The Fluent Mind ESL Podcast by Jack McBain

January 21, 2024 Topic Talk | The Jack & 'Chill Podcast 07

In this episode of The Jack & 'Chill Podcast, Xochitl and Jack talk about medical emergencies.

Transcript:

00:00:03

Xochitl

Jack, you kind of had a scary experience, not kind of. You definitely had a scary experience this week. Do you want?

00:00:10

Xochitl

To tell our viewers about it.

00:00:12

Jack

Yeah, I would, I.

00:00:13

Jack

Would love to to share this. Some of our listeners out there who are students in our world English.

00:00:22

Jack

Google meets class.

00:00:24

Jack

I know that I've I have been absent lately. The last week or so, and about a week ago, my father had a a major heart attack which was terrifying, you know, for our family and when the.

00:00:45

Jack

The doctors did tests and everything they found that basically.

00:00:50

Jack

All the arteries and artery is like it's like a tube that carries blood.

00:00:55

Xochitl

Again, laser vein, right a major vein.

00:00:57

Jack

Right. Because your heart pumps.

00:00:59

Jack

Blood to the rest of your.

00:01:01

Jack

Body and it and blood feeds into the heart and then it pumps out and.

00:01:09

Jack

His his arteries were all blocked like they were up. Some of them were 99% blocked, which is, I mean, you're he. He was not getting enough blood. Umm.

00:01:23

Jack

And uh. And so he ended up having.

00:01:26

Jack

A heart attack.

00:01:27

Jack

And you know, it's the life when when you lived the life that social and I have lived like, where you work overseas.

00:01:40

Jack

You're so far away from home and it's very difficult to receive news that your your family member is is really sick or having a very serious medical emergency.

00:01:54

Jack

And so it was really. Here's an English expression, touch and go and touch and go means it was very delicate. Like he was very close.

00:02:07

Jack

To to death.

00:02:09

Jack

And luckily my my brother and his his wife were visiting my parents and they both work in the medical profession.

00:02:20

Jack

Motion and my brother noticed the symptoms in my father and and and brought him into the hospital, and my dad has not left the hospital since that time and he actually went and had a a, a quadruple bypass and quadruples.

00:02:41

Jack

It just means 4 quad means 4.

00:02:44

Jack

UM triple bypass means 3 double bypass means two and bypass means one and so he had a A4 bypasses quadruple bypass surgery where they connect arteries. They basically go around.

00:03:04

Jack

The bad part of the artery? The the tube that carries blood into the heart and out of the heart. And they, you know, created new tubes that were clear.

00:03:17

Jack

And clean and they take those tubes from other parts of your body, like from your leg. Or maybe your arm. I'm not sure. And and they harvest them. They they put them, they sew them into.

00:03:37

Jack

Into the heart and he he had that surgery and I just talked to him before the podcast maybe 10 minutes ago.

00:03:46

Jack

No, and he's out of surgery and he's doing really, really well. And so it was one of those, like, just terrifying moments where.

00:03:58

Jack

You know, you you.

00:04:01

Jack

You do that kind of like thinking in your head like is.

00:04:05

Jack

Is that the last time I'm gonna?

00:04:08

Jack

Talk to my dad, you know, like, is this is this it like and and and you know, before he went into surgery.

00:04:16

Jack

And so for those 24 hours while he was, you know, in surgery and and coming out of the surgery.

00:04:23

Jack

It was, you know, I was trying to distract myself by listening to podcasts or, you know, talking with my wife and stuff like that. But luckily, everything went really, really well. And so it looks like he's going to make a full recovery.

00:04:43

Jack

And you know, and for any of our our listeners out there or anyone and I know that you recently experienced a loss in your family. I've experienced a a pretty significant loss a couple of years ago and it's it's just really scary and painful.

00:05:04

Jack

UM, all the uh. Here's another expression.

00:05:08

Jack

In English, the woulda coulda should uh.

00:05:11

Jack

Moments. You know, I would have said something I could have said something. And so my big take away, the lesson I learned from this is, you know, hug your loved ones a little bit harder today, you know, because you we just don't know the future.

00:05:32

Jack

We we do do not know the.

00:05:34

Jack

Future and and and all the little petty grievances that we have with with our our relatives or our friends are so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, you know we.

00:05:55

Jack

You know, we we hold on to.

00:05:56

Jack

Those those things that we.

00:05:58

Jack

We shouldn't be holding on to and you have to let those go and just just squeeze your loved ones tightly and tell them that you love them because you just never know when when you're, when they're going to be gone and and sometimes it.

00:06:19

Jack

It takes a wake up call like almost losing a a parent or a friend or a sibling.

