more weight on the knee. It was just nice to have walking be a little less uncomfortable.
I did, however, cancel my meeting with Language Exchange Partner #2. I was tired AND had a presentation to finish memorizing for tomorrow AND my taxes to get together for a 4am (my time) zoom meeting with a tax preparer back in the states.
Wednesday, March 27
Me waiting for tax guy at 4am…
Study time
Me and sunsengnim (teacher)
Well, after getting up, dressed, and ready for the 4am tax meeting…I discovered it was at 6am NOT 4 am. Ugh. By the time I got back in bed and to sleep, it was REALLY time to get up for it…and after that I had only had one hour before my tutor session at 8 am. So, not a very good night’s sleep.
I got through the presentation…maybe at about 75% goodness. It was like 93.5% at home alone in my room…but in class in front of the teacher and other students, ugh.
After class I just came home and collapsed. Sleep, not failed knee. Although my knee was back to pre-injection pain level, so mwrrh.
Thursday, March 28
Knee so bad this morning I skipped class. We have a test tomorrow and I decided studying at home alone and NOT dragging myself up the %&$^#! hill to class was the better option. Although I DID meet Hyungeun as usual in the evening.
Yes, I skipped school, and then went outside to play with my friend. That’s my prerogative as an adult.
My mother loved the word prerogative. I so rarely ever hear it used anywhere else.
Anyway…I had to go back to the piercing shop as I had already lost one of my new earrings (boo). And I didn’t think it was that far from where we were going to have dinner (and in reality, it wasn’t, but I was in such pain that day it seemed like we walked forever to get there). Earring bought, more Tylenol procured as we passed a pharmacy…and then dinner…spicy marinated chicken with ramen noodles and mozzarella cheese. I do love this dish.
Then I had bought a Scrabble game, as it’s my favorite game and I thought it would be a good challenge for my English-practicing friend. So we went to a board game cafe right next to the restaurant for one game.
The board game cafes are a nice idea. You rent a tiny table-sized room by the hour – I think it was 3,000won ($2.22) per person per hour for the room…they have a ton of games there you can play (at no additional charge) but guess what – they’re all Korean, ha ha. You’re allowed to bring your own games, so. Also, each person has to buy at least one food/drink item per hour. So it’s really a very reasonable way to have a place to go.
Anyway, I taught him the Scrabble rules and obviously I had the advantage, so won…but he’s a smart guy, he’ll probably be beating me soon!
And then onto the pojangmacha (like a drinking tent)! A couple drinks and yet another snack. I forget exactly what we had but it had samgyeopsal (pork belly) and a mountain of sauteed vegetables.
Then home, happier, and a little pain freer.
Friday, March 29
Remember my “Today Will Be a Great Day” graphic tee?? This may be its replacement.
Bad pain back. I would have skipped class again but I thought (spoiler alert) we were having a test today.
We did not. Ugh.
Then because it was Friday, I could not get a taxi after class to take me home and I ended up having to walk all the way home on only one crutch (because it was raining and I needed an umbrella hand). It was an hour-long walk and pity party.
As soon as I got home I texted Language Exchange Partner #2 saying if he hadn’t gotten on the train yet, to not. We had rescheduled from Tuesday night to Friday, but…after the walk home I just had nothing left. I felt bad cancelling twice in one week but I just could not.
Instead I ordered Friday Fried Chicken and started watching a new kdrama and I think I was in bed asleep by 9:30pm.
I have been…really…down. I haven’t felt like this since before the magic of anti-depressants entered my life 5 years ago. I have been frustrated and discouraged and cry at EV. ER. RY. THING. A) it is a frustrating and discouraging time living with pain that is significantly impacting your life. I’M MISSING CHERRY BLOSSOM SEASON. And B) I came to Korea with a 3-month supply of welbutrin, that I managed to stretch out to 6 months…but I finished them several weeks ago and I think I’m feeling it, just in my inability to handle things emotionally better right now. Once I get the knee sorted out…and the kidney stone taken care of…I’ll work on getting to THAT doctor and see if I can get my prescription here.
Saturday, March 30
Thank goodness for food delivery:-)
It was a GORGEOUS day out but I MADE MYSELF stay in and still and quiet to rest my mind and body. Well, until shortly before sunset when I couldn’t stand it anymore and literally walked 100 meters down the road to see what I could find to take pictures of.
Sunday, March 31
Organizing the food drawer. Before.
After
Same. Except I walked next door to the convenience store to get a coffee and ice cream and sit out on the veranda til it got too cool for the way I was dressed.
Monday, April 1
Since I go so few places right now, I try to find something interesting to shoot from my various uber stops.
Pain way down after a weekend of little walking (and certainly no hill). But then I had to ruin it by going back to class.
