Wednesday, September 03, 2008

DONE, DUSTED AND DIAGNOSED!

And the first two words are more than I can say about my living room at present!
Visit a Sicilian hospital at about 8.45 am and you will find many more people milling about than you would in a British one at that time: relatives have arrived to bring food for their loved ones who are in-patients, extended family have come to keep an eye on the closer relatives and absolutely nobody attends an out-patient appointment unaccompanied.
Thus it was with me yesterday morning and I shall be eternally grateful to the friend who came along to offer moral support. First of all, you walk past the Moroccans selling useless goods at the door - why would you need a gas lighter in hospital? - and then you go to pay your "ticket" for your out-patient investigation, in my case, forty euros. [I have explained before that you do not have to pay if you are rushed in or subsequently admitted, so I don't mind paying this fee at all, as it helps to keep the health service going. People on very low incomes are exempt.]
In the relevant department, I am the first to be seen and am treated with immense courtesy and kindness. Just ten minutes or so to wait after the procedure and then I am called in and a doctor talks me through his findings, after which I am presented with the report inside a smart, colourful folder. "Don't forget your photos!" exclaims the doctor, beaming, as I leave and he proudly hands me two rather psychedelic images of bits of me which I'd rather not know about, let alone see. But he is so pleased with this art-work that I manage to smile back and look as if I will promptly display these above the mantelpiece.
Oh! I almost forgot to say that all is well and I only need some medication to sort out this particular condition.
Many thanks to you all for your concern. It is appreciated more than you will ever know.

23 comments:

Cat said...

Glad to hear all went well :)

CherryPie said...

I am so glad everything turned out OK :-)

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Pleased all is well..must of been great that your friend went with you..and gave you moral support :-)

jmb said...

I'm so pleased that everything went well Welshcakes and that the diagnosis is good news on the whole. I got some of those photos too but I was very interested to see them.

Richard Havers said...

Good news!

Saretta said...

Glad to hear you are well and were treated well at the hospital. You never know when in a hospital anywhere in the world if you will find sensitive and caring people.

Ardent said...

Glad that you are well Welshcakes. The hospital system sounds better than what Australia has to offer.
Hmmmm.

Nunyaa said...

Take good care, am happy to know you are OK :) x

Whispering Walls said...

That is good news WL. Maybe a gas lighter would come in handy if you were staying in for a few days and wanted to heat your own food on a gas cooker.

xoxo said...

good thing ure ok ;-)

Liz Hinds said...

That's very good news! I really would not want to see photos ...

Sally said...

Bother the doing and dusting - put your feet up and rejoice, as I do, that all is well

Dragonstar said...

Sounds like an almost pleasant experience. Glad it's all over and you're OK.

Shades said...

Great to hear that it is readily treatable.

I think that whether I wanted to see the photos would depend on the actual method of taking them! If some form of scan then fine, if it involved introduction of equipment into internal spaces then maybe not!

(I found the sight of my retinas on a large screen curious though, I always wondered what the opticians could see when they peer in your eyes).

Crushed said...

Glad it was minor.

Myself, hospitals are actually a phobia of mine. They really do scare me.
Prob why I don't even have a GP.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Thanks, cb and cherrypie. Hi, Anne. Yes, I needed someone there! Thank you, jmb. With your medical knowledge, you would know what you are looking at - I don't! Thank you, RH. Thanks, saretta.It was so good to be treated as an intelligent person. Sometimes you are treated like an idiot in UK hospitals. Many thanks, Ardent. I have to say I have so far found the health system here excellent. Thank you, nunyaa. xx WW, I never thought of that! Much appreciated, sexy momma. Thanks, Liz. Hugs for you and George xx. Sally, I think I will ! Thank you x . Thank you, dragonstar. It really wasn't too bad. Shades, I agree completely. Thanks for your good wishes. Thanks, Crushed. you must get a GP!

Leslie: said...

May I join the others in saying I'm so happy all is well. My surgeon gave me 2 DVDs of the CT scans I've had done and said I could view them on my computer. So I did look at one and had absolutely no idea what I was looking at, except I know it was my lower back area.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Many thanks, Leslie. I do appreciate that. DvDs! They are advanced in technology over there! You were brave to look. Over soon to see how you are. Love from Simi and me xx

Anonymous said...

That's very good news to hear that all's under control!

And wow! that hospital sounds like a paradise...maybe we should send our UK lot over there for compassion training!

Are all Sicilian clinics and healthcare staff like this?

My optician sent me a CD of inside my eyeballs - they make fascinating desktops! (If you forget that it's an eyeball innard you're looking at, that is...)

Ellee Seymour said...

I was so pleased to hear this too. Our hospitals would go in a frenzy if they were packed with relatives at 8.45am. I wonder what the MRSA figures are in Italy compared to the UK?

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hello, deb acle and thank you for your good wishes. I can't speak for all Sicilian hospitals but would imagine the majority are efficient like this, yes. I never thought of the thing as a desktop!
Ciao, Ellee. I don't know about the MRSA but have not read about it being a problem here. I will find out.

Anonymous said...

LOL - someone thought I had a photo of Mars on my desktop!

It'll be very interesting to compare stats between the two.

Deb

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, deb acle. That gave me a laugh! Yes, tht would be interesting.

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