00:06:27

Jack

Before you you realize that, and once they're gone, it's it's too late, you know, to to do that. And so I feel like I got a second chance to really, you know, just say to my father, dad, I love you. You're you're amazing and.

00:06:46

Jack

And I feel so lucky and so blessed that I got that opportunity because it could have really gone the other way very easily.

00:06:55

Jack

And uh, you know, those are the the important things in life is family and and and friends and and loved ones that that's what really matters. So yeah that was the the harrowing experience that that we've been dealing with in my family here for.

00:07:14

Jack

The last week or so.

00:07:17

Xochitl

That's terrible, Jack. I'm really sorry you've been dealing.

00:07:20

Xochitl

With all of that.

00:07:21

Jack

Well, thanks. Yeah. Yeah, I I, I I know we're we don't need to to, you know, keep talking about this but it kind of brought you you mentioned the topic of like family emergencies and things like that and.

00:07:40

Jack

What about you?

00:07:40

Jack

Have you experienced any like family emergencies that you don't mind sharing with our our podcast listeners?

00:07:48

Xochitl

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I guess the first one would be when my grandfather passed away, I guess that was in October now.

00:07:58

Xochitl

Or the IT was either the end of September or the beginning of October. It's fuzzy in my mind at this point, but.

00:08:07

Xochitl

It feels like.

00:08:08

Xochitl

So long and go.

00:08:09

Xochitl

Now, because how of how the brain like process is lost?

00:08:15

Xochitl

It just feels both so recent and so far at the same time, and and that was.

00:08:21

Jack

Right, right.

00:08:23

Xochitl

Just a big thing because I didn't. I couldn't even fly back to see him in time, really.

00:08:33

Xochitl

That was a big deal. And then recently my grandmother this week as well on Monday.

00:08:41

Xochitl

Wasn't able to get out.

00:08:42

Xochitl

Of bed she wasn't able to stand.

00:08:44

Xochitl

Up on her legs.

00:08:46

Xochitl

And we did call. I eventually convinced them to call the ambulance, which had to come and strap him to a chair because of the driveways, like on a slope. And it's very icy because of the Iowa weather.

00:09:00

Xochitl

And when they got her into the ambulance, they took her to the hospital and they did some imaging and some tests I found out she has pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia in her lungs. Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. For those of you who don't know.

00:09:14

Xochitl

And so.

00:09:17

Xochitl

That was kind of a big deal, but thankfully she's OK and they did tell us that at the hospital, you know, she was good to come home that night around 1:00 or 2:00 AM.

00:09:30

Xochitl

They gave her an antibiotic and she's doing OK.

00:09:34

Xochitl

UM, but it certainly was scary in the moment. She was very confused. I didn't understand. It was why I wanted.

00:09:41

Xochitl

To call the.

00:09:41

Xochitl

Ambulance, she's she.

00:09:43

Xochitl

Had a lot of like confusion and she seemed like lost.

00:09:48

Xochitl

And I thought it was weird. And when they came, they thought, you know, it might be pneumonia or some kind of infection. I didn't understand what the confusion was about, but once it got to her to the hospital, they had to put her on.

00:09:59

Xochitl

Oxygen, because her oxygen was very low.

00:10:02

Xochitl

And of course that makes sense as to.

00:10:04

Xochitl

How it affected her?

00:10:06

Xochitl

Her brain. Right. She wasn't getting that oxygen supply that she needed, which is why she was pretty confused.

00:10:14

Jack

Exactly. Yep.

00:10:16

Xochitl

Yeah, it it it. It was a scary experience and like Jack said, it makes you think, OK, you should enjoy.

00:10:24

Xochitl

Appreciate and value the time you have with people because you never know when the last conversation will be, when your last day together is going to be.

00:10:32

Xochitl

When your last memory together is going to be and I don't think you'll ever regret.

00:10:37

Xochitl

Spending that time together at the end.

00:10:39

발표자

Of it.

00:10:44

Xochitl

Yeah. And another big deal for me, I think is.

00:10:50

Xochitl

It's important to.

00:10:52

Xochitl

See the issues are family are dealing with in their older age as a full warning.

00:10:59

Xochitl

You it's not just about.

00:11:01

Xochitl

How long your life is, but it's about the quality of life that you experience, and at the end of your years, like into your 70s, eighties, 90s. If you make it that far, you want to live as comfortably as you can.

00:11:17

Xochitl

And and that definitely means taking care of your body now. So like your diet, maybe your your health in general keeping on top of any pre-existing conditions or any genetic conditions. You know that your family had, you know, keep screening for those things always prioritize your health get enough sleep.

00:11:38

Xochitl

Eat healthy, sleep enough, drink enough water, do regular exercise and keep your body in good condition. Don't wear it out, you know.