Today we had the test I’d expected on Friday. It felt good. It felt like I knew what I was doing.
Tuesday, April 2
I’m watching the campus cherry trees blooming from afar. All the students are out taking pictures under them, it’s adorable. I asked a classmate to take my picture. My darling child pointed out that the flowers matched my hair :-\
Finally met up with LEP#2 after class. We met at a nearby(ish) (to me right now, nothing is TRULY nearby if it involves me having to walk) cafe for a couple hours. It’s still about 25:75 English to Korean…I don’t know how to improve the ratio til I know a LOT more “everyday usage” words.
It’s all getting better, just very very slooowwwlllly.
Wednesday, April 3
Took it easy today…after class, I mean. I’m also studying for the midterm on Friday and a pronunciation reading test tomorrow.
Thursday, April 4
A rare “Bettye in socks” sighting. Headed to Hyunggun’s…you take your shoes off in people’s homes…my feet are hideous, hence, socks. My Melody ankle socks, to be exact.
Songi the cat. My crutch now belongs to her.
He’s getting closer…
To make things easier for me, Hyungeun invited me to his house for dinner and Scrabble. He made a nice dinner of κ³΅λΆ (“kong” rhymes with cone, “pool” – sort of), which is samgyeopsal (pork belly) with bean sprouts in a red sauce that was only a tiny bit spicy. And rice (always). It was very nice and I appreciated the home-cooked meal. Then snacks and drinks over a game of Scrabble. And kitty cuddles. His cat was obsessed with the toys I brought: crutches and duster-length cardigan πΒ A nice, relaxing evening.
Friday, April 5
Test Time
Today was the written portion of the midterm: reading, writing, and listening. Surprisingly, the reading and writing felt pretty easy to me…and even the listening (the most challenging for me) started out well…but about halfway through it got…as confusing as usual. When the dialogues get longer, I can’t keep up with all the content, enough to answer questions about it. So there was a whole lotta guessing going on in the last part of the listening.
Monday will be the speaking portion…and I’m feeling relatively confident about that…and will practice more this weekend.
After the test, since we got out early, I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring my camera and walk a bit to get some cherry tree pictures on campus. I got meh pictures as it was not really nice light at that point…and since I walked in the direction of home I was so close to home when I was done, I just couldn’t in good conscience call a taxi. So I walked home very slowly…and was KAPUT by the time I got home.
Saturday, April 6
Oh, I forgot to mention earlier that since the pain was so bad last week I tried to move up my follow-up appointment with the doctor who’d given the injection…in the end I was only able to move it up by two days…and today was that day.
And…
GOOD NEWS!!! After telling Dr that the injection hadn’t helped the pain and the pain relievers and anti-inflammatories were not helping the pain, and if anything, it was worse now than before…he agreed that surgery was the only option.
YAY.
So I go back this coming Thursday to meet the surgeon who will be doing an arthroscopic procedure to fix the torn ligament, I asked if I couldnt just get a whole new knee…but I kind of think something was lost in translation and he maybe thought I was joking…”who would ask for a BIGGER surgery??” (answer: someone tired of having pain dictate their life). I’ll get more details from the surgeon when I go next week, but it should just be an overnight hospital stay.
But, aside from the HUGE RELIEF (and I did not cry afterwards in the coffee shop. except that I did.) of knowing that the pain would soon be gone and I could get my life back (at least to where it was before!), I also feel I have the green light on Japan with Katie in May. That’s been a big IF for the past two weeks. But now it will be like 5 weeks after the surgery, and I would like to think I’ll be in a better place knee-wise THEN than I am now. So, SO MUCH YAY.
Sunday, April 7
Never left the room. Tired. Ouchy. I napped, read, watched a movie, ordered delivery breakfast AND dinner. Worked on my “things to do in Japan” list and practiced for tomorrow’s speaking portion of the midterm.
Won’t it be nice after I get my knee fixed and this account will not just be MY PAIN MY PAIN?!?
Penny
Oh Bettye, it’s horrible being ill/in pain while living abroad. And you know, the language that you’re learning is so challenging. All I had to do was build on my memories of French lessons at school and the French words are, well, recognisable, yay, get your surgery done and go girl!
bettyewp
I can’t wait til Thursday to get an actual date for this thing!!!
Lisa
I can’t imagine having such a major health concern (or two or more) while living outside the U.S.. The language barrier must be even worse with medical terms!! Will one of your friends be able to be with you the day of surgery and help you afterwards? The blossoms are beautiful. The fish ice cream sandwich (is that what it is?) looks great!! Hang in there! You are living such an amazing adventure!!
bettyewp
The language issue certainly makes the medical issues more stressful! Though the doctors, for the most part, speak a good amount of English. LEP#2 said a lot of them went to American medical schools, so they certainly knew enough English for that…and so many medical terms are English…but since they may not use it conversationally on a regular basis, they lose some. It’s everyone else – reception, check-in, appointment-making, WHERE DO I GO NOW? It’s all the “outside the doctor’s office” people that I struggle with understanding and speaking to. And it just makes the whole experience stressful. I’m always a sweaty mess by the time I actually get in to see the doctor.
