This is what the doctor asked me this afternoon.
I was in a great mood yesterday, enjoying life, but by the time I went to bed I felt like I had a temperature. This morning I was up and rushing to school (as usual), but when I sat down in the staff room, the world started to spin. It hasn't stopped and they put me on the next train home.
I got off the train and walked straight to the doctor's office, concerned about this dizzy, drunk-like feeling I am experiencing. The doctor took my blood pressure. Normal. He checked my ears and throat, then determined that I had a viral infection. I tried to ask questions, "Do you think it is related to sinuses? Can it be something else?" But he was determined that it is viral.
I don't think he liked my questions. Because it was at this moment that he decided to ask, "How do you feel about our Health Care system here?" I muddled through a polite answer, but the look of horror I tried to hide earlier, I know was somewhere still on my face... You see my friends, when the doctor checked my ears and throat he used his special little light - we all know the one - that usually has the disposable heads. After he had shoved it in both ears and declared them both "clean" he rinsed the tool off in the sink and set it on the side for its next use.
My flatmate works in a nursing home and has voiced her many concerns with how behind-the-times UK health care seems to be. Like the fact that when I was meeting with the nurse for my initial visit in February and she asked me to give her a sample, she sent me to a bathroom that looked no different than mine at home. Not that it was bad, just different. I am used to instructions posted, a special cabinet to set my warm vial of wee (without carrying it out into the waiting room and holding it until I am called) and sanitary wipes to use both before and after... Basically, a much more sterile environment.
So, how do I feel about health care here? I am still deciding, really, but £160 comes out of my paycheck every month so that I can walk in and out of a doctor's office without touching my checkbook. In the year and a half that I have been here, I have been in a doctor's office 4 times (5 if you count the flu shot last year). Each time, I have been diagnosed with the flu or a viral infection and told to get some rest. Back home, I paid around $100/month for Blue Cross Blue Shield, plus a $20 co-pay when I saw a doctor. I saw the doctor (maybe) 2 times in that same amount of time. Is one really better than the other? I can't really say based on my limited experience. I can see the benefits of a national system and access to everyone. However, if a co-pay meant that I wouldn't have to make a completely separate appointment just to have some bloodwork done or that the doctor would use the disposable tips before he placed the thingy in my mouth or ears, then I am happy to carry my checkbook with me...
love the way she tackles difficult/controversial subjects and gives you the individual perspectives of each character. My Sister's Keeper is still my favorite but Vanishing Acts is a close second. As with all of her books, you start to think, "What would I do if I were in the same situation?" Nothing is ever black and white and that is what I love... I've always felt that life is much to complicated to be just right or wrong.
