To see the wedding invitation, click here.
On Sunday the 6th I was ready to go but Pat was feeling sick and couldn't drive me to the airport like we had planned. She suggested I take a cab. The taxi was due at 5:30 in the morning but didn't get here until 6:15 and after several telephone calls. It seems they didn't have a driver and had to call someone at 63rd and Market who was just getting off duty. If I hadn't kept calling I wonder if anyone would have come at all. Fortunately the plane was an hour delayed so there was no emergency but if I hadn't called he might not have come.
In the confusion I forgot my diabetes injections. I had them in the refrigerator and was waiting until last to pack them so as to keep them cold. I realized I didn't have them when I was about to have breakfast at the airport in Philadelphia. I called American Express as they have a program to help travelers with medical problems. They did a lot of research but couldn't help. They could have helped me transfer my prescription to a drug store in Chicago but I wouldn't have time to get it and still make my flight. I was caught between two imperatives: getting to Korea, and keeping my blood sugar controlled. I checked it regularly and told myself that if it shoots up before I get on the plane I'll go to a hospital, but once I boarded the twelve and a half hour flight to Tokyo I was stuck with whatever I had decided at that point. I did have my Glyset, and was very careful about what I ate, and my blood sugar was only slightly high (always between 116-165) all day.
On Sunday the 6th I was ready to go but Pat was feeling sick and couldn't drive me to the airport like we had planned. She suggested I take a cab. The taxi was due at 5:30 in the morning but didn't get here until 6:15 and after several telephone calls. It seems they didn't have a driver and had to call someone at 63rd and Market who was just getting off duty. If I hadn't kept calling I wonder if anyone would have come at all. Fortunately the plane was an hour delayed so there was no emergency but if I hadn't called he might not have come.
In the confusion I forgot my diabetes injections. I had them in the refrigerator and was waiting until last to pack them so as to keep them cold. I realized I didn't have them when I was about to have breakfast at the airport in Philadelphia. I called American Express as they have a program to help travelers with medical problems. They did a lot of research but couldn't help. They could have helped me transfer my prescription to a drug store in Chicago but I wouldn't have time to get it and still make my flight. I was caught between two imperatives: getting to Korea, and keeping my blood sugar controlled. I checked it regularly and told myself that if it shoots up before I get on the plane I'll go to a hospital, but once I boarded the twelve and a half hour flight to Tokyo I was stuck with whatever I had decided at that point. I did have my Glyset, and was very careful about what I ate, and my blood sugar was only slightly high (always between 116-165) all day.
We crossed the dateline and it is now Monday the 7th. With all the sitting (I
got an aisle seat so I can get up from time to time but I am doing a
lot of reading (Timeline
by Michael Crichton, finished over 300 pages on the tripover) and
taking cat naps. I am getting a sore neck and right shoulder,
and butt. They checked my passport in Tokyo (Narita) but that is
about all. I tried to talk to the agent at the Japan Airlines (JAL)
desk in Korean, but of course she is Japanese; I was tired. I
explained my mistake by saying that since it is a flight to Korea I
thought she might know Korean. I was wheeled all the way to the end
of the JAL concourse to wait for the flight to Busan where there was
a group of older Korean woman enjoying themselves and joking.
I took a picture
of two JAL stewardesses bowing to the waiting passengers as they
boarded the plane, all very formal. I was impressed with their safety
lecture before the plane took off, done consciously with attention
and not carelessly like on the American flight. Japan (and Korea)
don't have anti age discrimination laws and they were all young women
except for the chief stewardess who may have been forty. On the
American Airlines flight one stewardess must have been close to sixty
and was almost too fat to fit down the aisle.
Immigration and
customs were very perfunctory and I sailed right through. Geoffrey
met me at the gate and his mother was outside in the car. She came in
and helped me get a rental cell phone and we left. He took me to
Changwon Hospital where I got a prescription for Lantus but by the
time we got out of the ER the drug store was closed. Geoffrey was
concerned but I pointed out I couldn't take insulin anyway right
before bed on an empty stomach as it would have nothing to act on and
I could get (would probably get) a low blood sugar reaction.
Tuesday, September 8th,
Changwon: Geoffrey called at
about 6:45 to make sure I was OK. Right after I showered and had a
cup of coffee (actually a bottle Geoffrey got for me last night) I
took a cab to get the Lantus, but when I got back I went to Paris
Baguette near the hotel for breakfast and found they hadn't given me
any needles so I had to go back to the drug store. It was more
carbohydrates than I would have eaten if I didn't have the Lantus. I
called Pat on the cell phone. She said Geoffrey had called her
already. Near the drug store I found a tabang! Tabangs, or tearooms,
have been pretty much replaced by Starbucks style coffee shops. I
had to go in and have a cup of coffee.
It is raining,
Geoffrey said there is a typhoon coming and I guess this is it.
Walking on the street near the hospital this morning I have my
umbrella still rolled up and a man with his umbrella fully deployed
motions for me to open it. By evening when Geoffrey picks me up to go
back to his place the wind is quite strong. It is Typhoon Danas and is
expected to peak between 9:00 Pm and 9:00 AM tomorrow. Umbrellas are useless and will be destroyed if one opens it in the wind. We did go to Lotte Mart with Sook for dinner and to do some shopping
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