Health Check, January 26, 2007

We have had a quiet few weeks here - getting back into the time zone and getting geared up for school to start on Monday. Elliott went to a daily swim camp last week and started guitar lessons. We went to the the Brisbane Planetarium and learned about the night sky in Australia. It was interesting to see how much astronomers have learned in the past 30 years since my school day visits to the Planetarium.

Since we don't have too much excitement, I have to resort to telling you my medical adventures. When we were in the US, I found out I had a Vitamin D deficiency. I could not believe that because Queensland is the sunniest place in the world and I play so much tennis outside. But I guess my obsessive use of sunscreen may save me from skin cancer, but it is now causing other problems! The upshot is I had to go for a blood test yesterday to follow this up. When I arrived at the Pathology lab, I had to wait outside for a few minutes while the ladies finished cleaning up. It turns out the cleaner was also the receptionist. Then it became obvious that the cleaner/receptionist was also the blood technician.

It seemed to me very Australian that one person should do all those jobs. Just because you have had some medical training, don't think you are above mopping the floors and taking out the trash! Don't get "up yourself", you tall poppy. The other interesting thing was there was no privacy for the patient. The door was left open and I was left to hear about the man's Warfarin dose and the woman's operation. The door was only closed when a patient fainted and hit the floor. At that point, there was a flurry of activity and the door finally shut. I will have to go and do this again in another 4 weeks, so I hope it goes a bit more smoothly next time.

The whole medical issue in a foreign country raises some issues. In England, we qualified for the National Health Service and did not have any out of pocket expense for medical care. In Australia, there is access to free health care - but we don't qualify. So having a minor medical issue is going to be a slight inconvience to figure out insurance and deductables and all that. Someone we know is going in for surgery on Tuesday, and that is even more difficult as the cash needs to paid up front. It does make me appreciate the old National Health Service or even having an HMO.