너무 너무 아파요~~neo-mu neo-mu a-pa-yo~~very very sick. T.T
...So for the last 3 weeks and counting, I have had this running cold. The first couple weeks it was just a little cough and congestion....then, after 2 weeks, it turned into a REALLY sore throat, fever, SUPER congestion and sinus problems, coughing, blowing my nose constantly, losing my voice, and not being able to breathe well. Sounds great, I know. Just when I thought it should be over, it just got WORSE. I finally went to the doctor Monday. I figured it was just a cold, and 'what could a doctor do for me, really?'...but I went anyway because after feelings REALLLLY bad on Monday AND being at school teaching all day (while my CT and I BOTH didn't have voices too!~~Interesting lessons, needless-to-say), I decided that if I was going to get through the rest of the week and still teach, maybe going to a doctor couldn't hurt...and here is my experience at a Korean doctor's office:
Walk right in. Hand them my "insurance notecard thing I got from the school" (just a piece of cardstock paper that I only have to show once. It is not like in the US where you must carry around an insurance card. My CT told me that those are even just for foreigners. Koreans don't even need to show anything. They just show up at a hospital, and the information is there. Man, Korea has it down!) Anyway, after they check it and my ARC, I am told to go to the actual office of the doctor. It's not like a US office where you sit on your hospital bed of crinkly paper and wait for them to check your vitals. In Korea, it is like walking into a business office. I sit down across from the doctor's desk, and he asks me questions. I tried by best to get across what was going on (being as though I had no voice). He thankfully spoke some English and tried to help. He was very kind, at least. One of the first questions was to ask what's wrong. Then, why am I here. I thought to myself, well, hmmm, did my coughing and lack of a voice, fever, and congestion NOT give that reason away? Um, because I'm sick?? I wasn't sure what answer he was wanting so I simply tried to say that my friend told me to go there. The only "medical check" he did was to take my temperature. Other than that, he didn't check my heart/lungs/ears/nose/troat.....nothing. And then he said, "Ok, I will give you this paper to get some medicine."
Ok...how do you even know what is wrong without checking? How am IIIII supposed to be my own doctor, and you just trust what I say and believe me? So different, let me tell you. Ohhhh....but it gets better. I walk back out to get the paper and pay. In Korean, he tells me 500 Won (~45 cents!). I knew exactly what he said, but I said, "What?!??" (in Korean) with a confused look and my mouth hanging open (I mean really??!!~~~How can it only cost 45 cents to see the doctor??? CENTS??!?!?!) So they proceeded to say it in English. I responded in Korean how yeah, yeah, I understand~~it is just really, really cheap!
I take my Rx to the pharmacy and pay a mere 5,000 W (less than $5.00) for my medicine. I was given the typical Korean packets of meds (picture to come) to take 3x/day for 5 days, along with cough medicine. I proceeded to go home, take the meds, and go to sleep.
It was not until the next day that I thought to myself, 'Oh, that's weird...they never asked me if I was allergic to anything. ...and I have absolutely NO idea what this random pills are in these packets. That's weird.' (This was after taking 2 doses of it already.) I was so sick Monday night and loopy off of the decongestant I had gotten over the past weekend in Seoul that I had not really thought about that little problem until AFTER taking the meds. ...and taking these meds didn't help either. They make me drowsy and a little out of it. ...but when it was all said and done, when I got to school, I asked my other CT if she knew what the pills were. She called the pharmacy for me to find out what was in them. Turns out I WAS allergic to the Codeine in the cough syrup, so I quit taking that. Thank goodness I had not had enough to do anything. If it had been Sulfa, I MAY have had a little problem. Thankfully, it was not.
...And so here I am~~it is Friday, and I am still not feeling well. I am definitely feeling better than Monday, but still sick. The doctor told me that if I didn't get better after these 5 days of meds, I had to go to a bigger hospital. (Oh, I should stop here and explain: in Korea, going to a doctor's office is called "going to the hospital." There is not the distinction we make about just a doctor's visit and a hospital visit.) I wonder if I will go to a bigger hospital. Maybe if they are open Sunday evening, but I am so busy this weekend toO! Saturday I will leave early to get a train to Daegu to go to an Asian Pop Song Festival!! Woo hoo!! ~~~And my "boyfriend's" band, Beast 비스트, will even be there!!! Ahhhh!! Too bad I can't scream! But I am so excited nonetheless! This is a Pop Festival of Asian Pop Stars from Korea, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong. It is sure to be awesome! And best of all~~it is FREEEEEE!!!!!! (As a side note, I was super sad yesterday that T-ara and MBLAQ and Everland all came to Indong (my neighborhood in Gumi), OF ALL PLACES, and gave a FREEEEE CONCERT LAST NIGHT!!!! The one time something cool ACTUALLY happens in Indong, and I am in Daegu for Korean classes. Oh well, maybe sometime something cool will happen again....maybe.
