My Little Surgery

I am not sure how many people knew this (Mom and girlfriend, but that might be it) but I have had a cyst on my head for the last few years. Nothing serious but just a bit unsightly when my hair was short. With a little time off I opted to finally get it removed. Being that the only time I could get off was this Thursday and Friday, I cancelled my trip to Seoul and got it done Thursday at Fatima Hospital (see last entry).

It was very smooth and almost no pain in the cyst removal. I was joking with the nurse while it was being done. I did lose a fair bit of blood (a combination of veins in the head, higher than normal blood pressure and the position of the cyst) but nowhere near danger levels. I was then given a prescription and Chung man (a hero from our head office who will have a classy bottle of Korean alcohol sent to him this week) drove me home. The cyst (which looks like a little white and red Hershey's kiss) will be sent out for a biopsy. 99.9% chance it'll come back negative but being as it is included in the cost of the surgery (130,000 won, or about $125 USD by the way), it seems stupid not to send it out.

I have to go back everyday to have the bandage changed (or every other day after Saturday) and if it is good the stitches come out on Wednesday (next Monday if I need extra time or fresh stitches) which is a pain more for the commute than the changing. Otherwise I am in no pain. After I got the bandage changed today I went shopping and met Will for lunch. No problems.

The only downsides are that I will have a little bald spot for a few months, so I'll have to have really short hair until it grows in again. I also have a large bandage on my head which requires covering with a hat that sits way too high on my head whenever I go out (the Fresh Prince look). The antibiotics also make me incredible hungry (aren't stoners always hungry?) so I am eating a lot, and not always the most healthy food (damn those $5 bags of Kettle chips).

As a final note, I have taken care of my knee and cyst, this included three consultations, two prescriptions, an xray, a minor surgery and a follow up. So far I am at 175,000 won total (around 165USD/180CAN) and all done in two weeks. Even with no Korean insurance it would have been around $1000USD total. Hospital was amazing, clean and efficient. I can see why medical tourism is on the rise the way it is in Korea (their fastest growing tourist sector I believe). I mean that would bankrupt me in the US and wait times in Canada or some European countries would have had this all taking six months with many, many unnecessary referrals (why do I need a referral from my GP to go to a neurologist when I can just go to the neurologist?). Korea has never impressed me as much as it has this month. Simply amazing.