Eastern Medicine in Minnesota

 Rocketman is still struggling with fatigue after his nightmare kidney stone in South Korea so I talked him into some Eastern medicine. My doctor had recommended Dr. Ren and I made an appointment last Friday for Rocketman. I went along for curiosity sake. The St. Paul clinic is located in an old mansion.

This photo is taken as you walk into the office. I loved, loved, loved the charm. It was 19th century meets Asian influences. They had kept so much of the bones of the home like the latticework in the entryway and the stain glassed windows.

They even had the Chinese herbs like we found in the Korean Eastern medicine doctor's office.

This is the waiting room where you wait for Dr. Ren to come retrieve you for treatment. You also need to remove your shoes before you go upstairs into a treatment room. I loved the creaking sounds as patients went up and down the staircase.

                  There is also a cat named Tai Ji that is the friendliest cat I had ever encountered.

                                              We also found this notice about Tai Ji.

 

Kitty loved Rocketman. Rocketman filled out a short questionnaire that just asked about medications he was on. He went upstairs and she took his pulse in each wrist and told him that he had a weak kidney. Wow! She had no idea what he had been through but she was spot on. She did 15 acupuncture needles on him and had him lay there for 30 minutes. She also prescribed some Asian medicine pills of which he needs to take 60 a day. He was to return in one week. We were surprised that our insurance pays for the acupuncture.

 

I'll keep you informed of his progress and if he sees any changes. He is really looking to get back to normal.

 

 

Dr. Ren also has a book.

 

 

 

The Bills We Can Home From South Korea With

This is the folder of hospital records and bills that we can home from South Korea. Rocketman's kidney stone generated an unprecedented amount paperwork including a CD of the surgery.  The hospital bill was amazingly cheap, coming in at $13,446.01.  Rocketman also said that you get what you pay for. This included four emergency room visits, four nights in the hospital, surgery and medication.

In comparison, Rocketman's U.S. outpatient surgery to basically do exactly what Korea did and clean up the problems left by Dr. Ahn was $17,150.07. We were at the hospital about 5 hours and the surgery was completed in less than an hour.

I paid for the Korean bill with my VISA and the U.S. bill was paid for with our insurance. Due to all of Rocketman's Korean bills helping to meet his insurance maximum, the net payment after insurance was $645.00.

When I called our insurance as soon as we returned, I was told that since it was an out of network hospital, they weren't required to pay anything. I told them about this occurring in South Korea which is 14 hours ahead of the U.S.  Since I didn't have a phone, I was unable to call during their business hours because I had to be at the hospital taking care of Rocketman. They were very sympathetic and understanding and then I was told they could cover anywhere from nothing to perhaps 90%. I was to submit everything and it would take 60 days to get a decision and hopefully a check. Tears were to no avail, it was all about the contract that our health insurance had with Rocketman's company.

So when we received this check covering about 92% of the bill, we were shocked and jumping for joy!

Rocketman had also taken out travel insurance for reasons he doesn't even know but thank goodness he did. They told him that they think they would cover what our health insurance didn't. We would submit to them the same information along with what our health insurance paid. We also asked if they would pay the $800.00 in hotel charges for the extra week we had to stay. They weren't sure so it's wait and see with that.

Even with the reimbursements, it was the most costly vacation we have ever been on so every little bit of reimbursement helps. One of the saddest things for me is that Rocketman lost half of his vacation which he fought to be changed to sick time, showing all the hospital records to no avail. So poor Rocketman still hasn't had a nice vacation but we now plan on going to a bed and breakfast for his birthday.

But Louie is having a fantastic summer! He loves to lay on the deck and watch the birds at the feeders.

Rocketman - A Happy Ending!

It's been so hectic since we returned from Korea that I haven't been very good at finishing the story of what happened to Rocketman in Korea.  Part of it was exhaustion from the ordeal and I think, now looking back, that part of it I wasn't ready to relive. But now that he is healthy and whole I can finish the ordeal without tears streaming down my face.  If you are new to the blog, you can catch up by reading these posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and now the final chapter. It looks like this has turned into a novel.

