I am a middle-aged woman born in the Year of the Dog. When I was in 3rd grade at primary school, yes, I am that old, President Park Chung-hee passed away. In my younger days, I lived buried in work, and in the year I turned 50 in actual age, I quit the job I had been doing and came to feel that I should pay a little more attention to myself, who had been neglected for so long. While doing all that searching online and in person, and looking into so many hospitals and doctors and listening to other people's stories on places like this community, by the end I had reached the point where, just by looking at before-and-after photos, I could immediately tell, 'Ah, this person had it done at xxx.'
On the day of the first consultation, I left with plenty of time, but I ended up confusing the subway station and had to go back, so I was about 20 minutes late for the consultation. While I was taking the subway back, I called the manager and explained the situation. It was a consultation scheduled for a pretty late time anyway, so they would have been justified in being a little irritated, but they kindly warned me and even encouraged me in case I took the wrong train again, which I was so, so grateful for.
Consultation with the director: It must have been exhausting to have a consultation with someone who was already late, especially at a time when it was almost 6 p.m., but the fact that they listened carefully to what I was curious about and what I wanted, and asked me all sorts of things about myself, gave me a strong feeling that they did not just see me as another surgical case. As I get older, I feel grateful when someone listens to my story and is curious about what I think. And on the other hand, as I get older, it becomes harder for me to do that for others. They explained in detail what I needed to be more careful about and what expectations I should have compared with people who have surgery in their 20s or 30s. After a detailed consultation about the abdomen, which was my biggest concern, I booked the surgery date right away. While talking with the manager, I could feel endless trust and respect for the director's skill. In fact, when I had the consultation there, I had already placed deposits at two other places, but after the consultation here, I even thought, 'Ah, could I get the deposits I left at those two hospitals back? No, I don't think I'd even be that upset if I lost them.' (Fortunately, I got them back. On top of that, I was able to use a blood test I had done just a few days earlier at one of those hospitals, so I did not have to pay separately for blood tests here.)
Surgery: I had abdominal surgery on May 13, 2021. I cannot tolerate pain, so I worried a lot inside about how I would endure the pain after surgery (because I had become a middle-aged woman who had worked for a long time in the United States, maybe I was used to seeming strong to other people, and I was so embarrassed if others saw me worrying). I was truly surprised. First of all, the anesthetic injection did not hurt me at all. I actually remember the person giving the injection worrying more about whether I would feel pain. As other people said, for me too, the last thing I remember was hearing, 'The injection is going in,' and then I slept well and woke up lying in the recovery room with bandages and gauze on. The manager and the medical staff came by often to check on me, and when they saw that my feet were cold, they brought adorable sleeping socks and put them on me. (I still wear them well....) The director also came in and explained in detail the surgical process and the fat that had been removed, along with the things I needed to be careful about in the future and the timing of the next checkup, and went over everything again.
Of course, it may also have been because I had just woken up from anesthesia, but I was really not in much pain at all (there was discomfort, though, because the bandages and gauze were on and I could feel the swelling starting), so I was a bit surprised. Of course pain tolerance differs from person to person, but even someone like me who is scared of pain had no reason to feel that way, so it was strange.... That was what I thought. Since there was about a month and a half left until the day I would leave the country, I thought it would be okay to be a little more ambitious, so I immediately scheduled arm and thigh surgery.
A 50-year-old woman who has never had children, and among the surgeries I had received so far, LASIK and appendectomy were the biggest ones... After meeting the director, I found the big courage inside me that I did not even know I had, and since May 2021 I have undergone a complete transformation and have been living like someone who was naturally slim. By the time I came back to the United States, the swelling had gone down and the scars had healed, so as soon as I got back I was golfing again, playing tennis again, doing hot yoga again, and still living an active life. If I used to be an active bear, now I am a very active woman in my 50s who takes good care of herself.....
I remembered being told to come anytime for laser scar management, so when I contacted them again after returning to Korea in 2022, the person who answered the phone remembered me and welcomed me very warmly.. I was so grateful for that too... In truth, as for the scars, even if I try to find and show them, I cannot find anything in the armpits, and on both sides of the pelvis there is only a very faint trace, but I still wanted to visit the director and say hello, so I set a date for that as well. Since it was a big investment in myself, during the recovery period I also used Saxenda as part of my diet management, and when I went back to the United States I brought in 10 Saxenda pens. I did not use it very often, but on weekend mornings or on days when there were gatherings and I thought I might eat a lot, I would inject it, and I used the very last drop from the last pen this morning before boarding the flight to Korea. Thankfully, because I exercise a lot, I did not regain the weight.
I had a lifelong complex about my legs and used to work only in pants suits, but these days I have gained confidence in my body, and because I have been out and about so much over the past year, brown melasma has started creeping onto my face.... While I am in Korea this time, I want to get some treatment at a good dermatology clinic... I hope I get good luck in finding one, just like the luck I had in meeting the director. ^^