So it's been a rough few days. Friday morning at work I got the worst pains in my abdomen. It was the worst thing I have ever experienced and can't even describe how it felt. One of the Korean teachers at my school took me to a female clinic where they did several tests and finally diagnosed me with PID (Pelvic Inflamatory Disease). This can be pretty serious with some long term effects so I was pretty scared. I was told to rest for several days and given a lot of different medications to take. She also told me that if I was feeling considerably better by that night to go to the hospital. Unfortunately the pain didn't lesson so at about 10:00 on Friday night I had to call the assistant director, Geenie, at my school to come take me to the hospital. Si came as well and both of them stayed there with me all night while they ran several tests and finally re-diagnosed me with apendicitis...pretty far off from the initial diagnosis!
I was in surgery by 10:00 Saturday morning to have my appendix removed, and Si and Geenie were still with me. Also, the owner of the school, Mr. Kim, came to make sure everything was ok. After I got out of the recovery room, I was put in a room with 8 people...not much privacy! Mr. Kim worked wonders and paid to have me put in a private room with only two beds. Everyone was so great! We had a huge staff picnic on Saturday, which I obviously had to miss, and felt awful for Geenie and Mr. Kim missing it as well. They stayed with me for awhile, and finally left me to rest. Si stayed until Sunday night, which was wonderful. Unfortunately Saturday was his birthday and not so great celebrated in the hospital with me! Geenie brought him a birthday cake and we had a small celebration anyways!
The frist 24 hours after surgery were pretty rough. I couldn't have anything to eat or drink and my mouth and throat were so dry I couldn't talk. The surgeon said my appendix was twice as big as it should have been and I was lucky to have come in when I did to avoid having it rupture which can be a LOT worse. I was in the hospital from Friday night until Tuesday afternoon. People from school came to visit several times and Si was there as much as possible.
On Sunday night another Korean girl was put in my room, and a friend was there with her was well. Although they didn't speak any English, they were super nice. After the girl had her surgery she was pretty out of it, but her friend offered me as much help as she offered her friend. They talked to the doctors, helped me change my hospital gown, and took my meal trays away for me. It's good to know there are people out t here who are so caring and helpful, even to strangers!
In Korea, you pretty much go to work unless something is seriously wrong, so I feel pretty bad about having to miss work. Everyone is assuring me it is ok and that I need to rest and get better. Not that I have much choice in the matter, but that's exactly what I have to do! When I was finally allowed food, I was served about 4 different kinds of soup, if you can call it that, at every meal. One was soup made from rice which was the only one I could distinguish. Now I am able to eat semi-normal food. They advised me to eat Korean porriadge until friday, which is like a really thick soup with rice, chicken and some veggies. It's actually pretty good. When someone from the school came to pick me up from the hospital they stopped and got me plenty of the porriadge to last me for a couple days.
The pain is a lot better now. When I am laying down it is pretty much non-exisistent, but when I stand or walk it still hurts pretty bad. The doctor said after a week or so the pain should be completely gone. One down side of recovery is that i can't take showers. I can't get the wound wet, so my friends have been washing my hair for me and i've gotten used to the whole spunge bath thing....not so fun! I finally got home today, which is a lot better than being in the hospital! I'll be out of work for the rest of the week, taking it easy and go back to the hospital on Friday to get my stitches out and make sure everything is healing as it should. Thanks to everyone who helped and who wished me well!
I'm much better now and should be back to normal in a couple weeks. I'll keep you all updated! Si thought it would be cute to take some pictures of me after surgery while I was more than passed out, so I will post them with my pictures for your amusement!
Love you and miss you all!
4 comments:
You've been through a lot and I'm proud of you for being so strong through it all. I'm glad your health is getting better. Take care, love ya!
-Katie
P.S. Enjoy all of the pampering (i.e. friends washing your hair) for as long as possible!
Oh my gosh Cracker! I swear, the most random things happen to you! I mean how many people's jaw has been stuck shut AND had appendicitis in Korea???? :) I'm so glad things went as smoothly as they did... it seems like you have met some great friends. It really is encouraging how kind even strangers can be :)
I'm so glad to hear you're feeling better! Thanks to Si for staying by your side and getting you through this awful experience! Hope you can get back to enjoying the culture soon and keep us updated on all the wierd happenings :)
Hi, I could just tell you, but I thought I write it. I was worried about you! That's why I was there for you and I love you! I know you'd do the same thing for me. You have next week off and I hope your vacation goes well and you're not in too much pain. It should be relaxing for you, being at the beach and all.
Si
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