Where we left off was with Rocketman still rocking a pretty high fever. He spent a lot of time walking the hallways along with other patients. I had never seen so many patients in hallways.  Sometimes they hung out on the benches across from the elevators and, especially annoying, they liked to sit on a couple of empty hospital beds outside of Rocketman's room and talk on their cellphones under the "NO CELLPHONES" sign. I don't know why ajummas (older Korean women) seem to talk so loudly, especially when on a phone, but it got really annoying when it was right outside of your room.

On Saturday night, Rocketman's fever fluctuated between 100 and 101 so we made a plan to get him discharged. Rocketman was really hoping to leave on Sunday but we found out that no one is ever discharged on Sunday because there are no doctors. They also told us it takes most of the day on Mondays to get discharged because of the backups. We were determined to have this happen. So when Dr. Ahn's number one Intern came in Sunday to remove the cathedar, we also asked him if Rocketman's IV could be removed to which he responded he had to ask Dr. Ahn. It was removed later that day to Rocketman's joy.

Our friends Hannah and Jennifer came down from Seoul to hang out with us and it was so great to spend time with them especially with Rocketman feeling better. They came down as much as they could just like you would do if a family member was in the hospital and I really don't know what I would have done without them.

Monday came and Rocketman knew it would probably be 3 or 4 before the nurses would get the orders to let him be released. It was after lunch and we were watching television when a frazzled nurse came in and said to me, "Man! Man!" and beckoned me to follow her into the hallway. We had no idea what was going on and when I went into the hallway, there was my yoga buddy, Mr. Choi, being gently detained by a couple of nurses.

I was so happy to see him and told the nurses that it was fine to let Choi go. He spent the afternoon with us while we waited to be released. He was leaving the next morning for a trip to Japan with his retired government buddies. It wasn't his idea to go to Japan for a vacation since he has a very deep rooted hatred of Japan but he was going nonetheless. He had had many family members killed during the Japanese occupation.

The blessed paperwork came around 3 pm. along with Sunny, our hospital translator, and off we went to pay the bill. The total was just under $14,000.00. It was unbelievable how inexpensive medical care is in South Korea. Choi made sure we were safely in the taxi and told the driver where to take us and off we were to the Dormy.

Rocketman was exhausted and we stayed close to the hotel until Wednesday when our flight left. His first meal out of the hospital was Pizza Hut. He still wasn't ready for spicy Korean food that he loves so much. An interesting story about our Pizza Hut dinner. We were finishing up our pizza when six high school students, three girls and three boys, came in and sat right across from us. They proceeded to take out a store-bought birthday cake and the birthday girl put on a birthday hat as the group sang happy birthday to her. She was so happy and you could just see that they were all very good friends.

They really debated about what to order and we could tell that money was tight. They ordered the salad bar, one small plate which all six ate off of and a pizza. Rocketman and I looked at each other with the same idea, let's pay for their meal. So as soon as we were finished, we walked over to their table and I asked the birthday girl if today was her birthday. She told us "yes." I grabbed their bill and told her that we would be paying for their dinner as a birthday present.

You should have seen the look of shock on their faces and we made our way to the front of the restaurant to pay. Rocketman explained to the checkout girl that we were paying both meals. All of a sudden, the girls all came up to us, trying to get us to stop - to no avail. They were truly in shock and with tears in their eyes kept thanking us. The checkout girl realizing what we were doing gave us two thumbs up. They continued to try to get the bill back to no avail and I told them that I know how very hard they work and that it was something we wanted to do.

They finally realized that the bill had been paid and as we left, two, including the birthday girl, were still crying and bowing to us saying "thank you." It was one of the best things we have spent money on in years and Rocketman and I will never forget their looks of shock and then gratitude.

Rocketman's fever broke Sunday night but he was so lightheaded that when walked anywhere near the hotel he held onto my shoulder. Our last meal was galbi and it was the delicious! On Wednesday morning we made the 24 hour (from door to door) trip back home. Luckily, we had used Rocketman's last frequent flyer miles to fly Business Class.

We hit the ground running as soon as we returned. That Thursday morning we were at our primary doctor's getting a referral for a urologist and by Friday, Rocketman was being seen by the urologist. There was no time for jetlag and the urologist didn't want to see any of the images or paperwork from Dr. Ahn. He was visibly shocked at how things were handled at a University Hospital. He said he wanted to do surgery immediately. He would remove the Korean stent and put in his own. He would find the fragments that Dr. Ahn had left inside Rocketman and he would see if there was any other damage.

