The Korean health care system... North America has a bit of catching up to do...

About two weeks ago the big toe on my right foot started hurting. I figured it's just from all the walking and running I've been doing and did what every manly man has done since Grog the Caveman got his left arm bitten off by a saber-tooth tiger and ignored it and went about my business as usual.

Soon, like Grog, I noticed that, rather than things getting better, things were getting worse and more painful as the days passed. So, in true manly fashion I simply ignored the mounting pain and carried on.

Two weeks later (I'm not going to go into the nasty details) things had come to a breaking point. The pain was really starting to get to me and things...well, things weren't looking so pretty on the big toe of my left foot.

So, yesterday I dragged my coworker to the hospital with me to see what exactly is going on. Here is where things got impressive. Little background for you...I love Canada. I really do. I think it's a great country and I feel very fortunate to be a citizen of it. Also, we have it MUCH better than the Yanks when it comes to health care, seeing that it's free (more or less). However...I can't count how many times I went in there with a real problem and ended up spending most of the day there...I once spent nearly 6 hours in emergency waiting to be seen by a doctor when I cut the tip of my finger off and was covered in blood. I mean that's serious stuff. When I got in, the doctor said "well, it's too late to do anything about it"...thanks, jackass. But that's just one example...if you're in and out of emergency with broken bones or injuries that squirt blood like the cocky knight in Monty Python in less than 6-8 hours in Canada, you should consider yourself lucky.

Not in Korea. I walked in (well, kind of hobbled...been on my feet all day teaching), and walked out TWENTY MINUTES later. That's right. Including paperwork, treatment, etc, 20 minutes. And they sent me straight to an orthopedic specialist. This was kind of neat...my name in Korean (Tamasu) on the bottom of a wait list at the hospital...the ink didn't even have time to dry on the board by the time my turn came up.

While there, the doctor diagnosed it as an ingrown toenail...I've been doing some research on it, I think it may have something to do with the Nikes I've been wearing a lot lately...sigh...was trying to save wear and tear on my Airwalks (I have kind of wide feet, so Airwalks have been my footwear of choice for years, but you can't get them here, or at least I haven't seen any). Or it's just dumb luck. Whatever.

Anyhoo...in those 20 minutes, they triaged me, sent me to a specialist, a nurse treated and dressed the toe, then they sent me off to another nurse who gave me a shot (in the butt! For reals. The last time I got a needle in the ass was when I was a kid. It was pretty funny). In all fairness, I also had to pay for it all, which kind of sucked...but it was 12k won...or about $10. I'm sure at home many people would shell out 10 bucks to have such speedy treatment.

One funny thing was that the doc told me I wasn't allowed to shower for a week. Now, when I was 12 this would have been wonderful news. But, I've matured a lot since then and now I easily have the maturity of a 14 year old, so not showering for a week disgusts even me. I suggested I wrap a plastic bag around my foot and going ahead with my shower. The doc and my coworker looked at me like I just discovered the cure for AIDS. Their jaws dropped, and I'm pretty sure the doc sent off a quick email to the national medical journal letting them know about this momentous discovery. After they gathered their jaws off the floor, they slowly nodded and said something to the effect of "Well, that's a radical thought. Some might even say crazy. But it's so crazy it might just work."

So, if you were in my apartment at around 6:30 a.m. today, this is the sexy sight that would have greeted you:

Oh yeah...they also prescribed me some meds. I think it's an antibiotics cocktail, but who knows. For one thing, there are FOUR kinds of pills there. So, I'm pretty sure I'm safe from not only whatever's eating my toe, but also the whooping cough and ovarian swelling. I've heard before that Korean doctors love to go overboard with drugs. I'm guessing they have no idea what's wrong with their patients, so they just prescribe a mix that'll kill pretty much everything in sight and cover all the bases.

Also, they came in a neato Fruit-by-the-Foot packaging. Easily the oddest medication packaging I've ever seen...it's about 5 feet long. Convenient.

On the bright side, the whole lot of them came to just under 12,000 won ($10-ish), so that's not too bad!

I have to go back on Wednesday to have them change the dressing, we'll see how that goes.

Aside from that, I didn't do much last night, watched 2.5 hrs of Top Gear (thanks Mark!!!) and went for a couple of walks (even with the toe that made me see stars most of the way, I can't just sit around haha). Oh and I shot some targets (pop cans) with my pellet gun. Because I'm 12 years old. The weather is still perfect around here...it's just after 8 a.m. and already 19 degrees...which is pretty much as low as it gets. It's beautiful T-shirt weather here 24/7!

All right...I'm out. Have a great day, urrrbody!

T