00:11:47

Xochitl

Because it.

00:11:48

Xochitl

It works very hard every day and it's going to have to last you.

00:11:53

Xochitl

Probably 80 years at this point, you know, because of life expectancy altogether when a new baby is born is probably going to live into its 70s or 80s, so.

00:12:03

Xochitl

Yeah, it's important to take care of your body.

00:12:06

Jack

Yeah, we have a. This is another little idiom. Uh, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

00:12:20

Jack

And what that means is just a little bit of a little bit of prevention early on like taking care of like what you said, your health, watching your diet, getting some exercise, getting good sleep. Sleep is really, really important.

00:12:40

Jack

Uh, I think it's the one that most people ignore.

00:12:46

Jack

You know and and if you do those things when you're young and you develop those good habits, then as you get older, your quality of life will remain much higher because.

00:13:00

Jack

I don't how many you know, do you?

00:13:02

Jack

Do people want to live to be 90?

00:13:05

Jack

But the last 30 years of their lives, they're basically stuck in a chair.

00:13:11

Jack

You know unable to move.

00:13:15

Jack

I do you do you have any? Like, I have some health issues and I don't mind sharing with the with the, with the listeners out there. A couple of my major health issues. One of them is that I have a genetic.

00:13:35

Jack

High genetically high cholesterol? It's not. It's not really anything that I can control with diet. My cholesterol is just always off the charts. And so I started visiting a cardiologist a couple years ago and a car. A cardiologist is a.

00:13:54

Jack

Is a heart doctor, a heart specialist and he put me on some medicine. They're called statins, and a statin is a medicine that lowers your cholesterol.

00:14:06

Jack

And that was something I I'm really glad I did that because I tried to manage it through my weight and I tried to manage it through my exercise and through my diet, and I was just never able to get my cholesterol under control. And as you can see, because my father just.

00:14:26

Jack

Had a heart attack.

00:14:28

Jack

Is that?

00:14:29

Jack

In my family, we we genetically we're we have a a predisposition which means a high likelihood of of having some kind of heart problems later in life. And I thought if I can just get this under control now in my 40s.

00:14:50

Jack

Maybe I can avoid the same problems that my father just experienced and my grandfather experienced and my uncle and my cousin experienced. I mean, I it's all over my family. I it's it's lots of heart problems on my family, not so much cancer.

00:15:10

Jack

But it feels like it's either one or the other in a family, right? It's like.

00:15:16

Jack

Hearts are hearts great, but cancer, you know, is is common or not so much cancer, but a lot of heart problems. It seems like you can never avoid one of them one or the other.

00:15:20

발표자

Right.

00:15:32

Jack

UM and the other thing that really is, is, uh, too late for me in some ways is that I have really serious back issues. So I've had two back surgeries already.

00:15:47

Jack

And I've it's it's something that really makes it difficult for me to exercise because I was an athlete in in high school and college. I played college basketball. I was in very good shape. You know, as an athlete.

00:16:06

Jack

And one of the things that is kind of common for athletes is once they stop playing competitively, they tend to.

00:16:16

Jack

Gain weight and not remain healthy because there's no reason to exercise because you're not playing anymore games and so one of the the things that happened to me is I just got really, you know, kind of lazy and ate what I wanted to eat. But I wasn't exercising.

00:16:37

Jack

Like I like I was when I was in college and.

00:16:42

Jack

And so for me it's it's a little difficult because I can't run anymore my my spine is just too is too weak. I can't. I can't do long distance running, so I've been doing cycling lately and.

00:17:01

Jack

And and it's just it's it's a a kind of nagging issue and and I and I it's it's uh, it's something I wish I I wish I had.

00:17:11

Jack

Taken care of my back.

00:17:14

Jack

UMA lot better. When I was younger because now I'm kind of paying the price for not taking care of it 20 years ago.

00:17:26

Jack

Uhm and uh and.

00:17:28

Jack

So maybe that's.

00:17:29

Jack

I can give you kind of uh, uh. I could be kind of a a cautionary tale to people who are younger, like your age that take care of your back. Take care of your knees. You know, those are really important if you want to stay healthy because.

00:17:46

Jack

And in order to exercise you need you need to have.

00:17:50

Jack

A. A healthy spine and you need to have healthy knees and I've I've unfortunately had knee surgery, several back surgeries. I'm I'm just a kind of broken down machine.

00:18:10

Jack

It's. Uh, yeah. So I I agree with you 100% what you're talking about is the prevention is is the cure many times.

00:18:21

발표자

Right.

00:18:26

Xochitl

Yeah, I I have.

00:18:28

Xochitl

Some long term health issues as well that I'm trying to to get taken care of here in my 20s so that through my 30s and 40s I can make sure my body.

