Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News

So, this blog post is coming a little late, but better late than never! As you can tell from the title, Derek and I have both been sick. Of course he was sick for three days and I am still getting over whatever I had two and half weeks later!

I started feeling sick in the middle of the week about two weeks ago. Derek and our usual group of friends went to Seoul for the weekend and I stayed at home to try and rest. By Monday Derek and I both had full-blown colds. We went into work, not wanting to call in, I mean we had only been here a month. My co-teacher immediately asked why I didn’t go to the hospital. I told him I didn’t have my insurance card yet and figured it was just a cold and it’s not serious enough for the hospital. He insisted he take me to the hospital after all of our classes were done at two.

I didn’t want to go to the hospital to have a Korean doctor laugh at me and say I have a cold. But I didn’t feel like arguing with my co-teacher either. At two we walked to the hospital. Turns out what he called a hospital was really just a two-story doctor’s office. If we were back home, I wouldn’t have even walked near the place. The outside looked old and dingy with dead vines crawling up the building. I am sure it is probably nice looking during the summer with ivy or flowers growing up the side of the building but during winter it just looked scary. We walked in to a small waiting room. Again, it was dingy and there were medical books scattered on random bookcases and stands. The blood pressure machine was in the middle of the waiting room and looked just like the one I use to play on at Food World while Mom was checking out. Still, I sat down and smiled while my co-teacher talked to the receptionist and I assume took care of whatever paperwork needed to be done.

We waited about five minutes until I heard someone call my name, well she said “Elizabess.” Close enough. It was a small room right off the waiting room, and it had a completely different feel than the doctor’s office back home. It wasn’t a sterile white room, there was no bed with paper I could draw on, or jars of tongue compressors and cotton swabs. It was just a room, with a shady looking bed, desk and computer. She sat down at the desk and I sat on a little stool in front of her. My co-teacher told her all of my symptoms in Korean and she nodded and then sent him outside. She actually spoke English well and asked what my symptoms were. I told her I had a fever, sore throat, stuffy nose and head/body aches. She took my temperature then listened to my breathing and that was it. She stood up, said to put on my jacket and went and got my co-teacher.

He was already standing in line at the receptionist desk. He spoke to her in Korean, told me to give him 6,000 won (about $5.25 or something) and said we can go. Then he said I have to drink hot water several times a day. Seriously? I just went to the doctor to be told I have to drink hot water three times a day? I was completely embarrassed and was sure my co-teacher thought I was a hypochondriac. We start walking towards another building and he said we were going to the pharmacy to get my medicine. Really? I actually have something? We walk in and he handed a slip I didn’t know he had to the Pharmacist. I sat for about two minutes and then she came back with a bag I can’t read and a plain plastic bottle full of pink liquid. My co-teacher told me I have to take all the pills in the individual packet three times a day along with the syrup-looking thing. That’s cool, but what do I have? He then said to give him 3,000 won for the medicine and to take one packet of pills now. Again, that’s cool, but what do I have?

Then he says I should go home and rest, and he will see me tomorrow. And that was it. 9,000 won and thirty minutes later I was at the apartment laying down completely confused. I had no idea what I was taking or what I had. Derek came home about an hour later with pretty much the exact same experience. His packet of drugs looked the same as mine only he didn’t have the same pills or any pink syrup. The only pill we had in common was a Tylenol ER, which we looked up and found out that just means Tylenol Extended Release. None of the other pills had anything on them and we still don’t know what we took.

Overall I can’t complain much. I wish I knew what I had, or what I took. But for 9,000 won and only thirty minutes of my day wasted how can I?

Here are two pictures that I took of the medicine. One is just of the medicine and one is of the bag that the pills came in. I have no idea what it says, hope I’m not releasing personal info all over the Internet but here they are…