Waiting....for the Stone to Move (Which It Never Did)

Before we left the hospital after two visits to the ER, we pleaded with the urologist to do surgery. We explained, with the help of a translator this time, that Rocketman had had a similar kidney stone in his left ureter which never moved and they operated on him after three days (which seemed like a lifetime at that moment).

We explained how his kidney shut down in that case and that Rocketman's body filled with fluid. The surgeon explained to me afterward how shocked he was at all the fluid he removed from Rocketman's body, somewhere around a liter. But you could tell we were getting nowhere with the Korean urologist. He then told us that he could not operate unless the stone was larger than 5mm because of the socialized medicine. He and the hospital would not be paid due to the national health care guidelines. No exceptions.  His last words to us was that there was nothing else he could do.  We left the hospital contemplating what we should do.

We had an interesting taxi ride from the hospital to the hotel: bling taxi!!!!  I told him in Korean how pretty his taxi was.

Rocketman's pain came and left. We never knew when it would hit so we didn't leave Suwon and he stayed pretty close to the Dormy Hotel where we were staying. Luckily, Vomit Alley, located behind the Dormy has a ton of restaurants. Hellena spent every day with us until she had to leave.

      Love the banchan (sidedishes).  I always had to ask for more kimchi and I can do it in Korean too.

There is nothing like Korean BBQ and on Hellena's last night with us that is where we went. Rocketman didn't have much of an appetite but he ate what he could.

This was the first time we saw something like this. The yellowish liquid on the left side is an egg mixture that thickens as your food cooks.  There was also onion and kimchi. I'm not a huge fan of broiled kimchi but Rocketman loves it cooked that way.

Last dinner with all our Korean girlfriends.  It was bittersweet. We have no idea when we will be together again. Jennifer is moving to India to work for two years.

From left to right, Hannah, me, Rocketman, Jennifer and Hellena. It's hard for me to look at this photo because I know it will be a long time before we will all be together again but the bond between all of us is very strong. Maybe we will visit Jennifer in Mumbai.