General Hospital Ep.1

Before coming to Korea I started a list of things I wanted to do and see. On the list were things like hiking beautiful mountains, camping, temples, experiencing the culture.  I wanted a unique experience out of Korea. All too often foreigners come and immediately seek out the foreigner bars and pizza and never stray far from those. While I'd like to say that I've done all (or any) of those things on my list, I haven't. (insert shame here) I've seen the mountains, but only from afar.  I own a sleeping bag, but I use it as a blanket in my apartment. I wanted to experience Korean culture, and while it's not any on my list, I'm still getting it.  I'm in the hospital.  Just when I got the hang of navigating the landscape and making friends to enjoy it all with, I hurt myself.  For two weeks I will live at Gwangju Suwan Hospital (광주 수완 병원) to be exact.  It's not gorgeous landscape or rich in history and story, but it is very much a part of the Korean culture...and so very different from the hospitals I know.  I am keeping a tally of all the differences and quirks of my hospital experience and plan to maybe make my next blog a list of all the interesting things about the hospital here.  But because many back home have asked about my surgery...I decided to try and get a snapshot of it here. 

I tore 3 ligaments in my knee and on Friday, May 10th I went in with the understanding that my MCL was healing nicely (we put off the surgery in place of bed rest for this purpose) and that I would have reconstructive ACL surgery.  There are several ways of doing it and my doctor decided that he would harvest a ligament from a cadaver (i'm officially part Korean!) and transplant it into my knee.  With two Koreans translating for me, this is what I knew.  Surgery would be an hour and a half, I'd be knocked out, and it was pretty routine. 

My friend and translator was by my side all morning and walked me all the way to the operating room doors where I was officially separated from communicating with the world I was in.  I was put on a table and they began strapping down my arms and putting monitors on me.  Then a pink phone shows up in my face.  " 마취 --> Anesthesia" Then the nurse begins typing again and "roll to side".  I was minutes from being cut open and I was relying on the one way line of communication provided by a Samsung Galaxy 3.  At that moment though it made all the difference.  So I rolled over, felt a needle enter my spine and felt my legs start to go numb.  Then the mask went on.  I started breathing waiting for the lights in my head to shut off .........and then nothing.  A nurse walked over and ran her fingers over my eyes as if to shut them and said "go sleepee".  I kept my eyes open and then felt the pressure of being cut into.  It was happening and I was awake.  I'm not sure if I've ever had more real and honest prayers then that moment. I don't know that most people curse when praying but at that moment I think panic trumped any sort of eloquent faithful speech and got straight to the point.  

Magically (or not so magically at all) I managed to calm down and deal with being alert during the operation.  That is until I felt a weird sensation and heard the sound of a drill and then metal on metal hammering as if the construction workers outside my apartment had joined us.  Then panic won and my face communicated terror.  But the nurse saw me and quickly ran to the corner and came back and said "M P 3?" and then said "K-Pop" and put in the earbuds.  I could still hear it and feel the uncomfortable sensations but life was better with the K-Pop than without.  I ask what time it is and realize the finish time has come and gone.

After 3.5 hours (not 1.5 hours) the pink phone returns and "almost finish".  When done, we hop on an elevator (with about 7 men, women, and children visiting family members...awkward!) and get an xray of my leg and then back up to my room. 

Fast forward an hour or more and in walk two nurses with a gurney.  With the help of my friend, I am back on the gurney and headed to I don't know where.  (no pink phone this time) So my friend Jennifer follows us and we return to the familiar door of the operating room where the doctor begins talking to my friend (he later asked if she was my sister) and as I'm being wheeled toward the bed I hear "you need to explain that to HER".  The doctor then shows me a picture of an xray of my knee with a metal pin in it.  (I didn't know I was getting pins...but I guess there was a lot I didn't know) He then explains that it needs to be flush, and mine is not.  It is quite a bit to the side and needs to be moved.  "Short operation, 15 minutes".  I then get strapped down again but this time...I'm wiggling toes and starting to move the ankle.  The nerve block is starting to wear off.  No worries, I'm sure I'll get a shot of morphine or something to curve any pain.  And then I get cut open again.  "tell if you feel pain" he says. and then I hear CLANK and my body reacts and jumps off the table as I start yelling "ahpaeyo" (It HURTS!) "one more time" the doctor says as he hammers the hell out of my knee 6 or 7 more times as I grip the arm rest, bounce off the table with every pop and the tears roll down the sides of my face.  "Finishee" he says as I feel them sewing me back up.  

Then he proceeds to make a joke about the "water" on my face.  If I didn't have an arm tied down, in the name of all things unholy....I would have punched him in his throat.  Then back up to my room I went to start the "healing" process with a baby ice pack (IV bag full of frozen water) that is a joke and a flimsy pillow for elevating my leg.  Then the nurses and I fought over whether or not I could have a pillow under my head.  They may be on the edge of technology in some areas....but I'm not sure that detailed post op hospital care qualifies as one. 

The following day I found out that the additional 1.5 hours and strong pain on the inside of my knee was a result of having complete MCL reconstruction in addition to the ACL.  So 2 pins, a harvested ligament, and 5 scars later....I am told I'm on the road to recovery. Hello Korea, thanks for the welcoming gift.

 ( So no putting my foot down for two months, crutches for sure for 3 months, and 6 months for getting back to normal..guess I won't be the next Korean sports superstar).