Rocketman needed a pre-surgery exam and the blood test came back that he was anemic due to all the blood loss from the catheter. But that wasn't going to stop the surgery and he went under the knife less than a week after returning from Korea. To say I was scared to death is putting it mildly, I was terrified at what the U.S. urologist would find. He came out only an hour later with a huge smile on his face saying everything went great. He had found two fragments and removed them and put in a new stent. He was very, very pleased.

It will be some time before Rocketman's anemia is gone but he is getting better every day. He lost 20 pounds from this ordeal too. We are not sure why that happened but it's definitely NOT the way you want to lose weight. We are just so thankful that he is recovering and though at first he could not think about ever visiting Korea again, he now talks about things we will do the next time we go.

The urologist told us that Rocketman will need a x-ray every year for the rest of his life to see if he develops any kidney stones. Since he will never be able to pass a stone, I wonder if this means he will need surgery. We'll cross that road when we come to it.

Rocketman and I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this crisis. We appreciate it so very much.

37 Celsius = The New Normal

Rocketman soon developed a fever and I had a quick lesson in Celcius. Fahranheit was out the door and all the ear thermometers registered in Celsius. My Korean friends, Hannah and Jennifer, came down from Seoul to be with us every night after work. It is the Korean way to have family with you when you are in the hospital and they truly are family along with Hellena who had to fly back to Qatar after spending a week with us.

When it came time to leave the night after surgery, I felt Rocketman's head and it was burning up. I was surprised that a nurse had not come in to take his temperature the entire afternoon and as we were getting ready to go, I told Hannah that I wanted his temperature taken before I left.  She went to talk to the nurses and almost immediately a nurse ran (and I mean ran) into the room with an ear thermometer. It came in at 38C which is 100.4F. (Thank goodness for my IPhone for quick conversions).

They were pretty shocked at that and we were told that the doctor had to be told and he would prescribe medication. I was surprised that the doctor didn't have orders to cover something like this which can happen after surgery. I did leave for the hotel for a fitful night sleep and returned the next morning to discover that Rocketman's fever had gone over 39C (102F) overnight and he was asked to hug the frozen hot water bottle that you see above.

Rocketman was miserable. The doctor had also prescribed a stool softener which he had been taking for a day before we were told and it had caused horrible diarrhea which is no fun with a catheter. Rocketman was in and out of the bathroom too many times to count and sleeping on a too short, much too hard mattress was not helping.

We occasionally had a nurse that spoke some English and when we found out that one of the pills Rocketman was taking was a stool softener, I immediately told her that he will not take that pill and she went to okay it with the doctor. That pill didn't reappear but it still took another day for the diarrhea to stop.

Rocketman and I would take walks down the hospital hallways which was a pasttime for many Koreans especially the ajosshis (older Korean men). Rocketman would push his IV and catheter stand with one hand and hold onto me with the other. He just wanted to get out of the hospital. I still felt he was too weak. But we made a pact that if his temperature got down to 100.5F that we would check out and I also required one day of him out of the hospital resting before we attempt to return to the States.

The only breakdown I had was while Rocketman was lying in the Emergency Room. We were both worried about what the total bill would be and if we had the funds on our VISA to cover it. We weren't sure if our credit limit would be enough for everything. I could not get reception in the hospital so I went outside to call the card company to see if we could get our limit raised. I went through three levels only to be told that Rocketman would have to say "yes" in order to get our limit raised.

I explained our situation, being in South Korea, having to prepay for all services, needing surgery... I finally lost it as I spoke to some manager. With tears rolling down my face and off my chin, I kept saying, "Don't you understand? I'm not in the United States where I would have other means. I have to pay for services upfront here in Korea. It was all to no avail and I had the manager on the phone while I returned to Rocketman's bedside. We finally were able to get Rocketman to say "Yes" and they raised our limit a measly amount.

It was during this first full day in the hospital when I ran into a lovely woman named Rhoda. She was American and had been on a tour of Korea when a family member became ill. They were on the same floor as us. Can you believe it? We shared our stories and it was wonderful. She really saw me at some of my darkest days and gave me a shoulder to cry on. Do you know that they even offered to help with our medical bill if we needed that? We checked in with each other every day.

