Experience in a Korean hospital

I felt I should share my experience in a Korean hospital with those of you who should ever need medical care for fractures in Korea. While trying to turn a double pirouette en arabesque yesterday morning, I slipped and something cracked in my left foot.
Ossi drove me to Yonsei Severance Hospital in Sinchon, where Dr. Linton, a Korea-born American MD runs the International Health Care Center, which is a not very cheap, but very comfortable place for foreigners needing medical care to turn to. The hospital is vast, modern and inspires one with trust.
I was seated into a wheelchair - the first time in my life, yippie! And was driven to the x-ray center by my husband. I felt I could get used to that kind of comfort :)

After the first x-ray it was clear I broke the 5th metatarsal foot bone - obviously a very typical sports injury as the bone couldn't stand the pressure from the botched pirouette. The bone was also shifted out of alignment through the hard hit it received. Dr. Linton said I might need surgery. But it seems medical doctors in Korea always tell you the worst case first. Although Dr. Linton is American, he grew up in Korea, is completely fluent in Korean and does have a Korean mind. Well, at least he didn't mention amputation.

Dr. Linton sent me to an orthopedic specialist in the same hospital. The advantage of such a huge hospital is that they have all the specialists in-house, but the disadvantage is that you have to go to ten different places and in each place wait for your turn, which consumes a lot of time. All in all, I spent almost 4 hours in the hospital.
The orthopedist was a Korean with limited English knowledge. After having a look at the x-rays, he just told me he needs to do a "reduction" and then put a cast or spline on my foot. I never heard of that word in a medical sense and didn't know what was expecting me, and the physician's English was so poor he couldn't really explain. In fact, I got the feeling medical doctors in Korea never bother to explain anything, even if they speak English well, they don't answer your questions. So I just let them push me into another room where a medical staff was in the process of putting on a cast on another patient's arm.

A few minutes later, the orthopedist entered and told me he was going to do the reduction now, but it would be very painful. However, it would only last about a minute. I stared at him with big round eyes and said: "A reduction? You mean you are going to re-align the bones?" He nodded. "Can you give me some anesthesia for that?" I asked, horrified. He just said: "No." I swallowed hard. I knew it wouldn't make sense starting to argue with a Korean physician. Had that happened to me in Switzerland, I would have asked why he would do it without anesthesia, if there was a particular reason. I could live better with the pain if I knew the reason why I cannot get anesthesia. But here, I just gave in. I checked the internet for "closed reduction of bones" afterwards and found out that normally a local anesthesia is being applied. But not here in Korea, it seems.
The orthopedist got hold of my left foot and started to squeeze the bone into the right position. A sharp pain went through my whole body. I moaned and whined like a baby. I never felt more relieved in my life when the doctor said: "I'm done." After the torturing, they put on a splint and I was wheeled into the x-ray room again. Back in the orthopedist's room, the x-rays showed the reduction had been successful. The bone was nicely realigned again, and the fracture was a mere small line now. The orthopedist warned me not to put any weight on my left foot for the next two weeks, otherwise he would need to perform surgery. I hope at least that would be done under anesthesia! He gave me some prescription for pain killers and dismissed me. In the end, I was glad the reduction, although extremely painful, went well and that I didn't take anesthesia for it. In fact, if it is not absolutely necessary, doing it without probably speeds up the healing process. But the physicians here wouldn't bother to explain that to you.

Dr. Linton came by and gave me a pair of crutches. I am in the process of getting used to balancing on one leg and stumbling around with the crutches now, which is really harder than I thought. Small things in life, like short distances and stairs became an almost invincible obstacle. The next few weeks I would have to take a cab to work. I tried to take the subway yesterday evening, but it was so stressful I decided not to even think about taking it during the rush hour.
To all of you living in Korea: Try not breaking anything here, especially no fractures where you need a closed reduction.