Experiencing double inpatient surgeries
Despite being in my mid-80s, I have consecutively been hospitalized at the Korea University Anam Hospital (KUAH) over two-year interval for the first time in my lifetime. One was a conventional urology surgery where a cystoscopy tumor was detected. The other was thyroid surgery to check the diameter of a tumor attached to my left adrenal gland to determine whether it was benign or malignant.
The first traditional surgery was done for an hour on July 12, 2024 when I was hospitalized for five days to remove the worrisome tumor inside my urinary bladder. I remember it as the day before the assassination attempt against then U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The second automated robotic surgery took three hours on Aug. 28, 2026. I remember it being two days after the flash flood disaster in Nepal when doctors removed a tumor growing on my adrenal gland, and being discharged after a week. I had a lot of time waiting and staying as a patient that I tuned into world news.
Far before the first surgery was performed by the urology doctor in charge at KUAH, diverse presurgical tests, including CT and MRI measurements and cardiology and pulmonology visits to check whether the surgery for an elderly patient over 80 like me was acceptable or not. I underwent the first surgery with the consent of the doctor in charge. After the tumor was not found to be cancerous, I still visit KUAH regularly as an outpatient for treating my prostate gland enlargement.
Prior to the second surgery, the Thyroid Center at KUAH called me over again and induced me to repeat the same medical tests a couple of times more until sorting out the growing trend of the diameter of the tumor attached to my adrenal gland and even tracked my past records of its growth. MRI images showed that the diameter became larger from 3.2 centimeters in 2021 to 3.9 centimeters in February 2026 and again to 4.3 centimeters in August 2026, a growth of 0.4 centimeters within just half a year. I accepted the specialist’s solicitation for surgery reluctantly, with the consent of my family so doctors can remove the growing tumor from my adrenal gland.
On Sept. 15, I visited the center as an outpatient to receive the result of the comprehensive examination of the detected tumor. The final diagnosis was also determined that the tumor is benign. Upon farewell to the doctor in charge, she told me, “Drink more water, eat less and chew much but have more protein foods.”
The two surgeries showed I was cancer-free, and I unconsciously felt lighter. Spending a lot of time in the hospital, I became familiar with a lot of medical terms. I also found that male nurses were on duty preferably at night, and noticed that inpatients wear pocketless clothes like garments for the dead.
By watching the general hospital procedures of receiving outpatient treatment on a designated day, I realized that a medical doctor is a very tough profession, with respect to surgeries for inpatients, inpatient rounds, lectures at medical schools and beyond. I would like to express my gratitude to the two KUAH surgical doctors and their medical staff for their diverse types of medical care for me while I was lodged twice at KUAH.
Lee Sun-ho (wkexim@naver.com) is a freelance columnist living in Seoul.