Category Archives: Me, me, me
Cooler than I thought
Although I doubt anyone thinks of me as a “hipster”. Whatever the hell that is.
“I sort of think the six-pack abs obsession got so prissy it stopped being masculine,” is how Aaron Hicklin, the editor of Out, explains the emergence of the Ralph Kramden. What once seemed young and hot, for gay and straight men alike, now seems passé. Like manscaping, spray-on tans and other metrosexual affectations, having a belly one can bounce quarters off suggests that you may have too much time on your hands.
And I especially liked what Althouse had to say on her blog about it:
Why does there need to be any special reason for a man to have a potbelly? It’s the natural tendency. You only need a reason not to have a potbelly, and it needs to be good enough to offset the natural tendency.
I just wish she had stopped there, because I could have done without this:
The fact is, it is more important for a man to fight the natural rounding of the belly than it is for a woman, because a round belly is feminizing. It speaks of fertility and pregnancy. The “pregnant man” has never been a good look.
You know, I’ve pretty much reached the point where I just accept my roundness. Living in a country full of extraordinarilly thin people is balanced out somewhat by the large Buddhist population. I mean, how many people can truthfully say they have the body of a God?
Yeah, yeah, six pack abs are ok too. But why stop there? I’ve got a freakin’ keg goin’ on here!
And I occasionally where shorts…
Let’s give him something to blog about…
Wow, I wound up taking an expected break from blogging. Even got an email from a regular commenter wondering whether “I fell off the face of Itaewon”. No such luck!
So, to catch y’all up… *chirp*
Actually, I just went into a lazy phase. We are in the midst of a wet monsoon season (the wettest since 1940, or so I am told). So, I’ve spent a good deal of time indoors. Well, I guess I am practically always indoors, what I mean to say is I’ve been spending more time at the villa. But not so much on the internet obviously.
I mentioned buying some DVDs in Bali and I’ve whiled away quite a few hours enjoying Deadwood. Halfway through season 2 and it is really one of the better “westerns” I’ve seen.
And I’ve frittered away the rainy days playing CIV IV as well.
I have gone out to chuck some darts of course. Friday we had a birthday tourney for Matt Duff at Dolce. I’ll tell you, I have no idea where my dart game has gone. We took a several week break between seasons, but I still kept up my practice regimine. Since my return from Bali though I’ve really been struggling.
I took a 2nd Place in doubles Friday night, but was still not happy with my performance. Just didn’t have a good “feel” for the darts. I decided my mechanics had somehow gotten out of kilter. All I know to do is to try and play through it.
Sunday we had a going away tourney for Scott and Craig. Neither of whom as it turns out was able to attend. We played a round robin singles tourney with the six of us who showed up and I played well enough to win that. Had dinner afterwards with Alisteir and his lovely wife.
Last night was league night and we took on the Filipino team from Friends Bar, Kaibigan. Kaibigan is “friend” in tagalog apparently. Well, we managed to take the match 21-16 and I played marginally better, going 8-4 on the night. I think all those darts on Sunday helped me work through the mechanics problem, although I still can’t find the bullseye with any regularity. That’s a big part of my cricket game so I need to get back in the groove.
So, that takes you up to the minute in my exciting life. I’m guessing after reading this drivel you might be wishing I had extended my blogging hiatis a little while longer.
Too bad for you!
Post op
Everything went accordingly to plan. I was blissfully in my “happy place” for most of the procedure. Best news of the day, I don’t have to do another one for 3 years!
The ‘scope that sees past uranus…
I’m in for some heavy drinking tonight. Two gallons worth to be exact. Yes, as you might have surmised, I’m doing my prep for tomorrow’s colonoscopy. The chicken broth will be my “dinner”. My instructions are to drink 8 ozs every ten minutes until I burst. No, that’s not what the solution I imbibe is gonna make me do, but that is probably more detail than you want to hear (or I care to share).
I did this last year, so I know what I’m in for. The procedure itself isn’t so bad since they drug you up real good. But the prep is a pain in the ass (heh). No coffee or diet cokes today and a bowl of soup for lunch. I go under the scope (or more aptly, the scope goes into me) at 0930, so I don’t imagine I’ll starve between now and then.
