Anyway, the point of today's post is to talk about how I hurt my ankle. People ask a lot.. and I also wanted to write everything down before I forget the details, so here we go:
The Accident - April 21, 2015
The aforementioned class that's taking up ALL MY WAKING HOURS was canceled the following week, so I finally had some free time. I was on my way to meet my friend to go to the river. The transfer subway stations always have a ton of people, and even mid-afternoon on a Tuesday was no exception. I was on my way down the stairs when the train came. I was 4-5 steps from the bottom when some middle-aged lady ("ajumma") behind me decided she just had to make that train, and pushed me out of the way to go down the stairs faster. My hands were full (and I was kind of in the middle of the stairs, not near the railing), so I couldn't do much but fall forward. I skipped the remaining steps, and landed sideways on my ankle. I heard a pop and started seeing green and grey spots, and my ankle wouldn't support my weight. But, being in the middle of a subway station, about 4 levels under ground, I couldn't think of what else to do but get on the subway, pray for a seat, then try to get my friend to help when I got off at the other end. In hindsight (with it being 20/20 and all), I should've just sat down on the stairs (off to the side!) and better assessed the situation. I remember taking about 10 steps, then the next thing I know, two other ajummas are picking me up by my underarms, and a third is calling 119 (Korean 911). Some subway security dude showed up and started asking me questions. They laid me on my back with my head on some lady's purse, and people were starting to gather around, all talking to me in Korean, and making me dizzy. Half a dozen ladies all got out their wet tissue packs, and offered them to me. (Thank goodness for these nice ladies that picked me up, called 911, took care of me til the ambulance came...) My head above my left eyebrow hurt the worst, followed by my chin. I didn't even feel the cuts between my lip and nose, but people said it was bleeding pretty badly and judging by their reactions, I knew it wasn't pretty. (I also learned the Korean word for that area -- 인중/in-joong -- before I learned the English one -- philtrum... inasmuch as that's English, anyway, ha.)
Maybe 10-15 minutes later, 2 or 3 ambulance guys (can't remember..) showed up. This was by far the most frustrating part. They got me up and sat me in some chair on wheels. Then we sat there 2-3 minutes (or longer, I don't know) while they asked me "어떤 병원" (which type of hospital) I wanted to go to. I kept thinking, I dunno, one that can fix me??? There was another foreigner there, talking to me in English, asking me if I could speak Korean, and trying to translate, and I had to talk to her, thinking, like, I understand what they're saying, but I don't understand what they're asking. What do you mean what type of hospital??? I still don't know what that means. Finally they asked where I live. I said by SNU Station. They finally decided to take me to 중앙대학교병원 (Chung-Ang University Hospital). And, being Korea, even though there was some girl in a chair surrounded by ambulance people, no one wanted to get out of the way, or let us on the elevator first. So after the "what kind of hospital" incident, and waiting forever for an elevator, my face felt really warm, and I was starting to see black. I tried so hard on the elevator not to pass out, and I think it worked? I felt instantly better when we got out of the elevators and into the main area (right when you come down the stairs from outside). Anyway, the highlight of the trip was when they asked me for my transit card so they could beep it on the way out! What.the.heck. They charge the base fare on the way in. Guess they really need that extra 10-20 cents if I traveled further than 5km! (Though I had only gone 2 stations, so...) So I had to dig through my purse for my phone (I keep my transit card in a pocket in the phone case), and because I have a bunch of other cards, I had to use one hand to hold the tissue on my face, and the other to pull my transit card out of the phone case... and.. what the hell.
So we finally make it to the ambulance. My first ambulance ride! And they bent the chair back and just lifted the top part and slid it on the bed-thing. Pretty sweet. Unlike US ambulances, though, Korean ambulance people aren't medical people. I'm sure they have CPR training and stuff, but they can't do much but fill out your hospital forms and, in my case, with a broken and bleeding lip, make you laugh (to pass the time? I dunno). The dude was so damn relieved I spoke Korean (sort of. Definitely not my most eloquent of days... but given the head injury, we'll pretend it's cool). I remember him telling the ER nurse when we came in, and her making this face of relief. Anyway, they also don't get priority at red lights (they have to wait like other cars) and no one really moves out of the way. It's pretty shitty and ridiculous. Seriously. Shit like this is ridiculous. Someone's possibly dying... Ugh. Anyway. So the trip felt like it took forever. And the dude kept talking to me. Perhaps to make sure I wasn't unconscious? I dunno. I was a little disoriented. He also gave me some gauze with some liquid that burned to use on my face, instead of my ajumma-tissue.