They had given us a bag full of hospital things like a towel, tooth brush, toothpaste, soap, razor and a cup. We soon realized that the nurses were there to take vitals and administer medication. I took care of washing Rocketman on a daily basis. I finally realized I needed to buy some towels to help with the process. It reminded me of the work I used to do as a nurse's assistant at a nursing home back when I was 15. It felt so great to see how much better Rocketman felt once he got clean. But the fever persisted.

I was also in charge of changing Rocketman's hospital clothing and bedding. There was a cart at the nurse's station which contained clothing and bedding. I finally figured out that it was self serve. It was so different than the States but I quickly adapted. They did have a cleaning lady that came in everyday to wash the floors.

Rocketman's surgery was Friday, May 3rd and on Saturday I ran into Seoul for a few hours to see my bojagi teacher and to do some quick and I mean very quick shopping. I was back at the hospital by two. Stay tuned to hear all about my shopping in Seoul.

Surgery - Korea Style!

This is a photo I took of Rocketman's hospital window which we called the "suicide window." We were told the window only opens a few inches to prevent suicides.

When Dr. Ahn, the urologist, finally agreed to remove Rocketman's kidney stone he didn't garner any confidence with his choice of words. He told us that it would be a very difficult surgery since the stone was so close to the kidney but he would try his best, but that he might fail. He told us this without an interpreter and with very good English. When I asked my Korean girlfriends about this they were not surprised at all with what he had said. A doctor would never be confident when speaking about a surgery because of the uncertainty of the outcome. It was like he didn't want to make any false promises.

I told my friends that doctor's are just the opposite here in the States. Even if they think the patient may have a terrible outcome, they try to be very positive and upbeat. Dr. Ahn seemed nervous and unsure, which, of course, made me a nervous wreck, and Rocketman, well he just wanted the stone out.

We were waiting in Rocketman's hospital room when a flurry of nurses came in to wheel him out for surgery some two hours before it was scheduled. I was left to wait in the room and thought it would be an hour or two before I saw him. I prayed, I watched television and I looked outside the "suicide window" as the hours ticked by. Finally, after three hours he was wheeled in and was very alert. I was surprised when he said that they just finished the surgery and wheeled him back to his room. No recovery room.

He was in a lot of pain and he wasn't loopy like he had been after surgery in the U.S. He also came back with a catheter. Dr. Ahn and his entourage came to visit a few hours later along with the interpreter. He brought us all out to the nurse's station and proceeded to tell us what had went on. It indeed had turned into a difficult surgery. When he added air to Rocketman's ureter to add the stent and to remove the stone, he tore the ureter. He had to stop the surgery and add dye to Rocketman to see the damage and sure enough, he had a photo to show us the tear and the dye leaking out.

He went on to say that the stent went in and he used a cage to try to capture the stone but the stone went back into the kidney. I could tell that this was bad news. He said he was able to capture it and crush it but pieces had scattered, even being trapped between the ureter and the stent. The pieces that he left were small and he was sure they would pass except he didn't have an answers for the ones trapped.

During this time another patient, an ajjosshi thought it would be nice to stop and listen to what was going on. He didn't seem to mind that it wasn't any of his business and it just infuriated Rocketman. Also during this time, a nurse decided to empty his catheter bag in front of everyone. It was the strangest thing.

Dr. Ahn told us that Rocketman would be in the hospital another 4-5 days to recover. Rocketman wasn't having any of that and I really thought that he would be ready to leave the next day. I was basing all of this on the similar surgery he had in the States eight years previous. It would turn out that I was wrong and so very wrong. Here we thought the removal of the stone would end Rocketman's suffering but instead it was only the beginning. Stay tuned.

I took a video of Rocketman's hospital room:

Rocketman is Finally Going to Get Surgery

Rocketman had a few days where the pain from the kidney stone ranged from mild to pretty bad but with the urologist at Ajou University Hospital telling us that there was nothing he could do, we took it day by day. He had an appointment with the urologist on May 2nd but on the evening of May 1st, the pain took a turn to the unbearable. I tried to get Rocketman to go to the hospital but he chose to wait it out until his appointment the next morning. 