00:18:39

Xochitl

Is strong enough that it won't keep deteriorating, I guess.

00:18:43

Jack

Right.

00:18:44

Jack

Right.

00:18:46

Jack

Yeah. So I thought that we could transition to something that that is I, I guess the topic today is medical emergencies and we've we've talked about that a little.

00:18:58

Jack

But and we there's a there was a question from one of our our students in, in our WhatsApp group and they were just kind of wondering like what is the the process for like when like when when people go to the hospital?

00:19:19

Jack

In America.

00:19:22

Jack

And what is the uh like? They're asking. UM, what? What is the culture like when visiting a relative in the hospital? And I think it's kind of interesting because I I learned a few things about that in Korea.

00:19:38

Jack

And that it it's different than in America. And I'm I'm wondering if if you have the same experience or?

00:19:48

Jack

What the experience might be like in Mexico as well, because I know that you also have lived there for long periods of time. And so in Korea.

00:19:59

Jack

If your family member has a surgery.

00:20:03

Jack

The family is expected to do a lot of the.

00:20:07

Jack

Kind of caretaking duties know. Obviously, the family is not giving, administering any shots or, you know, drugs or anything like that. They're not doing medical procedures, but if you know, if your family members in the hospital, there's always another family member in the room.

00:20:28

Jack

To you know, give you a pillow.

00:20:32

Jack

Help you eat, make you comfortable and nurses are much more kind of distanced.

00:20:44

Jack

From the patient, they're not. They're not really like sitting there, talking to you and taking care of you. They're they're much more interested in the kind of technical things like giving shots and checking your vital signs and things like that.

00:21:02

Jack

And that's kind of different than the American system. The American system is the nurses do a lot more.

00:21:09

Jack

I've found I've found, like their nurses are, you know they'll they'll, uh, bring your food. They'll help you eat it. They'll take the tray away. They will.

00:21:23

Jack

They'll, you know, give you another pillow if you need a pillow, they'll ask you if you're comfortable. They'll they'll bring you a blanket if you're cold. Or take your blanket off if you're too hot. Those kinds of things. And that was a really kind of shocking difference. I noticed. And the reason I noticed that is because, like I said, I have had several.

00:21:43

Jack

Back surgeries and both of them were in Korea and the first time that I had back surgery in Korea.

00:21:51

Jack

I was I I I was here alone. You know, I wasn't married. And so I was just all alone in this room. And the nurse would come in really quickly, check my IV bag or whatever. And then she would leave. And.

00:22:08

Jack

But my food was just sitting on another table.

00:22:13

Jack

Kind of far away from my bed and.

00:22:18

Jack

No one was there to.

00:22:20

Jack

I couldn't reach it.

00:22:22

Jack

Like it was just they just set it down on the table and walked out.

00:22:27

Jack

And I'm like.

00:22:27

Xochitl

Right. Reach for you.

00:22:28

Jack

How? How am I supposed to? How am I?

00:22:30

Jack

Supposed to eat that? I can't even I can't move.

00:22:33

Jack

And I ended up having to grab this like pole.

00:22:38

Jack

And I had to reach the pole and hook the table and pull the table towards my my bed so that I could reach the the food and it was just really it was. It was really strange because it was.

00:22:58

Jack

They basically expected me to have someone there to take care of me.

00:23:03

Jack

But I didn't have anyone in the country.

00:23:06

Jack

To take care of me.

00:23:07

Jack

So I was kind of left, you know, without missing this this really important piece of of of, of the, of the of the process of, of recovering. And I don't know how. What would you like would you say in America nurses are?

00:23:27

Jack

More hands on in in that regard.

00:23:31

Xochitl

Yeah, I feel like the nurses are kind of the backbone of the medical industry in America, they.

00:23:40

Xochitl

Do a lot of the heavy lifting, like a lot of times, you'll see the doctor for like 5 minutes or 10 minutes, maybe. Probably less, more, more like 5 minutes and the nurse will do everything. They'll take your blood work, they'll swab you.

00:23:45

Jack

Right.

00:23:56

Xochitl

They will ask you, do you know questions or fill fill out your history. They get your background and your story. If you're bedridden like you're old, or you just had a surgery, they'll like change out your bedpan or they'll walk you to the bathroom. They'll get your food for you. Like Jack said, they'll administer your medications.

00:24:15

Xochitl

For you, uh, even if it's just.

00:24:18

Xochitl

A pill? They'll bring it to you.

00:24:19

Xochitl

With water or.

00:24:20

Xochitl

Whatever they'll like. Refill your Sprite. I've been hospitalized a few different times, both in the.

00:24:25

Xochitl

US and in Mexico.