But it is a hassle and I’ll be glad when it’s over.
Hasta la vista!
Hope and Change
I hope you like the change here at LTG.
Yes, I’m talking about the new masthead design. And yes, that was the change I mentioned was coming a couple of weeks ago. Not anything major like some of you speculated perhaps, but after nearly 5 years I thought it was time for a new look. I always envied the K-blogs with a cool Korea photograph as their masthead. It just seems appropriate somehow. So, when I saw this photograph:
I thought “hey, that would make a great masthead for my blog!” If I am not mistaken, this bridge is called Hangang Taegyo (The Great Han River Bridge). Originally built in 1917 and destroyed in the early days of the Korean War. Rebuilt in 1958. It is certainly not the most impressive bridge crossing the river, but there is an understated class and elegance about it, don’t you think? Like an aging movie queen who maintains her dignity and grace. Eh, I think that might be a tad over the top. I just like the photo ok?
The photographer, Dave New, is a guy I’ve played darts with for years and in fact we will be teammates this season on the Rubbies. He is *almost* as good at darts as he is with the camera. Check out his impressive work here. Thanks again Dave for allowing me to use your photograph!
So, what do you think about my new look?
Not to worry
My previous post “Time for a change” was in retrospect a bit more cryptic than I intended. And then I inadvertantly exacerbated the situation by not posting any updates. Which generated a couple of comments:
What?
Got married?
Got fired?
Got impailed by a Korean dart?
Got invited to defect to NK?Com’on, John. . . .
Or heaven forbid, gave up your blog?????
It’s a surprise
Been there, done that
Not yet, but I’m going to fire myself in 18 months
I’ve managed to avoid being stuck, struck, poked or punctured thus far.
No, but I did have a dream once that I participated in a commando raid to assaianate kill Kim Jong Il.
I expect this blog will be around as long as I am, for better or worse.
Korea is my home now.
The change is coming, or so I’m told. Look for it!
Time for a change
Stay tuned.
I rule
Just scored a domination victory in CIV IV. My highest score ever–11,664!
Just thought you’d like to know.
It pays to advertise…
Although in my case, it is costing. Not much and I did it pretty much on a lark. Yes, today I purchased some Google Ads. Another effort in my struggle to recover from the theft of my domain. I’ve not seen any of the ads, but they should be appearing randomly throughout the K-blogosphere. I just checked the Google Ad stats and one person actually clicked on an ad. Set me back 66 cents. Sir or Madam, I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.
Anyway, I only pay when I get a hit and my total budget is fifty bucks. I’ll be amazed if I get enough hits to max that out, but you never know.
So, if you came here through an ad and are wondering what Long Time Gone is all about, well, you tell me. This blog is a virtual cornacopia of potporri. Which is another way of saying it is about everything and nothing at all. I write what I feel like writing whenever I feel like writing about what I’m feeling, doing, feel like doing, or wishing I was doing. And sometimes I write nothing at all. I ain’t much on grammar nor spelling, but I take no offense at criticism in that regard neither. Feedback is a gift, so feel free to spill your guts in the comment section.
Like me, this here blog is a work in progress. Stop by anytime you like and see what’s up. Expect to be disappointed and perhaps occasionally pleasantly surprised. As Stephen Stills opined: “It’s no matter, no distance–it’s the ride.” Whatever that means…
And now it’s time to say goodbye from here at Long Time Gone
And I would like to thank you folks for kindly loggin’ on
You’re all invited back again to this locality
To have a heapin’ helpin’ of my hospitality…
Y’all come back now, hear?
(with apologies to the Beverly Hillbillies)
Talking to myself
Well having the blog back is like hooking up with an old friend. It’s gonna take some time to rebuild the readership (the few, the proud). The biggest problem is letting folks know where I am. Not like you can do a change of address card at the Internet Post Office. Although that’s not a bad idea.
