The French Medical System: a first-hand account

So, here is a story about our third day in Paris and it sure was exciting, but not the way I planned. I spent the day seeing a French doctor, going to a French Laboratory and finally having a French sonogram! Yes, I was sick. It was a urinary tract infection. Fast forward to the end of the story is that I am on antibiotics now and am better. 

 I actually got it almost 2 weeks before. I felt it first in Florence, at Frances's house. Then, when we arrived in Vernazza in Cinque Terra,  I went to a pharmacy, and they gave me cranberry pills.
 I started taking them and I took the rest of my amoxicilin that I had leftover .... However, the infection just kept getting worse and worse.
On Saturday, when we arrived in Paris, I started getting aches and chills and a low grade fever. Then on Sunday, they were still there, but a bit worse since even the 800mg Advil weren't cutting it. I still tried to put on a brave face and went on the bike tour with Jaramie. Once it was over, though, I REALLY felt bad. Being Sunday everything was closed, so I took Tylenol and stayed in bed.

Finally, on Monday I told Zac that he needed to see if the pharmacy would give him antibiotics w/o prescription. He wrote down my symptoms and typed them into Google Translate, then he copied down the French and went to the pharmacy. It is good that he did because the pharmacist spoke no English. As Zac was trying to answer questions, a man standing nearby started to help. Miraculously he could speak both English and French perfectly! Finally, the pharmacist understood and said, "You need to see a doctor!" So, the pharmacist called a nearby doctor and said we could go right away. Zac thanked the man profusely, who had saved the day. Turns out, he was an Expat from Vermont- he was in the Marines 25 years ago and just stayed in Paris. We were so lucky to have found him. 

This is the Doctor's Door

So, Zac ran back to our apartment and got me dressed and out the door super fast. We walked, with me gripping his arm, a few blocks away to the doctor's. Once we got there, it was a big wooden door that was locked. Apparently, you'd need to phone up to them to have them open the door. In our haste, we had forgotten to bring our phone (the kind we have has proven to be pretty useless most of the time anyway.) So I waited by the door while Zac ran down to the nearest pharmacy for help. Meanwhile, someone left the building and I was able to catch the door, hook it open and go to the pharmacy to alert Zac. Once inside, we had to be buzzed in two more doors before getting to the doctor's office.

She was an older woman who spoke pretty much no English. When Zac handed her the French note with my symptoms and what I needed, etc. she said that the French was "insufficient." and she stared to make grammatical edits on the page. Then she was like any US doctor, "How do you know you need antibiotics without a lot of tests?" "It has probably moved from the Urinary Tract to the kidneys." and then she started freaking me out, I thought she was indicating I would need to go to the hospital for a couple of days and have intravenous antibiotics, in order to be well by Saturday when we are coming home. I started crying and she was saying, "No cry, it is not serious...not for crying." I just felt like I was letting down the whole family, having to be whisked away to doctor's appointments and also I was so worried about paying for all of this. In the end it wasn't too expensive. The doctor consultation was 30 Euro, which is about $43 dollars. 

When I typed this into Google Translator, this is what it says, "This leaf disease is repayable on demand with no prescription acts is less necessary." Um...okay...

Next we went to the laboratory a few blocks away. There people were kinder and we didn't have to wait very long at all. The doctor there is the one who takes the blood and urine samples, not a technician. AND he spoke English and was very kind. He said he loved Boston and he listened to my symptoms and said, "Ah yes, a urinary tract infection." When I told him that the doctor had made an appointment for me to have a sonogram of my kidneys too, he sort of rolled his eyes, like he thought it wasn't necessary. That put my mind at ease. That visit was 51 Euro, which is $71. (Still not as much as I had thought it would be.)

All Pharmacies have this neon green cross out front. They must all be government-run, since they are all identical.

Our next stop was to the pharmacy. They took the prescription and turned around and handed us the prepackaged pills. No waiting around for 20 minutes to fill the order. She was also very nice and spoke English. Antibiotics: 23 Euro, which is about $33. (Just a little more than my copay at home.) There's no "CVS" here. Everything except for shampoo and sunscreen is behind the counter and you need to ask for. It was the same in Italy too. But they do sell condoms on the street in little vending machines. Go figure.
Finally, we headed back to the apartment, where the kids were hanging out... (thank goodness they are not babies and can look after themselves.) I went right to bed and drank a lot of seltzer. Maia was making crepes, from a crepe mix she found at the store. They were delicious. From my bed I heard Jaramie say to Zac, "Maia is the best! Without her, what would we eat?" All the kids have been on their best behavior. 

