I knew that I was running out of my pills, so I asked one of the Korean teachers about what my best course of action would be. I talked to K - the same one who took me to the dr when I was feeling so terrible. He suggested that I go to the University hospital here, and he helped me to get an appointment (meaning he set up the appointment and told me what I needed to do). He was super sweet about it because as you know I have no phone at all, let alone a smart phone, so he was concerned about my ability to find the place. Thankfully A helped with that, and also I'm good at maps/directions. So I ran out of my pig pills on Sunday. On Monday I went to the hospital (I was in fact a little late - I missed the bus, so I walked to a further bus stop and then jumped on. Was about 10 mins late to check in). It's the little things that I'm not able to do that drive me crazy - can't jump in the car and drive myself, have to roll the dice on the bus. Sigh... remind me to post about the bus drivers later, too - it's a trip!
Step 1 - go to the international reception area. That was easy to find, I walked right up to the receptionist and gave her my ARC. She asked what insurance I had and I shrugged and said that last time they looked it up with the card, but the only documents regarding insurance that I had gotten was all in Korean, so I had no clue. She then wrote down a number and my name and told me to go to #6 at the main reception area.
Step 2 - go to the main reception area, #6. #6 turned out to be the foreign window. I gave the lady the card with my name and the number on it. She in turn told me that the consultation fee was going to be 10,500 won and that I needed to pay that now. So I paid, she gave me the receipt and told me to go to the second floor - endocrinology and thyroid.
Step 3 - go to endocrinology and thyroid. I said 'hello' at the reception area and was pointed to the nurse who spoke the most English. She helped me to fill out a form asking what I was there for and what my medical history was. I was asked about height in cm and weight in kg - I didn't know, so she took me to the height (173 cm) and weight machine (I'm not sharing, :P). Then she directed me to the blood pressure machine and when it printed out the little paper I gave it to her. She then told me to go sit outside of door #3 and wait. So I did. Door #3 opened and a man came out. I wasn't sure what to do, so I sat there until another nurse told me that I could go in. I went in and talked with the doc. She told me that I was going to need bloodwork so that they could confirm that I need thyroid medication. She gave me a prescription for 5 days of levothorixine (a common thyroid med) since they didn't have the stuff I usually take (bye bye pig pill). She said that I was to go for the blood work, fill the script, and come back for a follow-up. The nurse would tell me what I need to do/where I need to go. Back to the nurse I go for further instruction. We set up an appointment for Thursday at 9:05 for my follow-up and she tells me the next steps.
Step 4 - back down to main reception area. In order to get blood work, I have to pay for it. I go down, back to #6, she tells me 37,360 won this time. I have a slight choke moment, pay and then go back up to the second floor for the blood work.
Step 5 - outpatient blood clinic. I take a number and sit down. I'm # 171, they're at #153 or so. I wait for my number, it's called, I go to chair #3. The lady asks if I've eaten breakfast yet. I say no (not my first rodeo, you know). She takes my left arm, puts the tourniquet on, I make a fist, the vein gets all fat and happy, she sticks, takes 2 vials, band-aids and tells me to hold the band aid for 1 min, don't take it off for 10, and I'm good to go.
Step 6 - pharmacy next door. There's a guy at the doors of the pharmacy who I think was there because it's really the hospital's pharmacy and his job is to make sure the casual health-seeker doesn't end up in the wrong place. Anyway, I go in, give the prescription to the first lady I see and she tells me to have a seat. I sit. A little while later my name is called by another lady, I pay 1,900 won for my 5 day supply. She tells me to sit down again. I sit. My name is called by yet another lady. She gives me the prescription, tells me to take one pill a day before breakfast and then I'm free to go.
This whole process took less than an hour. I was home in time to call Dad and Carole to wish them a happy Easter. I did the conversions, and the whole thing was less than $50. Also, I really liked how I was made to pay before anything happened - if I didn't want to, I was free to leave. We'll see if I get any bills in the mail, but I highly doubt it. Seems like this is a much easier way to go about things than the system we had at the hospital back home. Of course, this remains to be seen - I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it were.
