You know, I think I’ll just write this post about the health thing and then we can have the philosophy and religion elsewhere for this time. Â I am sure you are all eager to hear that I actually made use of Norway’s communist-style health care system (well, judging from my conservative American friends, that must be the least one could say about it.)
The conclusion was obvious before I even started. Â Once again I shelled out a symbolic amount (about $30, not counting transport) to be told that nobody was going to do anything about anything. Â So, back to soup and meditation I guess. Â This is what happens pretty much every time, of course. Even when I am sick, I am probably healthier than most doctors and nurses. It still makes for well-read entries, though.
This morning I went to work again, but I noticed that unlike the previous mornings, I was not better than the day before. Â If anything, the modest pain when swallowing was a bit stronger than yesterday evening. Â So after I came to work, I called the clinic where I has been assigned by the state. Â (I have had opportunities to change later, with my moving twice, but I don’t have a problem with these. They are just half an hour from my job and have decent equipment.)
I got an appointment already the same day, at 13:30. Not bad for socialism, eh? The wait was not particularly long either. Â About 13:40 I was allowed in to a young substitute doctor. Â I am not sure if he substitutes for my regular doctor or not, I did not see or hear anything of my regular doctor today. Â He may quietly have left his job for all I know – I last saw him sometime in 2008, I believe. He usually only told me to exercise an hour each day anyway, so I don’t really need to see him to know that. Â I have an excellent memory. Â And no, I don’t exercise an hour each day. Although not having a car means I do exercise pretty much every day, just more sporadically.
The young guy pretty much asked me the same questions I have asked myself: Â Fever? Â (No.) Any other infections? Â (Inflamed gums the week before.) Coughing? (No more than usual.) Had a cold recently? (No.) Â He then looked in my throat to see if it was red. Â (It was not.) He listened to my chest. (I have had no trouble breathing this time.) Â (Incidentally, he did not squeeze my breasts. Â In fact he only asked me to open one button. A very decent fellow.) He also looked in my ears, but of course found nothing worrying there either.
He concluded that it must be some kind of virus, and recommended that we just wait it out. Â Just to be sure, he sent me to the lab to take a blood test from my finger. Â It showed no bacterial activity, so Lab Girl just told me to keep my feet warm.
After paying, I accidentally put my money outside my pocket instead of inside, and walked away leaving it on the floor. Â It was all the money I had taken out to buy a new 1 month bus pass, about $200, and a little more that I planned to buy groceries for. Luckily an old man in a wheelchair alerted the assistant who called out for me, so I got it all back.
So anyway, nobody still has a clue as to what actually is hurting me, except that it is probably not streps so probably I won’t get rheumatic fever. Â This is good. Of course, since we have no idea what virus it is, we have no idea what it does in the long run either. Â But then again, as Keynes said, “in the long run we are all dead.” At least temporarily, I might add.
Did I forget anything?
Very, very good. Not that you still feel icky, but very, very good that you had yourself checked out. (And, actually, $30 is $5 more than my “copay” for an office visit.) It still makes me wonder what is causing this, but it does make me feel better that you don’t have strep. The blood test is reassuring, too. I have _appeared_ negative for strep (no raw-meat-appearing throat, no fever, no “strep breath”, AND I have no tonsils) but have actually turned out to be positive for it once they did a culture. It happens, and it needs to be treated.
Do you have tonsils? If you’ve ever told me, I’ve forgotten. Jeff, Jared and I do not. Jenna still does.
I went to the doctor Wednesday to get the THING on my backside looked at, by the way. Did I tell you that? It was not pleasant.
In Norway, tonsils are removed only if they impair breathing. We don’t remove body parts just because the patient is unconscious anyway. It is widely believed here that lymphoid tissues should be left in place unless life threatening, as they contribute to the body’s defenses.
One of my brother had his tonsils removed when he was little though, but I still have mine.
When they finally removed Jared’s, they found that there was a reservoir of strep bacteria that had colonized the back of his left tonsil, which is why he kept getting strep throat so often, over and over and over again. He even began to grow a bit, finally, after the removal, partially because it was time to grow, but also partially because he was able to devote some of his body’s energy to growth instead of a never-ending warfare with streptococcus. Mine were taken out when I was in second grade after a similar couple of years of repeated infections, but I don’t know if they were strep or what they found. Back then they were still taking tonsils out just because it was the thing to do (and profitable). Jeff’s may have been the same, I don’t know, and his parents seem to pay little attention to “minor” things like medical details.