I have emailed a couple of the major K-bloggers and asked them to help me spread the word. I also went through my comments and emailed those folks my new domain address. So, we’ll see.
I guess I could also try and put up some quality posts and make this a daily “must read” site. Nah, just kidding.
In my dreams
I suppose it is fair to say that no one is really interested in hearing about another person’s nocturnal dreams. Except maybe their shrink. Having said that, let me share what I remember of my dream last night.
I was the only American with a group of South Koreans that infiltrated North Korea. Not sure what our mission was and we weren’t being all that discreet, because we were openly hanging about some market-like place. Then out of nowhere, Kim, Jong Il spots us. Turns out we were armed with axes. One of the South Koreans who was our leader had this long handled axe and I noted mine was better suited to chopping kindling than a Norks’ head. Didn’t matter because our leader promptly whacked Mr. Kim and declared himself the new ruler of the North. Not sure if that was going to result in the long anticipated reunification, but it did have a feeling of mission accomplished.
Shortly thereafter I encounter the senior Mr. Kim Il Sung, apparently returned from the dead. I pushed him down a long flight of stairs and he was dead (again) by the time he hit the bottom.
I reported this fact to my comrades and received nods of approval. Then I woke up.
You know, where else on the internet are you going to find crap like this? It’s my pleasure to bring it to you.
Cheers!
It’s been a long time comin’….
and I guess I’ve been a long time gone…
I’m kinda sorta thinking about resurrecting this here blog of mine. Not that I expect to have anything profound to say, but I do miss the connection writing here gives me to the outside world. No question about it, I’ve been deep in my cocoon living a very, very insular life of late.
That may not change anytime soon, but what the hell. It’s probably just me here by now anyway.
So, what’s been going on with me? Pretty much the same old, same old. Least that how it feels. But I guess when you are living for the day, one day starts to seem like all the others somehow. No complaints and no real worries to express. I’ve been blessed I know, and even if things are not how I would most want them to be, they ain’t too damn bad either. So, that’s about as profound as things get here at LTG.
My new job has really turned out to be quite the challenge, although that was not unexpected. What surprises me a little is how I’ve responded. I guess it’s fair to say I’ve been pretty much coasting career-wise these past several years. Lost the fire if you get my meaning. This job doesn’t allow just “showing up”, there are high demands and high expectations from command leadership and it is not in my nature to let my bosses down. And this stuff is much bigger than me, there are many people impacted by decisions I make and I’ll be damned if I am going to fail through lack of effort. Which is the long way of saying I’ve been working hard lately.
I really don’t (and can’t) talk about work specifics, but I’ve been taking on some pretty high profile taskings which require direct interaction with many general officers, including the commander. I actually had to step up and tell him he was about to take a path that would inevitably end badly. I got one of those 4-star stares and a rather blunt response, but to his credit, he listened and took a different course of action. That was a day I went home feeling like I’d earned my pay for sure. Of course, being two years out from retirement I’ve got enough job security that courage comes a little easier for me than it might for others. What are they going to do, take away my birthday?
I do find the interactions between these general officers quite fascinating to observe. I have tremendous respect for these leaders who are for the most part quite brilliant. They could certainly be executives or CEOs in the private sector making big bucks, but they have devoted their lives to military service and I can’t help but honor that. At the end of the day, they are just like the rest of us with all the human quirks and warts, but they also have a special quality about them. Confidence in abundance to be sure, but what really impresses me is the ability to see the big picture and quickly grasp the myriad details of complex issues and to make generally sound decisions and provide direction. Leadership at its essence.
Anyway, work is hard but it has its rewards. My personal life will remain for the most part personal, but I’ve weathered a rough patch and think I came out of it pretty well for the most part. Even after four years here though I still struggle with the annual ritual of saying goodbye to people I’ve grown rather fond of. C’est la vie.
Had a rather difficult dart season. My illness mid-season affected everything in my life, and it took me several weeks to get back on my game. I did manage to finish 8th in the league, which was satisfying given the way I had been playing.