At 2:45 Zac woke me up to go to the sonogram appointment. Even though we were pretty sure it was unnecessary, since we had the antibiotics already, I thought, better safe than sorry. We decided to take the kids with us, armed with their travel journals and books to read, since they needed to get out of the house. At the sonogram place, again we needed to find a way inside. Fortunately, again someone was coming out and I caught the door. Then we buzzed and walked up three flights of very fancy wood stairs with beautiful carpeting. Once in the office, we spoke to a receptionist who couldn't speak much English, and then waited. First when I was called, an impatient nurse took me into a room and motioned for me to take off all my clothes and then to meet her in the other room. "Is there a robe?" I asked. "No robe," she said rolling her eyes. So, robe-less, I walked into an x-ray room. "No no," I said, "son-o-gram." "Oui,oui" she said, then motioned for me to stand at the body x-ray machine.

Picture of my insides. Apparently everything was where it should be?

When we was done, she had me sit and wait until she checked my films, then I could go back to the waiting room. Finally, after a long wait, I was called in to the sonogram room by a male doctor. (No robes or sheets again, by the way. I guess having no robes helps them to cut costs.) Again, the male doctor was kind and spoke English very well. (It seemed like the men were much less upset about speaking English for some reason.)  He did the sonogram and told me right away that my kidneys were fine, but that I had a urinary tract infection and did I have medication.

Sonogram of my "baby bladder" 

I told him what I was taking, and he said that would be good. Then he gave me all my forms, and my x-ray and everything to take with me. Pretty cool eh? You usually don't get to take everything home with you in the States!

Now I know that at home, an ultrasound could run in the thousands of dollars, and even a dental x-ray is expensive, so I was really worried about the bill. It came to 140 Euro, which is almost $200. I was so relieved it wasn't more.

How do the French have such affordable healthcare? Well, at no point in my care did anyone ask for my "medical history", take my blood pressure, listen to my heart, or take my pulse. I guess those are all accessories to the United States' system of care too. Way to cut costs... oh yeah, and no robes, latex gloves, or warming up the ultrasound gel either. <cha-ching!>

After all this I realize that take communication for granted. In Italy pretty much everyone spoke English and I spoke enough Italian that I could communicate quite easily. But in France, I was stuck. I understand no French and most people do not seem eager to speak to us in English. 

So, all in all, my day in Paris cost $350 dollars, without the Bistro atmosphere. I am so thankful though that I was not dying, and that I  continued to feel better every day. It was quite an experience and made me miss home all the more. 

More Paris Adventures: Segwaying, a trip to a bookstore, and other interesting finds...

Maia, Jesse and Zac got to sight-see on Segways. They had a blast.

Their tour guide led them to a beautiful little cafe in the Tuileries Garden, for lunch. 

It is true. Whenever you see the Eiffel Tower, you just have to take a picture.

Definitely going to be my new profile picture. I can't believe how big my kids are.

On Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, Paris closes down some streets in order for everyone to strap on their roller blades and skate through the city. Too bad we left ours at home.

Zac and Maia made us a delicious quiche for dinner. It was delicious AND Parisian.

After dinner Zac and the kids went for a walk, since I am sick in bed. (post on this later) They found a cool area of town. It had all kinds of eateries and at reasonable prices too. 

Our apartment is only steps away from the Seine and Pont Neuf. Here is one of the boat rides you can take up and down the Seine. Zac really wants us to do this one night this week.

Samaritain was a huge department store, but it closed a few years ago. Apparently it is under reconstruction, but not yet open. Zac was bummed because he loved going there as a kid. He says they had everything and that on each floor you could get different things. For instance, Donna once bought one of those crepe rakes there, so that they could have crepes at home in Boston too. I guess we'll get to go there on our next Paris visit.

Shakespeare and Company is a little bookstore right by the Seine. It has all kinds of English books, even kids' selections. And there is a top floor that is just a library of old and rare books. It looks just like a bookstore should look.
Or else, it looks like it is right out of a Harry Potter book. 

This is the lovely view we have across our courtyard from our apartment. The people who live here have pretty flowers and also chirping birds in the cage. It is fun to listen to them.

So... I've been missing many days of blogging, but I've got to fast forward to today.... PARIS!!

We stayed in a little funky Inn the night before Paris, and it was only about a 2 hour drive, so we decided not to take the autostrada, and instead do the more local roads that go through little towns. I loved it and found it very interesting, but it was much harder driving for Zac.....lots of slowdowns for tractors and such. But, we used "Jack" our beloved GPS and he got us into Paris right on time to meet Eric,  the guy from the agency, from whom we rented our apartment.

So, last night we were excited to get into Paris, but it was raining. :( Zac, Maia and Jaramie went out to get provisions for dinner. After dinner we foolishly braved the storm, at my insistance, in order to walk down to rue de St. Germain to oogle at the opulence and buy our first Parisian crepe.

Bright and early we got up because we all had appointments. Zac, Maia and Jesse went on a Segway tour to get the lay of the land, and Jaramie and I went on a bike tour of the city. It was through the same agency. (See link below) They were so wonderful, informative, kind and attentive. All of us had a magnificent day.

http://citysegwaytours.com/paris

Real gold on that dome....

Military Museum

Pretty fountain. They were all going today. I'm not sure if they always flow, or only on Sundays, like Versailles. 

