Maladies et Medecins

Well, if you're going to get sick, do it in France. This picture was taken the day before I developed my death rattle tonsillitis (note the Seine and Notre Dame in the background).

So basically, after our Halloween party night, I woke up the next morning with a sore throat. Well, not so much a sore throat as much as the feeling of two asteroid sized balls of flame near the back of my throat. Can't swallow. Can barely talk. Forget about trying to speak correct French with their crazy r's that are supposed to resonate on your tonsils like a snare drum. Don't think so! So, after laying in bed most of the day feeling pathetically sorry for myself because I felt so awful and I couldn't go see a doctor even if I wanted to, it being a National holiday and all, I developed a high fever and felt pretty delirious. I even called mom as sort of a just-in-case-i-die-tomorrow-this-will-be-my-last-phone-call-to-you. Yeah pretty pathetic.

So this morning, after a fitful night of cold sweats and hot chills, I woke up with the intention of begging and pleading to see a doctor today, no matter what the cost (since I don't have health insurance yet, I wasn't quite sure what the cost would be). I looked up a doctor's office online and found 141 doctors in my neighborhood. Seriously. So I called up the first one on the list and asked if I could have an appointment soon (like before the weekend) and he was like "can you come in in a half hour?" YES! So I walked the 2 minutes around the block and met Docteur Villieux, a mustachioed old French man who was so sweet and helpful. Turns out, I do have tonsillitis, or angine in French. He gave me a prescription for about 7 different medicines and I was on my way for less than 20 euros. My next stop was at the nearest pharmacy. I read somewhere that there are almost 2000 pharmacies in Paris proper which is a city of only 7 square miles. Does this seem excessive? Well, the French love their pills! Anyway, I took about 4 steps from the doctor's office and found a pharmacy with its neon flashing green cross, and had my prescription filled in about 30 seconds, and for less than the price of a good crepe had all my treatments. Oh, and they asked if I wanted to be reimbursed by social security. So theoretically, I wouldn't even have to pay the price of a good crepe...I would pay nothing. Neat. The French might have their problems, but medical care is not one of them. Like I said, if you're going to be sick, do it here.

So now I'm at home, sucking down tea and keeping a scarf around my sore neck. I am still on vacation, but I go back to school on Tuesday, so hopefully I'm better by then...