Good morning reader, 

This last week felt like we are fully integrated into our teaching, schedules, and settled here at DGEV. One last integration for me is getting my medication finalized here in South Korea. 

We set up Korean phones a few weeks ago with Korean SIM cards, I then immediately called Fatima Hospital to schedule an appointment to see if I can get my prescription filled for my Crohn’s diagnosis. 

I got an appointment for the following week Thursday, Sept. 30th. 

Fatima Hospital is close to the Dondaegu Train Station, which is the major intersection of getting to bigger cities from downtown Daegu. It was an easy commute to Fatima, it definitely took some time in getting there with public transportation though, leaving DGEV it took about an hour and 40 minutes getting in the door. I took our bus shuttle leaving campus to Taejeon station, to the monorail to Myeongdeok station, then to Dondaegu station, once at Dondaegu popped outside of the station and followed my map to walk to Fatima Hospital - it was a long walk and I was running late so hustled across streets to get there. Navigated the entrance ( I picked the right doors!) and the International hospital was down the long hallway right in front of me. 

Once inside the small, little international office, it was all a very easy experience, which I was hoping & expecting. The nurse at the desk spoke great English, got me a slip of paper to bring up to the 3rd floor to room 301 the Digestive Center, and to my doctor - who supposedly spoke great English. I went up to the 3rd floor at noon, to wait to be ushered into my doctor’s office. His first question for me was “Please tell me your complaint” which I found funny, but quickly stated I’m looking to refill my prescription. He was nice, our communication was short as I found his English wasn’t that great, I found it limiting. But we navigated fine, I handed over my letter from my doctor stating that I was diagnosed with Crohn’s in 2019 and prescribed Stelara in the same year. After reading this letter he made two phone calls, wrote some notes on a post-it note with each call, finally looked at me and explained I would need to bring or send over my full medical records so that they can confirm the diagnosis themselves, as well as have all my paperwork to file for insurance purposes - as he said to me “Stelara is really expensive, and the Korean health insurance will have to go over documents to verify I need this medicine.” Which all makes sense. 

Stelara is a shot injection that I have been taking every 8 weeks since October of 2019, I brought a travel dose with me to Korea and took my last shot on Aug. 30th - my next shot should be no later than October 24th. I explained, and he knew too, that we are in a bit of a time crunch, but if I could email over my documents they can start working on the prescription. I’m hoping at my next appointment with him I can schedule a date to come to the hospital for my shot, here in Korea I will need to come to the hospital for it, not have it shipped to me as I have been in the States. 

With work it is hard to get time off, Friday’s are the best day as it’d be easy for me to catch our 2:10 pm bus and get into town without interfering with the schedule, but this doctor is only in the office M-Th, I’m hoping I won’t have the same constraints with scheduling coming in for my shot. My follow-up appointment is this week Wednesday. Both fingers are crossed that this appointment goes smoothly and can lock in everything that I need to to get a shot scheduled for sometime before the 24th of the month!

This weekend: 

We went out with some of our friends to Vaunce Trampoline Park inside Shinsegae Mall on Saturday evening. We were 30-40 year-old’s jumping around with 4-7 year-olds on trampolines it was the best thing we’ve done in a long time. We celebrated Shewa’s birthday by doing obstacle courses, rock climbing, jumping video games, we played dodgeball on trampolines … it was fantastic. We ended the night with pizza and drinks - take that covid birthdays!! 

Most videos from Shewa, photos from Eric & me.

Please enjoy how badly I dance to instructions. 

Other notes from the week: 

We finished watching Squid Game I highly recommend everyone to check it out, you’ll need to have a stomach for a bit of violence & blood.

Two: I’ve been crushing books during our long commutes to schools. Recommendations: 

Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy by Adam Jentleson (for all you politically inclined) and 

Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (for all you interested in human interactions via psychology and chain effects.)

Three: we’re getting the full K-pop exposure, all the kids here are dancing to this song: https://youtu.be/4TWR90KJl84