anniversary

One year ago, almost to the minute now, I was stumbling into a South Korean hospital, frightened and pissing blood. It's kinda jarring to think about what exactly was happening to me a year ago this second. I mean, that was almost it for me.

I was on vacation last week. I didn't go anywhere or do anything. There were two reasons for my stagnation: lack of money, and lack of someone to travel with. It feels a bit like a missed opportunity, being in Asia and not travelling during one of my rare vacations. However, I'm the kind of guy who can really enjoy not doing anything for a week.

Actually, one thing that I did manage to do was to get a platelet count. Whilst I was back in the States, I got myself on Medicaid. I was periodically seeing a hematologist and getting blood counts. The last time I saw him he advised me to get blood counts in Korea. So I did that on Thursday. It was 226,000, or roughly 226 times the amount I had at this moment one year ago.

It was horrible, being back in a hospital here and having my blood tested. It vividly reminded me of just how awful the whole experience was last year, and of how much I haven't missed being in a waiting room full of sick, elderly Korean hematology patients who don't stop staring at me.

One more thing I have to mention. The doctor I saw could speak a little English. However, as is the case with a lot of Koreans (or I'd imagine anybody for whom English is not their first language), they know a lot of words, but don't know exactly when to use them. By that I mean they may use a word that if going strictly by its definition makes sense in the context, but for some reason just sounds out of place. Anyway, when he told me the result, he said, "Congratulations, your count is 226,000." It was the "congratulations" that stuck out to me. Made me feel like a real winner.