Day 9 (Saturday 27th June 2009)

I had a shower this morning, my legs were quite sore. My friend wheeled me to the elevator then left me there while he returned the chair to the room. Finally we walked slowly to the car, and another girl got into the front seat. She spoke English well and told us she is from LA. When we got to the clinic, she also helped me to walk. We waited around for an hour then Amy made me move to the recovery room for the IV. I got bruised up from yesterday’s IV so she injected me in the area where blood is drawn from. My left leg was really sore. It took a while for the medicine to work. I had yummy prawn rice flour rolls. Dr Park walked in while we ate so he left us and said enjoy your lunch. A while later I really needed to go to the toilet, I tried to put my legs down but the pressure hurt too much so I lay back down. After a while I tried again, and Amy walked in this time. She helped me walk to the toilet but this time I used the male ones because it’s closer. I only realised after when I was walking out and looked at the door. I have been looking down when I try to walk, Dr Park tells me to look up!

When we got back to the room, Dr Park got me to stand up and try to straighten my back. He says my back is straining a lot. He pulled my left arm up into the air to stretch my back out. Then he pushed my knee straight. I fell forward and my hand landed on his head. Oh the horror. I cried because it was too sudden, he didn’t let me warm up first. It hurt when he touched behind my left leg, its sensitive to touch, very bruised. My assignment is to practise standing up over the weekend. Dr Park said I am the worst patient he ever had- I think in terms of both recovery and my cry babying. I need to come back again on Monday.

After the stretching, I was able to walk a lot better. Even the driver noticed and commented. When I got back into the room, I kept my knee straight by laying on my tummy and then turning over to my back and bending my knee once I a while. I got up on my flat thongs and was able to straighten both legs, but the left only for a couple of seconds. I don’t want to aggravate it too much. I fell asleep while on my tummy and awoke when my calf contracted. I have been getting up every so often to practise standing up. Kok79 said she walked with her legs wide apart. Maybe that’s why I can’t walk, because I have been standing with my legs quite close together. The pain is better right now, its 10:52pm in Seoul. I can feel my heels are very sore, from all the pressure I put onto them. I hope things will improve tomorrow.