00:24:27

Xochitl

Just this year I was probably hospitalized like 4.

00:24:29

Xochitl

Or five times.

00:24:30

Xochitl

Maybe. Yeah. And they.

00:24:37

Xochitl

Here in the US, like they'll they'll like order.

00:24:39

Xochitl

Food for you. Bring it to you. Give.

00:24:41

Xochitl

You a Sprite, put.

00:24:43

Xochitl

Like SpongeBob on for you on the TV, it feels like being a.

00:24:45

Xochitl

Little kid again. Kind of.

00:24:46

Jack

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:48

Xochitl

And it's kind of nice because all.

00:24:51

Xochitl

You have to do is focus.

00:24:52

Xochitl

About getting better, you don't really have.

00:24:53

Xochitl

To worry about anything.

00:24:56

Xochitl

And as Jack and I have talked about before in the US.

00:25:00

Xochitl

Like, if you're like the process of it is basically like if you're sick with a cold or something, you would go to a clinic. But if your symptoms are more severe, you would go to urgent care.

00:25:13

Xochitl

And if your symptoms are like more severe than that, like either life threatening or you can't really take care of yourself, or it could lead to serious complications and you need like emergency testing or imaging or whatever, then you would go to the.

00:25:28

Xochitl

ER or like?

00:25:29

Xochitl

Emergency room and then you may be hospitalized for a couple of days, depending what your situation is.

00:25:35

Xochitl

And what they see your condition as and like Jack and I have talked about before, it's kind of like a more of a luxury experience. You kind of get your own room.

00:25:46

Jack

Right.

00:25:50

Xochitl

You can like order food off a menu now. Just last time I was.

00:25:52

Jack

Ohh really?

00:25:55

Xochitl

Yeah, there's an.

00:25:55

Jack

OK.

00:25:57

Xochitl

I was hospitalized for a couple days. Uh, when was it, Jack? In December. Right. Because I remember. I was new podcast. I talk about for like two or three days in December and they give you like a menu and you tell the nurse what you want and they order for you and they bring it to you and they give you, like, a drink. Like, you can ask for Sprite or apple juice.

00:26:18

Xochitl

Or whatever you want.

00:26:21

Xochitl

UM and I was just kind of sitting in there. She she asked me if I wanted to turn on the TV. She put SpongeBob on.

00:26:32

Xochitl

And I was just watching SpongeBob in there with like a Sprite and my dinner. And it was just kind of funny because it was basically like being a kid. And you're kind of being waited on hand and foot.

00:26:46

Xochitl

By the nurse.

00:26:48

Xochitl

Doctors and the team, the.

00:26:50

Xochitl

Care team are coming in and out and like.

00:26:52

Xochitl

Asking questions and maybe they're like phlebotomist or whoever is taking your blood. That's the person.

00:26:56

Xochitl

That like, puts a needle in your arm into your vein and takes your blood out so phlebotomist and then, as like a specialist, might come in and get an EKG on you, which is like a they put little stickers on you where they, like, read.

00:27:09

Xochitl

Your heart and your.

00:27:11

Xochitl

UM, basically your heart rate, and make sure there's no like heart murmurs or like issues with your heart.

00:27:18

Xochitl

And yeah, and so nurses do everything. And in Mexico, I would say that's also different, Jack.

00:27:25

Xochitl

The When I went to the public hospital, it's completely free. I had to go twice.

00:27:31

Xochitl

100% free like in the US, it was free for me, but only because I have Medicaid, which is National Health insurance. But if.

00:27:39

Xochitl

I were if.

00:27:40

Xochitl

I didn't have Medicaid.

00:27:41

Xochitl

It would have been thousands and thousands of dollars.

00:27:44

Xochitl

Like probably 10s.

00:27:45

Xochitl

Of thousands of dollars to have been there like a couple of nights.

00:27:50

Xochitl

In Mexico, I have no health insurance, but.

00:27:55

Xochitl

It's absolutely free.

00:27:57

Xochitl

UM, but it's.

00:27:58

Xochitl

Really short staffed.

00:28:01

Xochitl

They have a ton of students in there because there's not like enough doctors or anything, so there's like students trying to take your blood and doing a really terrible job. There's like one nurse running around trying to take care of everyone. There's no rooms. You're all just sitting out in a.

00:28:15

Xochitl

Hallway and these beds?

00:28:17

Jack

Right.

00:28:20

Xochitl

You're not super allowed to have visitors like they're your visitors or people who could visit you.

00:28:25

Xochitl

Have to sit in the waiting room, which are just these steel chairs, but they if they like, if the short staff and it's like night time and stuff, they'll let like one person through like the lady who was in front of me, like on her little hospital bed. She was using a bed pan, so they let her mom through so she could.