This was my last season with Sliders, as the team is breaking up. In part this was no surprise. Matt returned to the States, and Alistair went back to Scotland. They were the top two players on the team. One of the other guys apparently had some issues with our bar sponsor and decided not to return. I’m not sure what other dynamics were at play, but I really don’t care for the bullshit, I just want to play darts to the best of my ability and have fun doing it.
Anyway, I tried to hook on with the other Dolce Vita “A” division team, but they had (or thought they had) more players than they needed. So, I finangled an invite to play with the neighbor bar, Bless U. I really hate leaving Dolce, but the Blue Bulls are a bunch of good guys and I enjoy hanging out with them, so I’m looking forward to the upcoming season.
So, I guess that pretty much brings you up to date on my so-called life. It’s in my mind to get regular again as far as posting here. But I’ve promised that before, haven’t I?
Day by day
I am doing better with each passing day. It is good to report that I am almost feeling normal again (normal being a relative term when applied to me I suppose).
Still not sure what is going on inside, went to the on-base hospital and saw a military doctor. He doesn’t know either, but at least we could talk about it in English. They took some blood and other bodily fluids for testing, so we’ll see in a few days if they find anything significant.
It is good to have my appetite and sense of taste back. Not sure what caused it, but things like beer and diet Coke suddenly were very bitter tasting. Had me concerned, but I have quaffed a few brews this weekend and all appears normal (eh, there’s that word again).
I have not smoked for two weeks now. And it is killing me. Sometimes I ache for a cigarette, but so far I have managed to exercise more self control than I’m usually capable of maintaining. The real test was playing in a dart tourney yesterday, an event that would normally have me chain smoking a pack or more. Chomped on some gum and craved tobacco like a madman and somehow made it through another day. Wish me luck with this. I have already lost the disgusting smoker’s cough and I keep reminding myself that not ingesting poison smoke may add a few years to retired life, but addiction is not always rationale. So we shall see what happens.
Speaking of the dart tourney, I won the doubles portion. My darts have been shit all season, and the nearly month long hiatis during travel and illness didn’t help my game either. Anyway, I threw much better yesterday which is encouraging. Still not back to where I was, but hopefully I’ve turned the corner on my downward spiral.
Thanks to all who have expressed concern and get well-wishes for me. It means a lot.
In the hospital
I have never previously been hospitalized. But I have visited enough US hospitals to have a pretty good idea of the experience involves.
Of course, I was not admitted to an American hospital, so I was going in pretty much blind. This is what I experienced:
I was put in a relatively small room with two other Koreans. Two beds were against the wall at the far end of the room. My bed was on the opposite wall near the entrance door. In this configuration, the foot of my bed was approximately six inches from the head of my neighbors bed.
There was a small TV mounted on wall at the “far” end of the room with the volume set on blare.
The bathroom was down the hall 50 feet or so and shared by everyone on the 7th floor.
I was apparently the only foriegner.
The room was not particularly clean. No privacy curtains or other such amenities were in existence.
I was not allowed to eat any food whatsover (interfered with “tests” and the medication I was receiving intraveneously).
I could never get a clear answer on just what was in the yellow liquid being continuosly fed into my arm.
It did eventually bring my fever under control.
I was totally unprepared for this visit and had nothing to help pass the hours and hours of sheer, mind-numbing boredom.
Both of my roommates snored louder than anyone I have ever head. In unison they nearly made the walls vibrate.
Although sleep was a sweet escape, I could only manage a couple of hours each night.
After the first night (Monday), I was ready to be discharged. Lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of mental stimulation were taking their toll. The doctor insisted I stay until Thursday.
Test results indicated I had picked up a pretty common virus that had planted itself in my spleen, which in turn had caused significant reductions in my white blood cell count. This was somewhat of a relief because there had been some talk of Malaria from the docs and I was fearing cancer.
Surprisingly, my second night in hospital turned out to be much worse than the first. As I lay there sleepless listening the snorers I was sure I was losing my mind. I felt totally trapped and helpless. It was the biggest pity party I ever had for myself.