He spent the night in horrible pain topped off with dry heaves from the Korean medication that did nothing for the pain but made him very sick. I was pretty upset with him by morning for his reluctance to go back to the hospital. We made our way to the International Clinic where they would take us to his urology appointment. By this time he could barely walk and could not sit. He wanted to wait for his 9:00 am appointment but at that moment, I made the decision to get him into the Emergency Room and get this fixed once and for all (meaning surgery).

Sunny, who was from the International Clinic and she had helped us with everything that had occurred up to that point, immediately called for wheelchair so we could get Rocketman into the Emergency Room which was in another building. Once there, it took over an hour just to get him some pain medication and that was with me bugging nurses and interns. Sunny told us that the urologist would come and see us as soon as he could.

He came hours and hours later and finally agreed to do surgery. Then it was a few hour wait for a room. He finally got into the room about 5:00 pm that night and the surgery would be the next morning.

While we were waiting for his room to become available, we saw a group of people with pens and pads also talking on their cellphones.  We also saw security personnel and I thought some VIP was coming in.

It turned out that these were reporters for all the major Korean television stations and they were there because there had been an explosion at a Samsung Plant and that three people were injured and being brought to Ajou University Hospital. Rocketman and I were just shocked that they would let the press into an Emergency Room. They were really in the way of all the staff and it was disgusting. The injured turned out to not have life threatening injuries.

In Korea, before an intravenous antibiotic is given they do a skin test. It's very similar to a TB test where they inject a little antibiotic under the skin (hurts like crazy according to Rocketman) and then they come back in about 15 minutes to see if there is a reaction. If not, the IV is started.

They had a very hard time finding hospital clothes that fit Rocketman. It didn't fit great but it worked. This is Rocketman finally in his room and getting settled in. Surgery was finally going to happen. He was exhausted but happy to think that the agony would soon be over ... or so we thought.



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.

Rockman's Korean Kidney Stone - Part 1

I walked by this sign in Ajou University Hospital several times every day and would smile at the "Medical Drama" words. Little did I know how prophetic they would become.

On April 22, 2013, Rocketman awoke at 2 am in excruciating yet familiar pain. It had been about nine years since his first kidney stone and subsequent surgery to remove it. I'm told kidney stone pain is similar to childbirth pain but two nurses we met during his hospitalization for his first stone told me that they had experienced both and the kidney stone pain was more painful. Yikes!

 

He put off waking me up until the pain was unbearable at 5 am. It's not the way one wishes to be awaken and I threw on my clothes, put a comb through my tangled hair, grabbed my purse and off we were to grab a cab. I thought to call 119 (their 911) but we were told that they take you to the nearest hospital (the service is free) and that's not what we needed.

 

A taxi was amazingly easy to find at that hour of the morning and we were off to Ajou University Hospital which we had used ocassionally during our 3 years of living in South Korea. At that time of morning, there was little traffic and we got there quickly, maybe 15 minutes. I ran ahead to the Emergency Room while Rocketman concentrated on each step and as I entered I yelled for a wheelchair. I received a room full of stunned looks but quickly someone appeared with a wheelchair and we placed Rocketman into the not-your-American-size wheelchair.  His vitals were taken and he was wheeled into the Emergency Department which consists mainly of a room full of 60 beds.

The Emergency Room beds were NOT meant for a 6' 5" man. You should have seen the looks he would get as patients and family members walked by.

              The pillows seemed few and far away but I was able to grab this one for Rocketman.

This is looking across the aisle from Rocketman's bed. The beds were really close together along with only one chair for the family members. Most had multiple family members with them. We found that the beds are pretty empty at 5am but by 10am they fill up.

It took over an hour for an IV and we were hoping for the only cure for kidney stone pain: IV Toradol. We even asked for it by name only to find out they didn't have it. The finally gave him some IV pain medication but it took the pain from a 10+ down to an 8. They also did a CT which found the kidney stone which is the bright blue circle you see in the center of the picture above.

This is when we met the urologist although we are sure he was calling the shots long before we met him. It was just like a Korean drama to me. He walked up to Rocketman's bed in single file line: urologist, his number 1, 2, and 3. We would call him doctor here in the U.S. but at Ajou he was called professor and he was in fact number one, head of the department. His English was really good and he understood and answered our questions correctly.

Back to the kidney stone, there is a descripancy to the size, the urologist always said it was 3mm but when we got home and looked at all the medical records, he had recorded it as 5mm.