00:28:46

Xochitl

Help with certain stuff so.

00:28:47

Xochitl

She was like the one emptying out her bedpan, or.

00:28:49

Xochitl

Like doing certain things. So I would agree like the.

00:28:52

Xochitl

Family is much more.

00:28:53

Xochitl

Involved and.

00:28:54

Xochitl

The hospital staff was very irritated with me because.

00:28:57

Xochitl

I didn't have.

00:28:57

Xochitl

Anyone there with me to do certain things like?

00:29:02

Xochitl

UM, get like a CD.

00:29:04

Xochitl

For medical imaging or like.

00:29:10

Xochitl

Go to the like.

00:29:12

Xochitl

Withdraw blood. I didn't like. Go to the lab because it was a weekend and they're they're their lab inside the hospital isn't open on the weekend, so.

00:29:19

Xochitl

They needed like.

00:29:20

Xochitl

Someone to be there and they also don't want to release you from the hospital unless you have someone.

00:29:25

Xochitl

There to pick you up.

00:29:26

Jack

Right.

00:29:27

Xochitl

And and I think all these things come from like collectivist culture, where there's strong family ties, right. So it's like your family, you live close to your family, probably. And your family will be there for you and you'll be there for your family. But in the US, a lot of people will leave for college, move away for work. It's a huge country.

00:29:47

Xochitl

A lot of people's families.

00:29:48

Xochitl

Can't drive 10 hours or fly five hours or.

00:29:51

Xochitl

Whatever out to.

00:29:51

Xochitl

Where they are, and so we're very lucky. Like in your brother's case.

00:29:53

Jack

Right.

00:29:56

Xochitl

Like you said, he was visiting.

00:29:57

Jack

Right.

00:29:59

Xochitl

Because it's such a huge country and people live kind of in Siller, like, isolated from their families, a lot of the times and they live, they move far away from their families.

00:30:09

Xochitl

For the reasons I mentioned, the hospital doesn't really expect.

00:30:15

Xochitl

Your family to do any of that. In fact, they would probably be irritated if your family was in there trying.

00:30:21

Xochitl

To take on.

00:30:21

Xochitl

Any of these tasks?

00:30:24

Xochitl

Because they see it as like a medical professional's job and not the job of your family, right?

00:30:33

Jack

Well, I think families get in the way sometimes, too many questions. There's too many, too many people in the room. You know, it's kind of like, get out, get out of the.

00:30:36

Xochitl

Yeah, they do.

00:30:41

Jack

Way, let us do our job.

00:30:44

Xochitl

Right. Yeah, it's pretty bad. What about the culture of visiting someone in the hospital, Jack, what would?

00:30:50

Xochitl

You say that's like.

00:30:52

Jack

Yeah. So that one's a little different. Like what we're describing is kind of the long term care part of the hospital. But if you just receive a visitor, there are in America, there are visiting hours. And so, you know, people can come in and it's usually during a time when.

00:31:13

Jack

The nurses are not performing some kind of.

00:31:18

Jack

Some kind of job, you know, if they're, if they have to take blood or they have to do it, run a test or something, then they don't want any visitors in there. Visiting hours are only during the daytime. Now if you're a family member, they'll give you an exemption so they'll they'll bring it a a kind of sleeping chair if.

00:31:37

Jack

But you know for like for example, my mother wanted if she wanted to stay with my father overnight there, she could have slept there.

00:31:47

Jack

They she only lives 5 minutes away, so they just decided to go home and and sleep and then come back to the hospital. But but when it comes to just like visiting someone in the hospital, you you know you you you check in you you say who you want.

00:32:08

Jack

To to visit, they make sure that you are that that the person who is in the hospital, who's sick, wants to see you. You know they're not gonna let anyone in. That makes the patient uncomfortable or feel more stress.

00:32:26

Jack

And and uh. And then you can come in and you can. You can spend a short amount of time, you know, just, you know, giving what we call in English, we say moral support, you know, just cheering up, lifting the spirits of the patient, the person who is sick.

00:32:45

Jack

But yeah, it I think they're they're very strict about visiting hours and the amount of time that people are able to, to, to see the, the, their, their friend who is in the hospital because they have.

00:33:01

Jack

A job to.

00:33:01

Jack

Do and they don't.

00:33:03

Jack

Want any of that visiting to get in the way of what they need to do to make this person healthy? Because the number one objective is to get this person.

00:33:15

Jack

Stable and in the recovery process and you know, and so oftentimes nurses get a bad reputation for being kind of mean.

00:33:27

Jack

You know what I mean? Like, OK, now you get outta here. It's you're done. You know, it's like leave. Leave him alone. Let let him. Let him sleep. Let her sleep. And so it's it's kind you get kind of. They get a little bit of a bad reputation for that, but I think it's just because they need to be forceful.