Eventually we made it to the ER. Also a first! A nurse talked to me, asked my name, etc, etc. But luckily the ambulance dude had pretty much filled out my forms (from looking at my alien card, and asking me a few things). They gave me some wristband with my name on it. And then I waited a long time (again, it could've been 5 minutes but it felt like forever) for a doctor to come. I was the only one there, though. He asked me what happened. And he had a trainee in tow (it's a teaching hospital), so he moved my foot in every possible direction, most of which hurt, and was saying stuff like, "Well, the patient said it only hurts if you move it this way, but if you moved it this way and it hurt it could be (this) problem." Yep... So in total, my left ankle, my knees, my chin, front left tooth, lip and forehead hurt. So I had to see different doctors for all of it. Though the guy that not-so-gently inspected my foot also inspected my lip, and dumped a bunch of saline-like solution on it... by putting a plastic tarp thing under my head and dumping about a litre of liquid into it. It was almost up to my ears (and soaked into my jacket) by the time they were done. But it was after that that I finally assessed the damage:
I actually didn't take many photos, but I did get that one, because I had no other way to see myself, besides with my phone's camera.
So, they took a bunch of xrays of my foot, and my face, including some special dental xray (where I bit down on some plastic bar, and a thing spun around my head) for my tooth, which was numb (and pushed a little backwards, but thankfully still in my mouth). Once again, KNOWING THEY WERE TAKING PHOTOS OF A POSSIBLY BROKEN FOOT, the xray techs were totally not gentle, moving it whatever way they needed. I suppose they assumed it was faster than explaining shit in Korean to a foreigner? Who knows. But that didn't help things, haha. And finally, they dealt with my lip. And finally, someone spoke English! He told me all the xrays looked good. As in, no bones in my jaw, forehead, or foot were broken. And my tooth was also okay (no chips/cracks). He put some blue cloth thing (like in the movies!) over my mouth, but I could still see. He did the first couple stitches before the anesthetic cream kicked in.. so that hurt. But afterwards I didn't feel anything, but seeing the needle going up and down was still freaking me out. Anyway, I ended up with 7 stitches. And he told me (of course) there'd be a scar forever. :\
That's a photo I took about a week later, actually, because he bandaged it up nicely after he finished stitching. My lip was super puffy, and the very bottom stitch poked out from the bottom of the bandage (as the cut went a little bit into my lip), but.. it felt better already. (Probably the anesthetic, ha.)
Then the foot guy with his student in tow came back and told me it was probably just 인대(in-dae), or my ligament. Nothing showed up on the xray. He told me I could just go home. I'm like... "What? Just go home? I got in this mess because my foot wouldn't support my weight.. what do you mean just walk out of here?" Ugh. So I tried, thinking.. okay... maybe it magically got better in 3 hours? Nope. I took two steps (toward the nurses station, heh) and almost passed out again from spots. I said there was no way I could walk out of there. So a nurse (not the same lady as at first) went to get some dude to give me a cast (a splint, really) and crutches. Another nurse came and told me my appointment time with the foot doctor. (For my face, they actually asked me what time I wanted. But I guess there's only one foot/ankle specialist.) He came and said either he could cut my pants, or I could change into this hospital gown(pants). Who actually chooses to have their pants cut?? Anyway, so I changed into that, and he put the splint on my foot. It was actually pretty cool. He wrapped it in some puffy..gauze.. like stuff. Then two ACE bandages. Then he took out this long piece of cloth..something.. that got really hot and molded to my foot and became hard. It was just the back half of my foot, though. Then more ACE bandages. Some dude fit me for my crutches. Then I got two antibiotic shots in my ass (seriously, why, Korea, why??) from some embarrassed-looking male nurse.. got my meds and paid my bill at the main counter.. and was on my way home. There were a ton of taxis right outside, so I didn't have to hobble far on my crutches.
The whole thing, from fall to ER to arriving back home took about 3-3.5 hours. The bill for everything was $210. I have Korean National Insurance, but I'm not actually sure how much that paid for. Still, that's a fraction of an ambulance bill in the US, so... More on the follow-up checkups and recovery later. This post is long enough.^^
I'd say the left photo about sums the experience up: exhausting. But, as I've said many times, it could have been a lot worse, considering I basically blacked out and fell on my face. Anything could have happened. It's been a month since that day, as I write this. The scar's noticeable if you know I have it, but it's not too bad.. and it's suppose to get keep getting better in the next few months. My tooth is (thus far) okay, besides being pushed back a bit (and still feeling a little odd). My ankle still hurts, but I can walk on it. Etc. etc. But more on all this later. :)
