Korean Job Discussion Forums

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

i got you alllll beat! but I can't say it.

My friend has me beat, though. Not because of his ailment (got hit by a bus on his motorcycle and shredded his leg) but because he spent 6 months in a hospital room with 5 other korean patients. I did 2 weeks and I was climbing the walls.

mole · Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Location: Act III

ucfvgirl · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Location: Bundang

I have a vitamin B deficiency. When I came back from Canada, my big toe was numb. I shrugged it off as maybe I stubbed it and don't remember. Then one evening, my thumb began to ache so intensely and it swelled to double its' normal size. I couldn't move it. Went to the doctor the next day and he diagnosed it as gout. But the blood tests showed that it wasn't gout, but rather a vitamin B9 and B12 deficiency.

Mr Crowley · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Location: Suwon

Mole, how did this happen? Why did they stab you? Who is Kyoung Shil?

Novernae · Joined: 02 Mar 2005

Sleepy in Seoul · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:40 am Post subject:

I once fell backwards down the stairs at work. I didn't break anything that time, but apparently it sounded like people moving furniture upstairs and I had a hell of a bruise for a couple of weeks.

During my first full winter here I managed to develop pneumonia (my only day off sick here in Korea) which I had over 설날. Bronchitis set in 3 months later as well.

During my last contract, I slipped over in my home and cracked the back of my head open on the TV stand. I had a 3cm gash in my head, had bad headaches for 3 weeks and couldn't see properly for the next 2 days. Instead of going to the hospital, I elected to stay home and watch the first of the Super 12 rugby games that season, squinting to put everything into focus. It wasn't until a few days later that I realised that I had had a fairly bad concussion and that it had been affecting my judgement-making.

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

Helicobacter Pyloris.

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

Sorry to appear rude, folks, but what's the matter with you all? I've utterly destroyed my body (and brain) with booze, cigs and drugs since my teens and I'm never, ever ill and am statistically pretty healthy.

i_teach_esl · Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Location: baebang, asan/cheonan

ever since i read this thread, i check my nose every morning for nasal polyps.

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

Happy little nasal polyps just hangin' out in your nose. Cool. Where else in your body can you find polyps, I wonder....could there be rectal polyps?

periwinkle · Joined: 08 Feb 2003

The more I read of this thread, the queasier I have become- I think I need to go to the bathroom now....

I developed allergies (well, hay fever) since I got here- they've gotten worse evey year. I really wonder if it has something to do with the pollution, but maybe not- probably more to do with the climate. It hasn't rained here in about a month, and rain does wonders for my allergies.

Oh yeah, I've had alcohol poisoning, too. ^~ IV drip fixed me right up.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

I had another encounter with the local medical team. Sort of.

A few years ago my downstairs neighbor and his wife borrowed my car for some reason. Went to bed that night and woke up somewhere around 2 feeling really crappy and worse by the minute. It took a while for me to realize it was a kidney stone attack. I'd had a couple before years ago, and didn't want that to be the problem. Anyway, it seemed minor and I kept hoping it would go away. Besides, I didn't have a car.

Along about 4 AM it was bad enough that I knew I had to go to a hospital. I pulled on some clothes and went downstairs to wake up the neighbor who had my car keys. I also was hoping one of them would volunteer to drive me to a hospital. Being good people, they both did. Mrs. Neighbor is a Korean nurse, so that was even more helpful.

We got to the hospital and found it was almost deserted, except for a big room with a bunch of beds in it, 4 or 5 people sleeping or moaning in the beds and 3 or 4 nurses.

My friend's wife explained my problem to the nurses who then put me on a bed and gave me a shot for the pain. The nurse also explained that there were no doctors in the hospital and that I'd have to wait till 9AM for one to come to work.

I waited there on the bed for 30-45 minutes hoping the pain would ease up, but it didn't. I finally asked my friend's wife if she could ask the nurses for another shot. She went over and then her voice got loud.

She came back and told me that the nurses were not allowed to give any kind of real pain killer. The shot I'd been given was just a placebo to pacify patients. Shocked

She said it was time to get out of there and go to a real hospital. She drove me over the mountain and through the tunnel to Masan to the hospital where she worked. Terrific nurses. A great doctor. Decent facilities. A good ending to a pretty bad night.

Addendum: A friend of mine was hospitalized, but I don't remember why. The part I remember of the story is that he was in severe pain and asked for some pain killer. The doctor said, "Pain is not important". And refused to give him anything until my friend threw a temper tantrum and I think a bed pan.

periwinkle · Joined: 08 Feb 2003

How'd they treat your kidney stone? It's only a matter of time before I end up in the ER for another one. I'm curious to know if they immediately recommend treatment (one doctor told me- back home- if I didn't pass it by the next morning that they were going to go through my urethra with some tweezer like tool and grab the damn thing *shiver*), or just put you on a liquid diet, IV, and lots of good pain meds....