00:33:46

Jack

Otherwise, family members and and friends will just kind of be hanging out there in the house.

00:33:52

Jack

People, and they don't want a lot of people hanging out in the hospital. Number one, they can bring in illnesses and you know, diseases and stuff like that. So if if one of those visitors is sick, that could hurt the the patient. It could also hurt other people who are in the hospital and a lot of.

00:34:12

Jack

You don't when you're in the hospital.

00:34:14

Jack

And you're let's say.

00:34:17

Jack

In a not in a room, but like.

00:34:20

Jack

You know how to.

00:34:21

Jack

Have, like the curtains, a kind of a curtain room.

00:34:25

Xochitl

Right. It's like you're in. You're all in the same room, but you're separated.

00:34:28

Xochitl

By privacy curtain.

00:34:29

Jack

Privacy curtains. That's what I was looking for. And.

00:34:34

Jack

You don't want you you've you're very.

00:34:36

Jack

Vulnerable. You know, you're you're half naked, you know, like you're wearing a just a a hospital gown.

00:34:44

Jack

You, you, you. You know you don't, you don't you you don't present well, you your you look sick. Your hair is a mess. You're not wearing makeup or whatever and.

00:34:58

Jack

Those people, they.

00:34:59

Jack

Don't want to be seen by a lot of.

00:35:04

Jack

Other strangers you know, because you know, I'm just thinking like, especially when like, kids come to the hospital, they're curious you.

00:35:12

Jack

Know they want to look around and.

00:35:15

Jack

And see, you know, who are these other people and what's wrong with them? And that makes the patients uncomfortable. So I I think the reason there is a very strict rules about who can come in and for how long they can stay is not is, it's not about punishing the the.

00:35:34

Jack

Patient or the visitors, it's about making the other patients comfortable as well. And so I I kind of like the American system. I think it's because like you, you.

00:35:45

Jack

Know in your situation.

00:35:47

Jack

You didn't. You didn't have any immediate family there with you.

00:35:50

Jack

At that time, I didn't.

00:35:53

Jack

There should be some kind of.

00:35:56

Jack

Protocol for those situations, it shouldn't just be like, well, I guess that's, you know that that sucks for you. There's, you know, sorry you don't have anyone here to help you. It's like, you know, it's like, what am I supposed to do? You know, I I I thought it was just a very bizarre.

00:36:09

Xochitl

Right.

00:36:16

Jack

Situation I I was in a hospital. It was so funny. There was a TV, but there was a it was coin operated so.

00:36:25

Jack

You had to actually get out of bed.

00:36:28

Jack

Go put coins into the TV.

00:36:33

Jack

And then it would turn on and you could buy.

00:36:36

Jack

I think maybe $0.50 would buy you.

00:36:40

Jack

30 minutes of television.

00:36:42

Jack

Something like that and.

00:36:45

Jack

And I didn't even have anyone to.

00:36:47

Jack

Put the coins.

00:36:47

Jack

In the TV for me, you know, because it was like, you know, not the nurse's job to do that. So it it was just a very strange experience for me.

00:37:00

Jack

And I I I just was kind of, I didn't expect it. You know, it's one of those things when you live in another country.

00:37:08

Jack

UM, you can't predict everything.

00:37:11

Xochitl

Right.

00:37:13

Jack

And you just always assume that it's going to be the same as your country.

00:37:18

Xochitl

Ray's really prepared for those kind of situations.

00:37:22

Jack

Yeah, you just and and it's the funniest little.

00:37:25

Jack

Situations just like like I said, like the food where they just put the the food on the on the table. That was like far away from my bed. And I'm like, hello is what am I what? How do I eat this?

00:37:39

Jack

And yeah, it was just a very, very strange experience. And I'm not saying it's a bad experience. I think it's great that you, that family members are expected to kind of step up and do some of that work because I think nurses are overburdened with with too many things anyway.

00:37:59

Jack

UM, but I do think that like exceptions should be made when people don't have family members, because there are going to be situations where.

00:38:10

Jack

There you know you have a patient that doesn't have, maybe they don't have any family left. Maybe their family is all passed away or they didn't, never had kids or who knows, it could be a whole host of reasons why there's you don't have someone there to help you or there should be like a service where you can hire.

00:38:30

Jack

And like a a helper.

00:38:33

Jack

You know and.

00:38:35

Xochitl

They do have that now. I think that you can get a private nurse now in Korea. I heard that you can.

00:38:40

Xochitl

Pay a private nurse.

00:38:41

Jack

Ohh. OK OK, maybe that would have been the right way for that. That would have been very useful for me. I just didn't know beforehand. So yeah, just.

