Korean Hospitals Day 2

Well we went back to the hospital today for a follow-up appointment for Zane. We got there and the translator was with another patient so we had to wait, which was fine. The waiting room was much busier today than yesterday, must be a Saturday thing, and there were kids of all ages running around. We saw a different doctor today and she said things sound good. They gave Zane another nebulizer treatment and sent us on our way with more drugs. There were other kids in the treatment room so we had to wait. That is one of the differences between Western medicine and Korean medicine, everyone is in the same treatment room but then all the doctor's offices is where you see the doctor. She didn't even come out from behind her desk, Zane had to sit on a stool next to her desk to have his lungs listened too. We left today with a long list of drugs, which we looked up upon getting home to see what we are giving our little boy. He has a good antibiotic, a natural expectorant and a patch for his chest. We decided not to give him what they called, an anti-inflammorty, which was a steroid, and we never gave it to him. It has been an interesting experience.

These are the bags that all the medicine got sent home in along with the dosing directions in English. We though you all might enjoy seeing the packaging.

Zane is doing great and back to being himself. He was up at 7:30 this morning and has been going strong. We had to get him to lay down and rest for a bit in our room with a movie. He would much rather be outside playing but we think he needs to take it easy for another day.


Liz, Jim and Zane

Korean Hospitals

The other day I was thinking how I really needed to start blogging again as I haven't written as much as I liked. Well we just got home from the hospital in the next town, Gumi Cha, as the little man started having trouble breathing. We did take him to the clinic here but they aren't capable of giving him the proper treatment at our clinic. We had a good experience and for that I am very thankful as I know lots of folks who have had some terrible visits to the Korean hospitals. They are different than the states but the one thing that remains the same is that they want the sick person to get better! We got to the hospital and went to the International Clinic and then got taken up to Pediatrics. The doctor listened to Zane and sent us down to X-ray. The whole time we had a nurse with us who spoke very good English. And I did get to use my Korean but my vocabulary in the medical area is a bit limited. Jim and I were able to see the results of the X-ray as they got taken and both saw the spot on his lungs and knew it was pneumonia. Zane had it last year at this time and I am now wondering if this is going to be a yearly thing for November. He doesn't get sick often but when he does get sick, he gets sick. After  the x-rays, we went back to the doctors office where she told us what she was going to do and decided that Zane didn't need to stay in the hospital over night. They gave Zane a neb treatment and then asked us to come back in 2 hours for another. We decided to go get lunch and them waited up in the pediatrics unit. It was fun to people watch and see the looks we got as foreigners sitting in a Korean hospital. I also love being able to listen to the conversations and not saying anything. Zane is now asleep in his bed and we are all ready for naps. We have a patch to put on his chest tonight and go back to the doctor's tomorrow.  I do know that God was with us on our journey today as things went very smoothly and everyone was so kind to us. Our biggest fear was that Zane was going to have to take penicillin, he is allergic, and the doctor gave him some other antibiotic.  It has been a long day and we are all ready for a nap. I am hoping that Zane starts to feel better soon and that we get some sleep this evening.

This is Zane getting his treatment. He didn't want to at first but when he realized it helped him feel better he was good. He did a great job today and we are very proud of him!

Trials and Tribulations of our preschooler.

The last few days between Zane and I have been very rough. Our sweet little boy was just not his normal happy self after a fall out between he and I. Neither Jim nor I are sure of why but we have a few ideas besides the fallout,  Zane hasn't been sleeping as much as normal and trying to give up his nap, of which I am not giving into the idea of. Jim has been working a lot due to a training exercise and it might be that he misses and wants time with daddy. What ever the issue has been, we had a GREAT day today! I have spent the past few days doing a lot of praying, reading, crying and talking. This morning when the little guy got up he wanted to cuddle so that is what we did, spent time cuddling. He went to school and when he got off the bus was in an ok mood but the minute we got in the house started getting testy and pushing buttons. He didn't want to take a nap and argued but he feel asleep so fast when his head hit the pillow he couldn't argue anymore. He woke up a very happy go lucky kid, like the sweet Zane we know he can be on a regular basis. He played with his daddy, helped me grate cheese for dinner, of course his idea of helping was to take a big bite out of the brick and after dinner we went to the park. I know that God doesn't give us more than we can handle and at times gives us trials to make us stronger. It has been a hard couple of days and I know that there will be many more over the years.  We are so blessed to have a loving and caring God! 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Love you all,
Liz

Rain

Good morning from rain filled Waegwan. I think we have woken up with rain since the tropical storm came through last week. All we got was a lot of rain and it was expected to be much worse but the storm took a turn and we didn't get the winds that were predicted.

It is hard to believe that we have been here almost 6 months already, the time has flown by and we are enjoying ourselves. We have been wanting to get out and see more of the area where we are living but either due to rain, the weather being to hot or Jim having to work we haven't gotten to do a lot of site-seeing  but we have a little under 3 years to get all of that done so no hurries or worries.  The time here has been good for us as a family as we do get to spend more time together and that is saying a lot. It was nice not to have Jim deploy this year thanks to God and the move to Korea. I can say that a lot of our friends have been in our prayers as they have just gone back or are getting ready to go again.  This is the longest time we have been together as a family under the same roof. We know that God has been working hard in our little family and we can see the wonderful changes He is blessing us with.

