back from the horse spittle

I got back from the hospital earlier than I thought I would. I guess it was a slow day (or there were no-shows) because I got bumped from a 4:50 p.m. appointment to a 4:15 appointment. I got to Samsung Hospital two hours beforehand, like a good little boy, and immediately saw they'd rearranged everything—nothing was where it had been three years earlier: the diabetes center had moved; the blood-work center was in a different spot, and everywhere I went, I had to ask directions. My paperwork was only partially helpful, basically telling me what building and what floor to go to, but beyond that, I had to talk to staffers for the details.

The day began with three tests, and one nurse suggested I do them in a different order from what was on the paper, so I did my blood sample first, then the chest x-ray, then the electrocardiogram. These tests take time to process, hence the two-hours-early arrival time. Lastly, there was the consult, which occurred in Room 8 of the cardio wing. I was done with all of my tests by 2:30 p.m., so I shuffled over to the cardio wing to wait for my 4:50 consult. Once I got there, I was told there was one last thing to do, but I'd expected it: my BP. There were several BP stations in the front section of the cardio wing; I scanned my patient number at one of them, sat down, hit "start," and let the machine do its thing. I saw with grim satisfaction that, even though these machines often seem to inflate my BP numbers, I was still slightly below normal thanks to the enormous amounts of meds I've been taking. It seems that nothing short of a good pounding by Thor's hammer is enough to tamp my BP down.

I'm the "KIM" who's next in line. They never write the name in Korean.

Looking and feeling woozy from taking meds last night and then fasting from yesterday to this appointment.

When Dr. Park saw me, she commented that my heart condition had "stabilized," but that I was still on the weak side. I told her about my meds and my wooziness; I'm not sure I completely understood her reply, but it sounded as though she were saying she'd lower the meds a bit this time around, but lowering them further would require a few months' more time to see what progress I'm making. If, around July, I'm still improving, then she'll lower the meds even more. We talked a bit about exercise and chest pain, and she basically said to take it easy. Key take-away concepts from the consult were "stabilized," "improved," and "still needs improvement." And after only five minutes, I was done.

Once I left Samsung, my first priority—after paying for tests and consults and then hunting down my meds at the local pharmacy (more money out the window)—was to get some food into me. I've done that, and I feel a bit better now, but I'll likely be resting for the rest of today. My next appointment, for both cardio and diabetes, is in about a month (28 days), and those consults are rather spread apart on the schedule: one at 11:10 a.m., and one at 5:20 p.m. I'll once again have to be at the hospital two hours early to run the same three tests I had today. This next appointment is on May 24, a Friday, so I won't be at work at all on that day. I'm going to have to work some weekends to make up for these absences. Not fun.