00:38:50

발표자

I don't know.

00:38:51

Xochitl

If it was possible back then, or if it's just become more of a thing because a lot of people like move away from college now and there's more foreigners in the country and there's just like, I guess after years of situations where there was a patient that couldn't take care of themselves, they changed it a little bit. So you can like hire on.

00:39:08

Xochitl

One recently I think you can hire on a nurse like a private.

00:39:13

Xochitl

Nurse. But you would have.

00:39:15

Xochitl

To pay additional money. And it's just kind of sucks in a way, because.

00:39:20

Xochitl

UM.

00:39:22

Xochitl

You wouldn't really have.

00:39:23

Xochitl

To worry about that, I guess like in the US like it's just included.

00:39:28

Xochitl

And they're charging you bazooka box.

00:39:30

Xochitl

Another way to say a.

00:39:31

Jack

Yeah, the money you're paying in America, you deserve a a whole private staff, a Butler, a maid.

00:39:31

Xochitl

Lot of but like.

00:39:40

Xochitl

And the nurse that's working as a Butler and the made basically. And the medical professional, they're doing a lot so.

00:39:47

Xochitl

That does make it really hard.

00:39:50

Xochitl

But yeah, I think with in Korea that's one aspect I thought about getting the surgery I was going to get.

00:39:58

Xochitl

In Korea, because it's so.

00:40:00

Xochitl

Much cheaper, but then I realized.

00:40:02

Xochitl

Like I'd have to spend money for, like my mom or something to come out because.

00:40:07

Xochitl

And at that point, it's like I'm not saving that much money because I basically have to pay lodging for my mom, and I'd have to pay a plane ticket for her cause I'd need someone to take care of me because.

00:40:17

Xochitl

The nurse isn't really.

00:40:18

Xochitl

Going to do it or again, you could hire a private nurse. But again, that's also adding to your expenses. So that's just something to consider.

00:40:25

Xochitl

And it's like if you are going to move to a foreign country, I guess it's something to look into because it is shocking how different those experiences can be.

00:40:34

Jack

Yeah. And you never know when you're gonna need, you know, I mean, I I had a a. Like I said I I had a back surgery at that time and it was a a ruptured disc in my spine and yeah. So I was in the hospital for several days. And I remember just gritting my teeth.

00:40:55

Jack

And uh.

00:40:57

Jack

Trying to get out of there as fast as I could. Like I went home after.

00:41:02

Jack

Way too fast. You know, I was just like, OK, if if no one's gonna help me, I can do. I can do.

00:41:09

Jack

This at home. Then you know it'll be easier. And so I actually just.

00:41:18

Jack

It's made me kind of pretended like I was doing better than I than I was with the doctor. You know, I was up.

00:41:25

Jack

Walking around and.

00:41:27

Jack

And how do?

00:41:28

Jack

You feel ohh feel.

00:41:29

Jack

Great. You know, but I didn't.

00:41:33

Xochitl

To be at home.

00:41:34

Jack

I just wanted to get out of there because I was like, you know what, like, if, if if I'm going to do it all on my own.

00:41:40

Jack

Anyway, might as well be in my own apartment like there really is no reason for me to to, to be in this hospital. And so that was the one thing that kind of turned me off to it. The thing that I did like was they're very competent. They're very nice. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't a bad experience. It was just.

00:42:00

Jack

It was one of those culture shock moments and and yeah there it's it's very interesting. Like I just what the expectations are from country to country and so you know I'd really like love to hear from our listeners out there like what is it like in your country?

00:42:04

Xochitl

Right.

00:42:19

Jack

Because, you know, do they do the nurses like, what are the what's what are what are the job duties of of a nurse in other countries? Because I I bet it's some of them are similar to Korea and some are probably similar to the United States.

00:42:39

Xochitl

Right. It's like.

00:42:39

Jack

Yeah, I'd be really interested.

00:42:41

Xochitl

Our nurses. Yeah. I want to hear from you listeners, our nurses, you know, expected to take on duties like the US. Or is there other hospital staff that takes the place of a nurse or patients kind of left to fend for their own if they don't have any family? Like, does family have responsibilities? What's the protocol for?

00:43:01

Xochitl

Visiting sick family. Yeah, we would really like to hear from you guys, so make sure to leave a comment down below at A-Z. Inversepodcast.com shoot us an e-mail at AZ [email protected].

00:43:13

Xochitl

And join our WhatsApp only chat groups to join the conversation and let Jack and I.

00:43:17

Xochitl

Know what's it?

00:43:17

Xochitl

Like in your country. See you guys.

00:43:19

Xochitl

Next time, bye bye.