The Pain, the Pain, Oh the Pain!!!
My first visit to a Korean hospital

So, a couple of weeks ago I had a horrendous cough. My dad can attest to that. I would have coughing fits that would last 5 minutes during which I thought I'd cough up my innards. The cough had subsided substantially, but then on Friday I developed a new and wholly unwanted symptom. I had severe stabbing pain in my left lower chest/rib area when I coughed, sneezed, breathed deeply, layed down, or moved in various other ways. Saturday it was about the same. Sunday it grew worse. I have a lot of trouble sleeping because the pain is so bad when I lay down. Brighton and her mom grew very concerned because my symptoms indictated I could have pneumonia. I thought I might have tuberculosis (a common fear of mine here in SoKo). So on Monday I called in sick and went to a nearby hospital.

I was a bit freaked out because I had no idea what to do. It was pretty confusing. We walked to the hospital (called Good Morning Hospital). I saw a main building labeled "Urgent Care" and another building labeled only in Korean. I didn't think I needed the emergency room, so I went into the other building. I went to the front dest and asked if they spoke English. No, they don't. The lady did get across that I needed to give her my insurance info. So I did. She took that info then told me to sit down. I found it odd that they didn't try to figure out what was wrong with me. Brighton then notices that the rooms down the hallway are labeled things like, "Acupuncture" and "Oriental Medicine." Uhhh, wtf? So we think I'm in the wrong area and the lady just thinks I'm a whitey who wants some acupuncture. So I go back up to the desk with my Lonely Planet language book turned to the health section. I start miming what's wrong with me to the lady...take a deep breath then hold my ribs in pain. I then point to the section in the book called "Alternative Medicine" and say, "Yogio?" (Here?) She nods yes and I make an X with my hands. Then I point to things in the book like, "I have pain in my..." and then to body parts like, "chest, ribs." She then brings out her own Korean/English dictionary and points to "bumped, shoved." I say no. She then points to "Internal Medicine." I just nod yes. I guess...

So she leads us out of that building and into the Urgent Care building, up to the 2nd floor where she drops us off at the info desk. We attempt to explain my problem again (to people who don't speak English). Eventually we get led to a waiting area where we wait for about 40 minutes before realizing that there was an electronic screen with people's names on it telling which room they'll be in and when. I find my name (transcribed in Hangeul) and I see that I'm to be in room 4. I'm number 6 on the list for that room. Like an hour later I finally get called in. The doctor was very nice and spoke pretty good English. He asked some questions then listened to my breathing through a stethescope. He then said he wanted me to get an x-ray because the pain could be caused by many things. I'm then brought back to the info desk where I'm told to pay about $20.00. I had no idea what for...I assumed it was for the 3 minute talk I had with the doctor.

I'm then escorted down to the x-ray area where I had to wait a short time. I get called in and have to change into a robe. Then I get 4 x-rays taken. Then I'm told to go back up to the 2nd floor. So we go back up, get confused as to what to do, but finally just sit back down near where I was before. Not too long later I get called back in to the doctor's room where he's looking at my xray on his computer. He says there's no sign of pneumonia, tuberculosis, or pleuresy. He then says the most common reason for the pain I have in young people is straining of the chest muscles due to excessive coughing. So he then prescribes various medicines such as a cough suppressent, a muscle relaxer, and pain relievers.

I go back to the info desk. They give me a sheet with one of the prescriptions on it to get at the hospital. I pay about $2.10 for it. I get that prescription filled, then get another prescription list. I had to go to the pharmacy across the street to get that one filled (4 other pills). Those cost about $3.00. So I guess the $20 I payed was for the 4 x-rays and the doctor time. The whole ordeal only cost me about $30. Not too shabby. Looking back, I wish I had got a picture of me and the doctor and my chest x-ray, but then again, that may have been embarrassing to ask for. [This x-ray picture is not me...but mine looked very similar to it]

My rib area still hurts like a bitch, however. I think he needs to give me stronger meds. I slept like crap again. I called in sick again today. It honestly feels like my rib is broken. Not pleasant. But at least I don't have TB. Or pneumonia.