Just to alieve everyone’s stress, as well as ours, here is another medical update from our saga.
A friend of mine e-mailed me from Nashville saying that she has some spots show up on an x-ray. The first thing the doc asked her was if she had ever lived in the Ohio River Valley, which is where J. was born, raised, went to college, and hiked around many caves and mountains in. Apparently there is a fungus that is really common there that is harmless, but does show up as spots on the lungs in x-rays and such.
Here is a brief quote I pulled off the web:
The bases of the lungs are the bottom parts of the lungs. Incidental nodules are very common when CTs are done. Usually, these represent old scars from an asymptomatic infection with Histoplasmosis, a fungus that lives in the soil in the Ohio River Valley. Rarely, they can represent other things, including early lung cancer. Further evaluation of these nodules is based on recommendations that consider each person’s risk of cancer, including the size of the nodule, smoking history, etc. You should discuss this with your doctor.
So it is probably no big deal.
The good thing is that since I’m not allowed to leave, I sent Jim out for coffee and food. he he.
I’m going to do some reading, and avoid going to the sick room until they come and find me.
Update: They (the Korean government, not our school) has now quarantined all of the teachers that were in the training. They have posted guards and we are not allowed to leave the fourth floor of the hotel. They aren’t letting anyone in to see us either. Hence our problem – no one has any food! Luckily J. was able to sneak out and do a Burger King run since it was fast and comes “to go.” No one is going crazy yet, but we’re planning to combine our stocks of snacks and alcohol and have a swine flu party.
Update: There are news crews here and we have been told not to tell them anything, or to mention {our school}. I guess they don’t want parents pulling all their kids out of those schools if it gets around. No one here is even really sick. It’s all just an overreaction to one girl who has flu-like symptoms which could just be a normal flu, or a really bad cold!
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Ruby Ramblings 
Oh I thought no one can leave (good that Jim was able) and when you said in previous post “I’m sick” I thought that’s more rhetorical in the “I’m so pissed” way. Reading comments like “It’s good to have virus now before it becomes more virulent” is obviously telling me I’m wrong. You’re sick (medically not healthy)?
Comment by Milan May 23, 2009 @ 8:41 amIt sounds like you’re NOT sick? Okay! Good! Just hungry??? Oh brother! Well, this is an excellent story! A little drama anyway! A swine flu party sounds like a good idea. Hope they will allow you to get take out! I wonder really what the politics of all this are. It sounds like a power show. Hope you can find some ways to make the best of it.
Comment by Jenny Yasi May 23, 2009 @ 1:02 pmWOw… this is turning out to be quite the adventure. Take care – Mom
Comment by Christy May 23, 2009 @ 6:19 pm