Now, the follow-up.
Today my appt was at 9:05, so like the Short that I am, I arrived at 8:50. I checked in with the international health center, who sent me again to the reception desk #6. The fee this time was only 8,300 won! Then it was upstairs to the thyroid and endocrine center. There they took my blood pressure again (I feel like the #'s were better this time) and I waited for my consult.
In with the doc, she went over my #'s with me and told me that I needed a lower dose of the thyroid med!! YAY!! She also told me about my blood glucose with is a bit high (has been for a while now, but I'm not full-blown diabetic, just slightly pre, as it were). She said we can either do more tests or we can just focus on the thyroid issue. I told her that I feel fine and would like to just get the thyroid figured out. She went over the rest - liver function, cholesterol, etc and said all was good. She then said she'd write me a script for 3 months, then we'll have a follow-up and the nurse would tell me what to do today. I didn't even have to ASK for a 3 month prescription, which was nice. Hehehe, no follow up until July!
So the nurse came out and gave me a paper with my follow-up appointment (July 18th) and follow-up blood work (July 15th, fasting) on it. She then told me to go back down to reception and then to the pharmacy. At reception, she just printed off my prescription and told me to go across the street. I did, and that process was the same as when they gave me the original prescription. So now here I am - thyroid meds in hand! The meds, BTW, were 5,900 won - less than $6 for 3 months worth. I also now know that the # the international medical center people wrote down for the reception desk is my medical record or patient id #. It's the same as the first one (cuz of course I'm keeping all my documents). It's nice to know that I won't have to bother another Korean teacher for an appointment in July, too.
I can honestly say that I like how Korean medicine works. I was a little annoyed at the first dr when I was feeling so terrible, but that was more because I didn't want to have to go back. Now I'm really OK with how they do things - minimum of fuss and maximum of 'here you go.' Also, the outfits here are 1000X better than the gowns back home ;)
Today my appt was at 9:05, so like the Short that I am, I arrived at 8:50. I checked in with the international health center, who sent me again to the reception desk #6. The fee this time was only 8,300 won! Then it was upstairs to the thyroid and endocrine center. There they took my blood pressure again (I feel like the #'s were better this time) and I waited for my consult.
In with the doc, she went over my #'s with me and told me that I needed a lower dose of the thyroid med!! YAY!! She also told me about my blood glucose with is a bit high (has been for a while now, but I'm not full-blown diabetic, just slightly pre, as it were). She said we can either do more tests or we can just focus on the thyroid issue. I told her that I feel fine and would like to just get the thyroid figured out. She went over the rest - liver function, cholesterol, etc and said all was good. She then said she'd write me a script for 3 months, then we'll have a follow-up and the nurse would tell me what to do today. I didn't even have to ASK for a 3 month prescription, which was nice. Hehehe, no follow up until July!
So the nurse came out and gave me a paper with my follow-up appointment (July 18th) and follow-up blood work (July 15th, fasting) on it. She then told me to go back down to reception and then to the pharmacy. At reception, she just printed off my prescription and told me to go across the street. I did, and that process was the same as when they gave me the original prescription. So now here I am - thyroid meds in hand! The meds, BTW, were 5,900 won - less than $6 for 3 months worth. I also now know that the # the international medical center people wrote down for the reception desk is my medical record or patient id #. It's the same as the first one (cuz of course I'm keeping all my documents). It's nice to know that I won't have to bother another Korean teacher for an appointment in July, too.
I can honestly say that I like how Korean medicine works. I was a little annoyed at the first dr when I was feeling so terrible, but that was more because I didn't want to have to go back. Now I'm really OK with how they do things - minimum of fuss and maximum of 'here you go.' Also, the outfits here are 1000X better than the gowns back home ;)
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