It will depend when the surgery is, whether anyone can go with me or not. It would be lovely to have someone help me as I leave. Even though the doctor SAID I could leave on my own, I’m picturing me hobbling out on my crutches with my overnight bag, with fresh new pain, out to the street, waiting for an Uber…sometimes I get one quickly, sometimes I wait, sometimes my wifi doesn’t work…that sounds like a big ‘ol Pity Party for One. So…I’ll wait to see when it gets scheduled for…then I’ll have a better idea of people’s availability.
The fish ice cream is an ice cream sandwich version of a bungeo-ppang, which is a desserty thing here sold mostly by street vendors. It’s a light waffle-like outer, with sweet red bean filling. The ice cream version has vanilla ice cream and sweet red bean filling. It’s very nice.
Sally in St Paul
I am so glad that everyone is now on Team Operate on This Knee STAT. That kind of pain is hard enough when everything else in life is relatively easy, so I can only imagine how stressful and challenging this is for you. You are definitely not living some kind of “walking: optional” lifestyle (very strange that the doctor didn’t understand that) in which you can follow the “if it hurts to do that, don’t do that” approach. The idea that you’re handling all this without your anti-depressants is just…I am actually in awe!
bettyewp
Oh believe me, I am guest to MANY solo pity parties these days. The worst is rainy days when I’ve had to walk with only one crutch, cuz I need my left hand for the umbrella…and then cuz it’s raining and they’re busier than usual, I can’t get a taxi…and I have to walk home in the rain on one crutch. Oh I’m really pathetic. Sighing and eyes filling with tears…oh it’s really a sight. Today was a rainy, one-crutch day, but fortunately after a little wait I did get a taxi, so…that was a gift.
Jaynn
First (and I so often forget this part) your pictures are wonderful – love every single one! Love the sherry blossoms. The B&Ws are great too. You look happy and healthy – not like how you feel. Sad to hear you are down, but you know what you have to do. (and yes, absolutely, pain distorts or pronounces certain things for sure). But it really sounds like you need to get THAT prescription ASAP. Please treat yourself the way you’d want Katie to treat herself and tend to this, pretty please beautiful stranger.
I had that arthroscopic knee procedure to repair torn ligament and it certainly was amazing. Do everything they tell you to – especially the exercises, you will be back to running marathons (ha ha) in no time!
Reading about your actual classes and such, I think back to the Japanese (language option) class I took in high school. It was really more about the culture and bonding with students from other backgrounds, as we came from different schools for this one class. The sensei (fairly sure that is “teacher”) was a kind sweet older woman and while we had a few of “those students” who were just rude Americans (for lack of a better way to say it), she was delightful and took such pleasure in showing us her language, and foods and crafts and such. Such a nice group of kids… People in Korea do seem so kind, engaging, welcoming. That has got to be what keeps you going there! (well, that cat is freaking adorable too, purr purr…)
bettyewp
Aww, Jaynn, you say the sweetest things π
Yeah, I haven’t QUITE gotten on that “find THAT doctor” thing yet, but I will.
Oh! That’s good news about the ligament repair. My doctor does not sound nearly as optimistic. I’m hoping he’s just trying to cover his butt.
Ooh, Japanese culture class sounds so nice! I wish I could find other Korean classes to take here – culture, history, even government – but I honestly don’t know where I can find the time π Maybe once I’m not in school school, I can study some other aspects about Korean life. I’d really like that.
Everytime I mention how kind the Korean people are, my tutor (a Korean) always reminds me they’re not ALL kind…and I’m like, well, the ones I have met and been in contact with are, so…that’s my perspective π
I hope I get to visit Songi (the cat) again soon. I got her bubbles. Her father said she’d never had bubbles to play with.
Barbara
Oh Dear, what annoying plagues!
I do so hope, that finally get your surgery on Thursday and I wish you the very best for it. And a speed recovery, so you can enjoy your trip to Japan with your daughter. I think, it’s better to “repair” the knee instead of an implant, because it takes much more time to heal.
This little cat is supercute, is it a Holy Birma? We sometimes do Catsitting, one is a Devon Rex, the other a Birma Boy, but much more darker (the light colors are gone now he’s adult).
bettyewp
Last week the surgery was scheduled for April 25…more details in upcoming post…like SHOULD IT HAPPEN OR SHOULDN’T IT?
Trip to Japan. Nope.
Cat: Siamese. A little chonkier than the norm, but really entertaining.