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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

My stroboscopy! OUCH!

I've been sufferring from an annoying cough for 3 weeks now!  I had had enough this afternoon, so after work, I went to the hospital!  (Seems dramatic, I know!  But it's what we do in Korea.)  After checking in at the front desk and pointing to my throat, saying "Apuda" (I'm sick), the receptionist sent me up to the 5th floor to meet with an Otolarynologist.  Try saying that 5 times fast!

Luckily he spoke PERFECT English!  Praise God!  He sat me down in a chair, with all kinds of crazy utensils and scopes laid on a steel countertop next to me and began to ask me question after question about my condition.  These Korean doctors are thurough, that's for sure! 

After the gazillion questions, he wheeled his chair over to me, grabbed my tongue with some gauze and began to stick a long metal stick down my throat... lower, and lower, and lower!  OUCH!  Then he told me to say "EEEEE," take deep breaths... do it again... and again... It took everything within me not to gag!  (I later read that a local anesthetic is suppossed to be given to prevent pain and gagging during a stroboscopy... but apparently I must have looked tough, because there was definitely NO ANESTHETIC given!)  Uuugghhh.

But the beauty of the procedure was that I got a fun picture of my vocal chords to show off!

The not so fun part is that I will have to take these pills 3 times a day for the next 7 days, and drink all of this entire bottle of cough syrup before next Tuesday!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I have some sort of inflamation on and around my vocal chords from, and I quote, "Working too hard and talking too much!"  hahaha!  Think my principal will give me a day off of work?!  Here's hoping! 

breakfast bagels

A couple weeks ago, I did a presentation, on the school TV news program about what American's eat for breakfast!  I talked about how we love to eat bagels, but that I was sad because I couldn't find any bagels in Korea!  My students are constantly asking me if I've been able to find my beloved bagels yet!  ...This morning, some of my 4th graders were huddling around my desk, jumping up and down, all excited before class!  When I asked why they were excited, Anna, put her hands out and presented me with 2 fresh bagels that she and her mom had found at a bakery!  It was as if she was presenting me with gold!


I love this picture because it's a perfect representation of how things work in Korea!  Before anyone can ever give me a piece of food, cake, candy, coffee (anything really), my kids are already trying to eat it!  You'd think no one ever fed the poor little guys!  As much as I knew it was the right thing to do to share my bagels with them, I didn't!  Sad for them... happiness for me!