In the past week Zane has just grown up over night and there are times when I wish he would just slow down. This past Sunday night I got back from Bible study late so we ran to post to get dinner. He told me he had to go to the bathroom, daddy just left to go, and so I said ok and started to follow him. He turned to me and said, "No mommy, I can go by myself." No idea where that came from but it is happening a lot! Last night we are getting ready to sit down for dinner and he says, "Wait a minute, we have to turn off the tv."  So he goes to turn off the transformer as the tv was already off, but it all had to be turned off. He even tried to carry the oranges and bananas back from the little store down the street but they were to heavy. He loves to help and is turning into such a little gentleman.  Zane is also our little reminder at dinner that we have to pray before we eat yet he has usually started to eat before that happens. It is nice to get such a wonderful little reminder
from God on a daily basis.

Nothing amazing or exciting, other than my mom's visit has happened in the past few weeks but I have felt the need to blog and just let everyone know we are doing well. We do enjoy it here and everyone is welcome to come and visit as you will have a place to stay. It might be an air mattress but we do have hot water and a nice little home. We are learning that there are lots of things out there we can live without and being here has opened our eyes to other things as well. It is amazing to be living in country that is so old, historically yet so young in other areas, I think for Jim and I being away from Seoul has shown us that more than anything. Waegwan is the country to Korea and we have seen horse drawn carts going down the streets. There are rice fields all around us and I can't wait to see the rice get picked and dried.  It has been amazing to see the building across the street go up and almost all by hand. The would pour one floor with molds of boards and metal pipes, wait for that to dry before pouring another. We have wanted to go in to the building to see what the apartments/homes look like but haven't been able too. It is weird not to have to walk around with house keys but remember codes to get into your building or your home. 

I can't think of much else to say and that might be good as I am hearing the little man start to wake up. One good thing about the rain as he does sleep better!  I will do my best to blog more often even if it is just a few sentences or words.

Love and miss you all,

Jim, Liz and Zane

Dotori Restuarant

Well tonight we went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. Since we have been here I have heard good things about a restuarant by the name of Dotori. Well we finally found it, beautiful drive to get there and had a very good dinner. We had smoked duck, pork belly, beef, sausage and shrimp. I must say that the duck was very good and so was the beef. It came to the table cooked but all got put on a hot grill in front of us on a spit. Of course all Zane wanted was the ice cream seeing as he saw the machine as we walked in the door. He did finally get his ice cream after he ate his dinner.  It was a new experience but Jim and I agree that it is a great date night place! The restuarant sits on a lake and has a playground for kids along with a slide that goes into a swimming pool, kid friendly. Of course it was raining so Zane didn't get to go in the pool. While at dinner, Zane and I seemed to have chopstick issues, dropping a combination of three, 2 for Zane and 1 for me. Jim on the other hand did much better than we did with his chopsticks!

I hope you enjoy the pictures and are all doing well.

Love and miss you all,

Liz

Zaneism's

Well it is true that they grow up way to fast and that the things that come out of their mouth is priceless.This past week Zane has been sick so he would tell us, "I want my energy. Need more energy." He is back to his normal energizedself.

Last night, just a laugh made by parents, as he was picking up his toys, he had two footballs so he says, "I have two balls." And he did, one under each arm. 

This morning he had to wear his new uniform to school and it is plaid. Zane says, "no mommy, I don't wear this one, my other uniform." I guess it doesn't matter how old they get boys don't like plaid.

I am sure that over the years we will have many more things come out of his mouth that are cute and not so cute.

Just thought I would share.

Love you all,
Liz

Driving

While waiting for Zane to get off the bus today I saw something I never thought I would see in my lifetime. I guess as Americans we are very conditioned to putting our children is safety seats. When you drive in Korea you do put your life in your own hands as there aren't very many stop signs nor lights. I haven't seen much use of turn signals unless the driver is foreign. Child safety seats are not necessarliy used here and are expensive, they are in the states too depending on the brand you purchase.  I have seen kids all over backseats not in child seats or seatbelts. I have seen babies and toddlers in a car seat in the passenger seat and facing forward as well. Today though took the cake. I witnessed a young lady wearing her child in a front carrier get behind the wheel of her car with her child in the carrier and drive away. I cringed and wanted to ask her what she was thinking but knew it wasn't my place. I can honestly say that I am worried about that child and hope that I never have to see something like that again but I know that I will during our time here.  We, as Americans, are so taught about child safety and there are so many laws regarding the safety of our children that I would think at some point in time it might rub off elsewhere. I haven't seen many accidents in our almost 3 months here but when they do happen they are usually not good. Korea does consider all of her drivers to be professional and it makes me wonder if they would survive with what we consider to be professional drivers. I know that I will see many more strange things, to me, while I am here but what is perfectly normal to this nation.