The next morning when the nurse tried to attach a new bag of the mystery yellow fluid to my IV, I forcefully said “anio!”. And then I had her remove the IV from my arm. She was shocked and I am sure it got the staff talking about the miguk who must have lost his mind. A different nurse with slightly better English skills tried to get me to take my medicine bag a couple of hours later, but I again declined saying I was through treating the symptoms, I was in hospital to address the CAUSE of the symptoms. Which went completely over her head. The staff pretty much gave me a wide birth after that.
A doctor (not my primary physician) came by and asked if I wanted to go home and I said yes. He asked why and I explained that they could give whatever was in the yellow fluid in pill form and I could treat the symptoms in the comfort of my home. I wanted to deal with the virus/spleen thing. He said there was nothing they could do about that. So I said just release me and he seemed happy to be rid of my whining ass.
I had to wait two hours while the did the out processing paperwork. I had called Blue Cross earlier and they were getting the documentation they needed to process my claim from the hospital. Or so I thought. The phone rang in the room, and since I alone was ambulatory, I got up and answered. It was Blue Cross asking if things were going ok. I said you tell me. The rep said they had asked for my medical records and were told they had to FAX the request, which they had done 3 hours ago without response. Uh oh, I thought.
So, I am advised by a nurse that “international finance” is ready for me now, and when I arrive I ask if they got the FAX. Apparently so, but it did not matter because they did not have a working arrangement with Blue Cross and I would have to pay out of pocket.
I admit I get grouchy sometimes. Especially when I’m hungry. Or tired. And I was tired and hungry. So, I kind of let the poor guy have it. Then I regained my calm enough to get Blue Cross on the phone. They show Soonchunhwang Hospital as a preferred provider on thier website and I thought they could clear up this misundertanding. Well, it would be funny under different circumstances, but the bottom line is Blue Cross and SCH never completed a contract. Which left me where?
To everyone’s credit more calls were made, higher ups consulted, and finally an exception was made on my behalf. So, six hours after I began trying to escape I was out the door.
And there you have the tale of my first (and hopefully last)time in a Korean hospital.
Something to blog about
I’m not going to belabor this too much, but I got sick the day after returning from the States. Started out with just a feeling of lethargy which I attributed to jet lag. But driving home from work on Thursday I was overcome with the tell-tale chills and shivers that are the precursors of fever.
And fever it was. I was holding pretty steady at 103 through Sunday. Well, I would knock it down for a bit with ibuprofen (prescription strength) but a couple of hours later I would be cookin’ again. Needless to say I was getting much sleep, wasn’t eating, and apparently wasn’t getting better.
When the fever came back stronger than ever Monday morning I was sufficiently motivated to get off the couch and down to the local emergency room at Sookchunhwang Hospital (to which regular readers will know I became acquainted through a couple of previous incidents involving me, er, falling down). Fever is a symptom and since I couldn’t seem to defeat the symptom, I thought maybe some antibiotics to attack the root cause was the way to go.
I’ll give the ER staff credit, they took blood, x-rays, and urine but 3 hours later they had come up with no more clue than I had regarding my condition. So, they scheduled me an appointment with the Intenational Clinic at SCH later that morning. I asked for a shot of anti-biotics but the doc declined stating it might interfere with whatever tests they might perfrom at the clinic. So, I headed home W400,000 poorer and in no better condition.
After managing a couple of hours sleep, it was back to the hospital’s International clinic and my appointment with Dr. Yoo. After hearing my tale of woe and taking my temprature (still 103) he wanted to admit me for testing. I told him I live right up the hill, he could do his tests on an outpatient basis. He was pretty insistent that it would be much better for me to do this inpatient. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and finally reluctantly agreed to be admitted.
And then the nightmare began.
(to be continued)
Let it be
Still alive and (mostly) kickin’. I’m just not able to muster the energy to post these days. Other than work and my personal life, everything is going great. But I’m ok.
Short version:
My boss left Korea yesterday. I’m acting Director and one of the referred candidates for taking the job permanately. Que sera, sera.
I’m playing .500 darts this season. Some moments of brillance sandwiched with amazing mediocrity.
I am spending the long 4th of July weekend in the Philippines. I really need a break.