Our dear friend, Hellena, had flown in from Doha to spend her vacation with us. She met us at the hospital. This is Rocketman right before he had his first shock wave lithotripsy which is suppose to crush the stone. Back in the States, the patient is sedated for this procedure, but not in South Korea. I was freaking out when it began hearing the pounding of the machine. It must have hurt terribly but Rocketman is never one to complain. Our U.S. doctor was also surprised to find that they didn't sedate him.

Rocketman was admitted to a hospital room just for the Emergency Room patients for observation overnight. Stay in this part of the hospital is only one night.  This was his dinner. He could have had a Western meal for a higher cost but he really likes Korean food.

Ready to leave!





The pain had subsided by morning so he was released. This hospital bed and room was pretty nice. The bed had some cushion and was longer than the one in the Emergency Room. He was bleeding pretty good when he went to the bathroom but that was expected from the procedure he had. We were told the shock wave lithotripsy failed due to Rocketman's "big size." The plan was to have him go back to the hotel, drink more than 2 liters of water a day and to jump up and down a lot. Doctor's orders! He was to see the urologist in a week.

We had thought to fly back to the States but we were pretty worried how he would do if they pain came back.  It takes a total of 24 hours from hotel to our home including a 14 hour flight. Also, Korea seems incapible of prescribing pain killers that did just that, kill the pain. We had used all of our frequent flyer miles to book Business Class and we knew it would be almost impossible to get it going back so soon. I just couldn't imagine Rocketman having kidney stone pain in a Coach seat on a 14 hour flight. It makes me wince just to think about it.

To Hell and Back - Our Vacation in South Korea

We were so excited to be visiting South Korea for a vacation. It had been just over a year since we left but we both missed it terribly. We flew out Thursday, April 18th and we were to return Saturday, May 4th. As the plane landed in Incheon, we looked at each other and smiled with joy that that we were in the land we love so much and with relief that the 22 hours of travel would be over in a few short hours.

The first two days I found myself surprising ill with jet lag which not only upset my stomach but also made my intestines irritated. It was not fun and we stayed around Suwon where we were going to spend the bulk of our vacation anyway.

On Sunday, we traveled to our old neighborhood and ate lunch at our favorite place for buddae jjigae, Nolboo. We used to visit this restaurant every Sunday and were well know by the staff especially by one waitress. If she wanted to talk to us, she would call her sister in Daegu who would translate for her.

We also missed the banchan (side dishes you get with your meals). Oh, they were so good - especially the kimchi.

I had never gotten a picture with our favorite girl so I made sure that Rocketman took one this time.

Then we took the 7770 bus to the Hongdae area of Seoul. I wanted to go to the Hope Market where artists sell their creations every Sunday from 1-5 near the university. I loved seeing all the street food. It was like saying "hello" to an old friend.

                   The art around Hongdae is pretty cool. You can find it in all sorts of places.

                                                                          Including stairs.

                                                         Love this shop sign.

This was the last day before all hell broke loose. At 2:00am Rocketman woke to unspeakable pain in his right quadrant. He didn't wake me until 5am when it was unbearable.  I woke shocked and stunned to his words, "we need to get to the Emergency Room immediately." I quickly dressed and was able to flag a taxi. We went to Ajou University Hospital because we had been there before and had wonderful treatment and the biggest thing was that a lot of the staff (doctors) spoke and understood English.

It seemed like forever before he was treated even though they put him in a bed almost right away. A CT scan and x-ray showed a kidney stone in his right ureter. This story is long with lots of turns and twists but we ended up checking Rocketman out of the hospital against doctor's orders on May 6th and flying home on May 8th. He saw a urologist here who is going to perform surgery on him to remove and repair the damage that was done by the doctor in South Korea.

It has been some of the darkest days we have ever known and we are both mentally and physically (Rocketman) drained from what happened. I will go into detail about that in future blog posts. We have now started a battle with our insurance companies about coverage. The total bill was $14,000.00 and it was out of network which meant I was to call during business hours to get an ok. This was not done because we had no phone and the only way we were in touch with the U.S. was through email and Facebook messaging. I've been told we could get reimbursed 55% - 80% or possibly not at all. We spent hours today copying the 43 pages of medical records and matching up our VISA charges to specific medical bills.  We are mailing the packet tomorrow and will see what the insurance company does with it.

So stay tuned.