Jaramie and I rode on this cool tandem bike. She loved it because she didn't have to steer and worry about traffic and all. I loved it because I always knew where she was, and she was a BIG help pedaling away!

We took the Metro (acually the RER, which is more like a commuter rail) to the Eiffel Tour. It wasn't too hard to figure out and Jaramie and I did well.

After last night's pouring rain, we were so glad to have a day with very little rain. We only had a bit while we ate lunch, but it was fine because we were under a big umbrella.

2nd day in Vernazza, Italy

On Tuesday morning, we began with a walk up the town's center street for a swing on the swing...

...and buy some fruit at the "Tuesday's market day." 

We took the Cinque Terra Train that connects the five little towns along the Mediterranean Coast. Most trains are only a few minutes between towns. 

We went to RioMaggiore first.

In many of the stations you needed to walk through a tunnel in order to get out to the sunshine. The rocks upon which these towns sit are so steep, you either need to go through the hills or around them. (<Hint> this is foreshadowing....)

It had a pretty harbor... along with a pretty girl above it!

Looking the other way from the harbor, you can see how congested the houses and buildings are. What you see is what you get, however. This is pretty much the whole town. There are narrow alleys that go between the buildings and behind them. The alleys are basically the streets. Very few cars are allowed in these towns.

The girls and I braved the sun and heat of the late morning to find the local beach.

View of some vacationing Italians hanging out on the stony beach. You can see the train bridge above the beach.

We then took the train again to Monterossa. The swankiest of all the five towns. After looking at the pretty beach with the chairs and umbrellas for hire, we went into the old town for a lunch. This place had delicious grilled paninis for only 5 Euros each. We had a lovely lunch and then we felt daring. "Hey," said Zac, "How about we walk back to Vernazza. It is supposed to be the longest walk, but those people we met from Oregon said that it's about 30 minutes to each town. We have some extra water from lunch, let's go!" 

I don't know what gave Zac the energy, maybe it was the panini lunch, but whatever it was, we agreed to go. Well, except for Jaramie. She said she was already hot and tired and she'd like to use the train tickets we already bought to get back to Vernazza within  10 minutes. Dada though persuaded her (and us) that this would be an "adventure to remember." He was right about that. Here we are setting off on the beginning of the trail. It looks harmless and beautiful to begin with.... but you can't see that around the corner were the first 500 stairs carved out of the stone mountain...

It was a trail that did have some beautiful vistas. Unfortunately, we couldn't really see very well past our plastered hair to our face from sweating to the 90+ degree heat and the unrelenting Mediterranean sun. 

Here was the type of trail we had to follow (the drop is only about 50 feet or so...) When we got to the  ticket booth (yes, it cost as much as the train did for us to torture ourselves) the cashier told us that the trail would take about 90 minutes. I guess those people from Oregon were not exactly remembering how long the trails take ...

We rested whenever we could and wherever the trail widened out a bit, or when it was a bit shady and the vegetation grew up enough to break a fall.

The views were breathtaking. By the way, we walked all the way around that mountain...

The camera hung around my neck and every now and then I would hold it in front of me and take a shaky shot. Here there was a handrail! It was a bit wobbly though... Zac kept one hand on Jaramie the whole time, Jesse was the fearless leader, telling us about wobbly rocks or if we needed to move over to  accommodate an accomplished hiker joyously passing us by. Maia was actually terrific. She said later that she didn't find it too difficult and she enjoyed the walk.... 

There were SOS emergency call boxes a few times, but we couldn't figure out  how someone would reach us... and was a "whiny child" or sweltering Mama an emergency? So....we kept walking..... and walking....

We began removing articles of clothing, and rationing the precious little water that was left. 90 minutes had already come and go. Steep uneven stairs and inclines led the way to plunges of descending stairs that were even scarier. At one point, a small rock shower began to come down on my head (I was bringing up the rear) and I skipped ahead as fast as I could.

Finally, a little over 2 hours, Vernazza was in our sights. And what a beauteous sight it was! Although it was still a long way down and back to civilization... 

Jaramie got to drink the last of the water and finally hold onto her bear, Bruno, for the last leg of the trip. We were soaking wet with sweat and shaking from exhaustion, but we had made it.

The trail led us right into one of the alleyways between the stone and plastered walled houses and right back to our own small apartment. We didn't even need to confer. The kids and Zac headed directly home, while I stopped in a little foccaciaria to get big bottles of water.
Although this was a harrowing trip, and Jaramie was too little and we were too inexperienced to perform such a feat, we did get to brag about it for the rest of our Vernazza stay. For entertainment, we liked to sit at the foot of the hill where the alley lets out onto the main street... and smile and the other hikers, who made it too.
It was interesting the varying types of people we met along our journey. I think I said hello in at least 4 different languages and also "pardon" "scusi" and "excuse me." Now that it is over, I can quietly say, I'm glad we did it. :)