I will be going back to the USA for the last two weeks of July. A week in Massachussetts and time with family in South Carolina.
I don’t know when I will post again. My life has become a bit of joke these days. I really hate being mocked.
The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them. Words shrink thoughts that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost your dearly, only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you said at all or why you thought it so important you almost cried when you were saying it.
That’s the worst I think. When the secret stays locked within, not for want of a teller, but for want of an understanding ear.
–Stephen King
(from memory, may not be 100% accurate. So sue me.)
A better morning
Than yesterday at least. I don’t think I engaged in any inappropriate behaviors last night, so that’s a plus. In fact, I ran into the guy I went off on Friday night and apoligized profusely. We had a little chat about the circumstances leading up to my explosion and I understood where he was coming from. So, I was glad that he accepted my apology and I think we will put it behind us and move on without further incident. You can’t ever make it totally right, but I know we both felt better for having cleared the air.
We had a couple of nice dart tourneys at the Blue Frog last night. In the doubles I drew a somewhat inexperienced Korean, but he threw decent if inconsistent darts. We managed to beat Craig and Grant in the first round, but it was downhill from there I’m afraid. It was actually all on me, because my partner played better while my darts went to shit. We were the only team to beat Craig and Grant as they came back through the loser’s bracket to take first place. I was pleasantly surprised when we were awarded the 3rd place payout for our efforts (all of W10,000).
Next came the singles tournament, a format I prefer in some ways because it is all on you. No letting down a partner (or blaming them) if you fail. On the other hand, you have to beat players who are statistically better than you head-to-head, but I tend to like that challenge.
I got by Grant and Won Jun in the first two rounds of the winner’s bracket, setting up a confrontation with “The Angry Scot” Alistair. Regular readers know that Alistair is one of the top players in Itaewon and was certainly the highest ranked player in the tourney. He had played two tough matches against “The Goat” and Colin. Because we had been reduced to two boards, we had to wait quite some time before we actually stepped up to the Oche. As Alistair said after my 2-0 win, “you didn’t have your best darts, but they were good enough”. I felt pretty good, because it was the first time I remember beating him one-on-one in a money tourney. And it put me in the Championship round. Where Alistair promised we would meet again.
We did. By now it was after midnight and we had been playing and drinking since 7:00. So, rather than a test of dart skills it was more of who can throw best while intoxicated. The first leg was cricket and it was one of the strangest games I can recall. Alistair is notorious for his unorthodox cricket strategy, and this game was no different. I scored zero marks with first six darts, while he closed bulls and marked a couple of other numbers. For whatever reason, Alistair closed out the bottom half of the board (17/16/15) before I had any number closed. I figured the game was over at this point, but I kept working to close what I could and avoid being totally embarassed. Once I had closed 20s, we got into a points battle, with Alistair pounding 17s, and me answering with triple 20s. In between I kept working to close numbers and Alistair struggled on the top half of the board. When I finally hit my last bullseye for the win I was the most surprised person in the room.
Next was ’01, a game Alistair excels at. I hung with him to the end, where I was waiting to shoot for the 32 out. I’m still waiting, because Alistair hit the 40 for the win. Which took us to the deciding 3rd leg. I diddled a double bull and chose cricket. I played a solid game and Alistair struggled just enough for me to seal the victory. And take home W50,000. Well, I didn’t actually wind up taking it home, having got sucked into a card game I think is called Hula with a bargirl for drinks. Shoulda stuck with darts I guess. But it was fun regardless.
Wound up going to bed around 3:30 and was awakened at 6:30 by some kids playing in the yard of the downstairs apartment. What the hell they were doing up that early on Sunday is beyond me. I finally had to move into my guest bedroom for some quiet and much needed sleep. Woke up again at 10:30 feeling somewhat refreshed and made myself a classic American breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, OJ and coffee. Not bad if I do say so myself.
I got an email indicating that folks at home may be worried about my state of mind these days. I guess yesterday’s post was a little disconcerting. Yes, I am going through a bit of a rough patch recently, but I am really ok. Some stressors at work and personally have occupied my mind of late, but I know that “this too shall pass”. And yeah, I have got to find a better way to relieve that stress than drinking. And I will.
