- Vendredi: Saw french GP who examined & wanted further tests.
- Samedi: Bloods taken at nurses section & urine sample all dispatched to the lab.
- Lundi: Ultra scans & x ray investigation at Mayenne Clinic & came away with the plates & a full report. Pharmacy test results collected.
- Mardi: GP examined, nothing obvious 'pas grave', but awaiting urine extended tests.
- Mecredi:GP rang the house infection found causing problem to the kidneys script for antibiotics left for our collection.
In short within five days all was checked, solution found & on the road to recovery. Cost in euros, just over two hundred, cost in peace of mind & ability to sleep comfortably, beyond price.
As always the differences in the two systems (UK & France) intrigue & amuse and added to my continuing medical saga. First was the fact that you must always acknowledge social niceties even when in pain or fear, so you must greet appropriately, give due time for deliberation(at least twice the time you'd expect for a doctor to take in the UK) and show no response & certainly no humour in the face of the gravity of the procedure. Secondly you must always be aware of the French preoccupation with fine food and all things relating to the eating etiquette & process. Its not simply, 'don't eat from midnight before the scan', its suggestions for light 'dinner' and a repeated emphasis to take ' a little bread,a little cheese~ a petit morsel in the car in order to sustain yourself between the clinic & home.
Then the clinic itself, the exterior resembled a small house with tubs of bright flowers situated on what appears to be a suburban road; bungalows & houses, people trimming hedges & walking dogs. Inside a state of the art medical facility run with military precision and polite efficiency. But then there's the pretty seating areas with tasteful art work & fake greenery and all the patients have to greet each other 'Bonjour Monsieur/ Dame',cant let the social niceties slip.
So I finally get to the ultra scanning & x ray part, the working area of the clinic and everything is done very precisely, though all a little surprisingly. Now usually in such circumstances the NHS provide a back fastening unflattering coverall robe & cover most of the not needed parts like legs or upper torso with sheets or blankets. So I was curious to see what the French would do; fashionable over garments, 'haute couture'? No, simply strip off ! I asked for clarification, in case my language skills had let me down but no, take off all your clothes & lie on the bench, the doctor will arrive soon.
I've always criticised the prudishness of the English system which insists on covering every possible unnecessary inch. Even at the point of imminently giving birth, having rushed into the cottage hospital, I was asked in the UK to "neatly fold my clothes & put my legs into the green cotton covers", the phrase 'bugger off' was shortly overtaken by the later stages of labour contractions.But in France, here I was no robe, nor sheet to hide my modesty, feeling somewhat vulnerable awaiting the doctor.
And when he arrived, looking like a lab technician, white coat, high buttoned and jeans, I was questioned about my medical history for some five or more minutes, all the time stark naked lain on this bench, bizarre! Then came the internal examination, now to not go into too much detail in England the apparatus is covered in what resembles a plastic bag, not so in France; obvious really a 'French Letter' and choice of Durex colours!
Finally, the French GP was very reassuring; it was all 'normal', 'bon'. As she oh so rightly put it, "Worry makes the pain stronger" and I was, within days, well on the way to recovery with nothing more than my dignity damaged. To borrow a phrase from my fellow cancer patient & friend "I'm out of the hole", but 'oh la la' it was a hole with a very difference.
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