My Absence (or, Ho Ho Hospital)

Where has Kyle been for the last few weeks, you may ask? Well, funny story: in what seems to be a necessary part of traveling to a foreign country for me, I was once again hospitalized for severe food poisoning. There is no small irony in the timing of this occurrence, as roughly one week prior the illness I had decided that in an attempt to improve my health and save some money for Seoul, I would significantly cut back on my alcohol consumption, and make an effort to stick to less exotic (and more affordable) foods. I followed this plan, eating a fair amount of western or chain restaurant food during that next week, yet somewhere in the period between eating an innocent bowl of rice and vegetables for lunch and a chicken sandwich later for dinner I apparently consumed an insidious little bit of nastiness that would send me to the emergency room the next day. the other possibility is that I got sick from eating at a Mexican food restaurant here on the island. While I fully realize the parallel here, that after getting sick in a Latin country from eating Oriental food I have now done the same thing with Latin food in an Oriental country, in my defense it was not just a cheap hole-in-the-wall sort of place, and everyone gets homesick for elements of their old life every one in a while.

The ER in Korea is fairly modern (certainly less 70's retro than the one in Ecuador), and the procedure was rather standard, with an x-ray and an IV, then hours of waiting. It took some effort to get to the actual "treatment" stage of all of this, as when I first came into the hospital, hardly able to stand, I was met by two attendants who looked at me, then each other, and began to debate who would try to speak English to the foreign guy. After about 30 seconds of this nonsense, I was frustrated and nauseous enough to simply take matters into my own hands and pick a bed, though it seems that me walking away was the necessary action to prompt them to overcome their shyness and do their job. I find that Koreans are often so hung up on saying things the exactly correct and proper way, that they often will say nothing at all, a problem which as an English teacher is of some concern, but as a distraught and disoriented food poisoning victim who is trying his best not to make a mess in the hospital lobby, it is a much more distressing issue.

Hell, it's better than the other hospital visits I've had, in which while trying to set up an appointment with a physician or ask directions to the pharmacy I am met with naught but giggling nurses who seem to find the idea of a westerner in the hospital amusing and absurd. Anyway...

So, I'm better now, though it's been a long weekend. I had to go back a few days later because the condition I had, enteritis, or the inflammation of my abdomen, had not subsided. This led to a CT scan which, though pricey, was significantly cheaper than in the US, costing only around $130. Perhaps the strangest element of the entire ordeal was the CT scan. Though I had an interpreter who had lived in Baltimore for 38 years, there was little she could do when the technicians were vague in their descriptions of what was going to happen, which happened quite a lot. I was told that following an IV injection of some sort of clear liquid (tracking solution), I "may feel hot, and smell". I couldn't imagine what the last it meant. The heat came quickly after we had begun, and I could actually feel the stuff as it spread through my blood. It was only after my entire body was flush and burning that I realized what "smell" meant. I thought I may have some sort of odor later on. What it actually meant was that there was such a high concentration of the solution in my blood that I could smell it through my own vessels, and for that matter, taste it in my tongue as well. It hit me right as I was supposed to be holding a deep breath, and was almost too much. Then, just as it had come, it seemed to all disappear.

The results showed that whatever it was had made itself at home, and I would be required to take a seven day course of antibiotics and for one week eat only juk, or Korean rice porridge, which is quite possibly one of the most boring foods there is. Christmas was difficult, and I can't say I didn't sneak a few other foods, but the next three days are nothing but juk, juk, juk now. I've got to be recovered for Seoul: we leave on Friday.

A result of this is that I've once again got a bit of a blog backlog, so I'll be trying to post as much as I can once I get back from Seoul. I should have a whole new set of stories by then too. More to come!

And, by the way
Merry Christmas!