No worries.
Walk on
I’m a bit disgusted with myself these days. I’m somewhat overwhelmed with a convergence of events and I am not pleased with how I am handling it. Last night I have to admit I was pretty much a drunken asshole. I got really pissed at a dart opponent and said some things I regret. Later, a friend told me about some behavoir I do not even recall, but it had pissed him off immensely. So, today I am lamenting my actions and trying to resolve to be a better person in the days to come.
Not sure how to go about that at this point, but perhaps I will be struck with some insights soon. Or not. Best I can do for now is try to pull my head out of my ass and stop worrying about what I can’t control.
I hear some people been talkin’ me down
Bring up my name, pass it round
They don’t mention the happy times
They do their thing, I do mine.
Well baby, that’s hard to change
I can’t tell them how to feel
Some get stoned, some get strange
Sonner or later it all gets real.
Walk on.
–Neil Young
Skinned alive
So I had the skin graft surgery yesterday. I had actually about 90% changed my mind as I figured I could clean and dress the finger until it healed up properly. But when I got there, the receptionist slapped a hospital bracelet on me, and motioned for me to follow her. So, we walk through the first floor lobby, up a flight of stairs, reverse direction and walk through pediatrics, neurosurgery (lots of people lining the walls in PJs waiting with Night of the Living Dead-like expressions. Scary.) up another flight of stairs, through some double doors, and into the surgery clinic.
Where my surgery team awaited. In our mutually limited means of communication, they were asking about anathesia and if I wanted to sleep. I said I wasn’t real keen on pain, but I would prefer to stay awake. So we agreed on a local. I reiterated that I was not staying in the hospital and the doc nodded and said “yeah, you go home”. So, I was instructed to undress and put on the surgical clothes (not one of those backless gowns thank god) and I was escorted to the operating room.
I got the full treatment. There were 3 nurses and 3 doctors. And I’m thinking how much is this going to cost me? I had called Blue Cross and although Soonchonkyang Hospital is on the preferred provider list, outpatient treatment is paid out of pocket and I file the claim afterwards for direct reimbursement. So, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen if the costs exceeded my available funds, but at this point there was no turning back.
We had agreed to take the needed skin from the same hand (that fleshy area (heel?) at the bottom of my hand. I had told the surgeon “dartsuh” and made my throwing motion and he actually understood and assured me I would be good to play in a week. So they proceed to clean up my hand. But when he cleaned the wound I about jumped out of my skin. I am sure I must have a nerve ending exposed or something, because it feels like an electrical shock in a root canal kinda way when touched. Then the doc said “injection and pain” and while the injections were in fact painful (like stepping on a nail) it was not so bad comparitively speaking. He didn’t wait too long to start messing with the finger though and I had to express my discomfort with the internationally recognized “goddamn, that hurts!”. Loudly. I’m guessing he was thinking he should have just put me to sleep, but he gave me another round of injections. Which allowed sufficient time for the first round to take effect and my hand became comfortably numb.
After that, everything was cool. It was a little disconcerting hearing everything (they had put a screen where I couldn’t watch, not that I wanted too). I didn’t catch much of the conversation of course, but it sounded an awful lot like the doctors were flirting with the nurses. Laughter from the docs and shy giggles from the nurses. Anyway, that is what I choose to believe they were talking about. I was just glad I didn’t hear “Aigo!” (roughly translates to damn. At least that is how I use it).
Took about 30 minutes. I was taken back to my clothes, told to go see the receptionship, was given a prescription and a bill for 423,000 Won (around $425.) I go back at 1100 today I think to get my head stiches looked at. Not sure what the drugs are supposed to do. If they are for pain, they don’t work. I wound taking a leftover Percocet last night and slept well. Feel pretty good today and plan to be back at work after my appointment.
Well that is the story. It seems a shame that this is the only thing I have to blog about. But I figure why not share the pain? My readers have come to expect no less.