I'm so fat here.

Most of the people that have known me for the last 3 or 4 years are well aware of the problems with my right knee. And have commented on it. And have ALL suggested I go to the doctor. Suggestions that largely went ignored because I am terrified of doctors and I thought I could control myself enough on the basketball court to avoid serious injury.

Well, I failed.

Last week, I went to a new court at Korea University and met some real nice ballers. One guy from Finland, who clicked me with from the first second I met him. Anyways, one hour into the game I went up for a rebound and my left knee made a crushing sound and I collapsed to the ground in pain.
I knew something happened, something bad, but I could still walk albeit PAINFULLY!!! I limped all the way to the street and hailed a taxi. Once inside the cab, I realized that I had planned to take the subway home and did not bring enough money for the fare...I had to have him stop as far as the money I had would take me.
Which was 2 miles from my home.

This walk was the most painful experience in my life. I ALMOST CRIED. When I got back home, I called my doctor friend and i told her what happened, she suggested I just elevate and heat my knee and then go to the hospital the next day.

I called my Korean friend up, Leo and he took me to the hospital. The Doc there said I need an MRI but the hospital couldn't authorize one unless I had a referral from a family doctor. Which I do not have.
We went to a few hospital to see if we could talk or way into an MRI but we failed. My friend decided to take me to his family doc and make a plea for me to get a referral. The doc hesitated but he saw me cringing in pain and handed me the paper. Then we went back to the first hospital and they told me I would have to wait for a couple days because they are booked up.
Forget THAT!
I was in way too much pain, I wanted to know what was wrong. Leo took me to a different doctors office where they have an MRI machine and we had it done there for $270. Cheap for the states but considering I do not have insurance here, so it was expensive by Korean standards.

Then back to the hospital we went and the DOC (he didn't seem like he did anything, he was in the same chair every time we came back to him...) told me the surgery was going to cost me 2G's and thats not including hospital stay and medication, which would add up to another 2G's.

For all the pain I was in, I still said no. I called my boss and told her I was seriously injured and could barely walk and she told me:

"I'll call you back in 15 minutes"

and hung up the phone.

....

I waited for 30 minutes waiting for her to call me back, then she made contact. She told me she knows of a place where I could get a surgery for cheap and its her friend. I have surgery scheduled for the next day and I would have to get up early because it is pretty far. She would be driving.

It took a moment for me to take everything in, I hate doctors and now I am getting surgery, in Korea, TOMORROW?!?!

Needless to say I was nervous.

I find myself in her friend office the next day and he told me that what happened to my left knee was a bone broke off and lodged itself somewhere else in my knee causing the pain. He said it is a simple surgery and I can walk the next day and should be fully mobile within the 6 months.

The doc sent me to the nurses to be prepped for surgery following our meeting. The nurses(who are hilarious btw) had a brief gasp and immediately starting talking amongst themselves and pointing at me. I asked my boss to translate and she told, they are worried that they do not have any clothes to fit you...

They brought me the biggest button down shirt they had. Which is a medium by AMerican standards...I was able to button it down all the way but the buttons where hanging on for dear life. You could see my bare chest in between each button. What made it worse is that they placed these heart monitors on my chest but they needed to stick to your chest work but my chest was too hairy. They shaved patches off my chest hair and then placed the heart monitors on me. So when i was wearing this extremely small shirt, the exposed portions provided a window into my patched chesthair. Everyone was laughing...

Next it was the pants. First thing they gave me were wool (?) pants. These pants were so small but they made it too my waist. I could not bend my legs. I walked like peg-legged pirate. Nurses had a laugh and then brought me another pair of pants. These pants had strings going down the side of them and just needed to be tied...BUT the strings could barely tie around me...It was so embarrassing...worse yet I HAVE LOST WEIGHT BEING HERE!!! This hospital visit def hurt my self-esteem.

The surgery proceeded normally, the numbed my lower half of my body and gave me drugs to make me relax. It didn't work.

One of the scariest things I have ever experienced is being on strapped to the surgical table surrounded by different looking people, holding surgical tools meant to cut me open, all whilst not speaking English. I was terrified. My nervousness could not be suppressed, I talk a lot when I am nervous coupled with the fact that I was drugged made it real difficult for me to shut-up. My boss asked (who stayed in the surgery with me) told me I asked a million questions and aggravated everyone.

BUT I WAS NERVOUS!!

whatever...

the surgery was a success and I remember clearly what happened afterwards...

The 'orderlies' came to take me from the surgical table to my room. They had to transfer my half nummb body from the surgical table to the gurney.

Now, I would assume that based on my "enormous" size they would have the strongest people shuffle me to my room but that is not what happened.

They had two Korean guys, both the equivalent size of 13 year old girls back home, and a Korean woman, the size of a rollerskating wheel, attempt to lift my big ass from the table to the gurney. Two guys one the right and left and the little woman holding my feet.

Needless to say, I was dropped.

The guy helping my left side could not keep me up and he dropped my left leg down and if it wasn't for the girls proximity to the ground, my knee could have hit the floor. I held on to the other guy so as to avoid my whole self from hitting the floor...
Nothing happened to my knee though, at least that I am aware of...it was numb after all.

I spent the next 5 days in the hospital doing nothing. Bored. This christian group came in the hospital to pray for one of their friends who shared the room with me and one of them asked me if I have found Jesus in perfect English! I jokingly replied, "that I did not know he was missing" but he did not take it so lightly....

He then asked if I am christian and I said 'no, Muslim.' He responded by turning his back on me and continue praying for his friend... I was not hurt at all, I have met many people like this and it is actually one of the better negative responses I have received over the years.


Its my the morning of the last day at the hospital and I rudely awakened by a screaming Korean lady, who couldn't have been less than 50 years old. I did not know what she was screaming about but I know she was accusing me of something because of the finger pointing and tone. Nurses come in and they start yelling at her but I dont know what they were saying. I called one of my Korean friends to translate what was going on and here is what happened.

The screaming lady was accusing me of stealing her husbands wallet (he shared the room with me as well but never spent the night....) and she was pressing me to open my bags and let her search through my stuff.
The nurses were fighting for me saying that I had done nothing and that I haven't bothered a single person the entire time I was in the Hospital and she was to stop yelling in front of the patients.
Her cowardly husband even tried to speak on my behalf but was silenced with a bat of the crazy ladies eye. (That was really funny to see in person by the way)

The police were called and they came to speak with me. They asked me if I stole it and I said no. Then they left me be and took the batty lady away as well as her sorry excuse for man husband.

My friends arrived an hour later and I was whisked away back home to sit in my room and think about what the hell I just went through. The one thing that was really in the forefront of my mind was:

'I'm so fat here...'

I miss home...