Sunday, September 5, 2010

Round and Round and Up and Down


We've been on a bit of a roller coaster with this flu thing, getting better and sicker, better and sicker.  We finally called for a doctor to come over again, who told us the previously prescribed antibiotics were not the right ones, wrote a few more prescriptions for everything under the sun, and ordered blood, throat and x-ray tests.  Incredibly, all but the x-rays can be done at home, and a technician showed up at the door a few hours later.

I had heard that French doctors tend to over-prescribe relative to US practitioners, and that's certainly seemed to be the case here.  We've got nasal sprays (different for each of us), antibiotics (different for each of us), fungicides to counter the effects of the antibiotics, and, thank god!!! codeine cough syrup, which finally gave us a good night's sleep last night.  Meanwhile, Gene needs to get an x-ray tomorrow, since the mèdecin thought he heard some unpleasant chest sounds.  Last night a very nice friend brought over some Vicks Vapo-Rub, of all things, and cooked up some chicken soup.  We seem to have all the bases covered.

Living in another country means experiencing the good with the bad, n'est-ce pas?

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