SID: Suzi's Illness of Death

To borrow from my fellow teacher's clever wordsmithing, my SIDs seems to be close (thanks, Katrina... I'm both in awe and a little jealous at your cleverness.) But I digress.

Yesterday (Monday, 3/29), I was admitted to the hospital. Finally. This was, of course, after a full 72-hour Friday - Monday morning full on don't move-from-the-bed-not-so-comfortable-sleep-a-thon. While I thought this rest was sure to be a cure all, by the time I made the trek to work (a mere 10 minutes on a regular day; 25 for this wheezing girl!), I collapsed into a chair in exhaustion and no breath. It was pretty obvious teaching was out of the question. So, a school representative drove me home after I laughed at my manager's suggestion that I hoof it back home. Seriously? Was he blind?

My fellow teacher, Katrina, had also fallen ill over the weekend, but was up for teaching so the plan was to head to the doc's after school. And off we went.

Despite my insistance that I had pneumonia, my doctor was quite sure I didn't. Fair enough, but he did think my symptoms (ZERO energy, no breath) were serious enough to be admitted to the hospital for five days. My room wouldn't be ready for the next few hours, so after another chest xray, urine test and bloodwork, I went home to gather some necessities and returned at 7:30 p.m.

In Korea, there are three types of patient rooms:

1. Six-bed rooms. WTF? It's not a freakin' hostel! It is the cheapest option, but uhh, no thanks. Call me a snob, pretentious, whatever. Not going to do it.
2. Shared room. Ok, so this is fairly common. But I still wanted my own room.
3. The coveted private room. The most expensive, yes, but I was willing to splurge. Unfortunately, they didn't have any available so shared it was. Thankfully, my roommate didn't join me until this afternoon, so I had the room to myself last night. My roomie is pretty cool. She's quiet. I help her turn on and off the TV and shut the door to our room when nurses don't shut it. I shared an orange with her. It's all good.

For the first time in more than two weeks, I've felt a semblance of energy. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to feel alive. It's been a strict night-of-the-walking-dead existence for so long. It went from "go,go,go, can't catch time" to "BAM. you're done. fallen. give up now. Resistance is futile." That's what Suzi's Illness of Death will do to you! Ahh, yes, which leads me to...

This morning. After a visit from my vice principal, who came bearing gifts of milk and cocoa, the doctor came in and lo and behold, can you guess what he had to share? Ahhh yes, he had examined my chest xray and *surprise* -- I have freakin' pneumonia! He's a good guy, speaks good medical English and I'm not doubting his doctor abilities... I'm just sayin' is all!

Speaking of the non-English speaking staff... boy, I'll tell ya.. it's a whole new "lost in translation" effect. my pocket translator doesn't do much help and I'm pretty sure they pull straws for who has to come in and deal with me (nah, not really), but it's pretty amusing they think I'll understand what they say. The cool thing is they're not jerks and aren't condescending or anything. And they don't seem to be too frustrated. Can't complain.

Anyway, I'm just excited to finally be correctly diagnosed and getting the right treatment. It's obviously working since I've stayed awake all day. listened to music, read and written emails, blogged, socialized... oh it's so exciting! I see the light ya'll! And not the light I saw the other night when Carol Ann was beckoning me over to the other side.

A few coworkers stopped by after school. They're also not feeling up to par... we're all just a bunch of crazy, sick English teachers! What the hell? Is there something in the water??? I was pretty upset to miss a big meetup of foreign English teachers in the area last night, but know that we'll meet up again.

Meanwhile, the WiFi is pretty weak at the hospital but I'm happy to get it when I can.

So I found this quote and thought it pretty fitting:
"The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart." -- Nicolai Lenin

It's been rough, but I think I'm starting to find my heart again. Nothing like some good meds to help along with that! ;)

Until next time, I'm wishing you all MUCH health!