Travel Log Korea from the begining and onward
Currently in South Korea.... Join the list by mailing korea@saradevil.com .
| Only about 25% of the country is Christian, so Christmas is a rather small holiday here. So far I have only seen two commercials featuring Christams shopping, and only one set of Christmas lights, though I may not have been looking very hard. For the most part Christmas is understated, and I don't neccesarily think this is a bad thing. I do get tommorrow off, but I'm on the rest of the week so it is a toss up. For the most part I'm over my various colds except for the middle ear infection. I realized that I was having a serious problem when I couldn't hear, and after a few days of continued not hearing I decided to ask Keesan to take me to the Dr. In Korea, most people refeer to the Doctor as the Hospital because the word clinic is unfamiliar, however I was taken to a clinic not a hospital to be checked on. The wait was short, I didn't have an appointment and the Doctor saw me pretty quickly. Keesan explained to the Doctor that I coudln't hear, and explained as well as she could what I had explained to her as the root of my problem. Essentially what was in my nose had travelled into my ears keeping me from hearing. The doctor looked at my throat and gave me a perscription for tylenol and sudefed and sent me home. I wasn't very pleased. Later that evening Keesan suggested I not take the medicine I had been given and instead I should go to a different Doctor. When I asked her why she explained to me that the Doctor didn't believe that what I was describing could actually happen. I was quite irritated as, he did not look at me ears, and in generel didn't do much of an exam. So the next day we were off to an Ear, Nose and Throat specilist, who not only believe in my affliction but knew what it was. At first she had me sit in a chair she looked in my nose and ears and then tried to explain to Keesan what was wrong, who than tried to explain it to me. Fortunately I knew what they were trying to say, so I just said "I know" which seemed to satisfy everyone. After the exam she had me wash out my nose, which I thought was interesting enough. She asked if I wanted to wash my nose, I thought, water, hot towel, instead they gave me something quite space-age that worked like a nebulizer and shot steam into my nose for a minute to clean it out. Then I was placed in an area where I was to put on a pair of headphones. Then, I was given what looked like a pitchfork with glowing red ends, which I had to stick into my nose and hold for about a minute. I felt like it was experiment on the way-gook day. After that they did an ear x-ray. Apparently my eardrums were flat, which is not good. Over the course of a few days, I've gotten better. I can now hear perfectly in my right ear, but my left is still providing problems. The interesting thing about all of this is the cost and the medication. The cost of the second visit, to a specialist, with no appoinment was 3000 won (about 2.00 american). My medication for 2 days is about 1000 won (.90 cents american), making going to the Doctor quite affordable. I do have Korean insurance which covers half the cost. Without insurance I would have paid about 6000 for the visit and 3000 for the meds, still quite reasonable. I find that interesting considering the same thing in the US would be at least 60 to 80 dollars. The medicine is delivered in a small paper packaged labeled out for the times of day you have to take it. There is no childproof cap and no bottle. You only get a few days medication at the time so you have to go back to the Dr. for regular checkups. It's all quite fascinating. Other than that not much to report. Sam has come back with me from Seosun for Christmas. I did finally get out to Seosun, and I'll talk more about that eventually. This email is long enough. Merry Christmas and a Happy Happy.... |