Adventures in Ambiliances

When I was a kid, apparently I loved a show called "Emergency!". In the interests of proper blogging research, I've just watched the opening theme on YouTube, and must admit none of it looks familiar. Nonetheless, my Mom assures me that I loved it (when I was 3). I also had trouble saying the word Ambulance and it came out more like Ambiliance. I doubt I'm the only person to have had trouble with that pesky term.

I was thinking these things today as I was actually speeding through the streets of Daegu in an ambulance today. It wasn't an emergency; the orthopaedic clinic I've been going to doesn't have it's own MRI machine, so they sent me by ambulance to the nearest radiology clinic. We were speeding because ... well, because we're in Korea. The experience was (thankfully) nothing like TV. There were no IV lines, wires, syringes, oxygen masks or people shouting "We need 4ccs of Haloperidol - STAT!" There was just a bright orange stretcher, a lingering stale cigarette odor, and the driver and I singing along to ABBA videos on the dashboard TV monitor. Yes, you read that correctly. I spent my first ambulance ride singing Karaoke to Dancing Queen. Hopefully, my loved ones and I will all remain healthy enough for this to be my one and only ambulance memory. Bizarre as it is.

As for my test results, my MCL injury has healed well; however, my MCL treatment weakened my quad muscle. This teamed up with a tilted pelvis which is causing hypertension in my thigh muscle, which is pulling my kneecap out of place, which is causing chondromalacia, which is causing pain. It'll take 3-4 months of physio to be up to snuff again, but I was thrilled that the doctor has now taken the word 'surgery' out of his assessment.

You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life....