There is nothing worse than being sick in a foreign country, even if it’s one where everyone speaks English. I don’t care what age you are, all you want is your mommy to take care of you. Without getting into any of the icky details, I’ve been feeling terrible the last couple of days. Everything, standing up, walking, sleeping, eating, made me feel worse. The sharp pains in my stomach and back were too much. I subsisted on Powerade and crackers alone.
I finally worked up the nerve to see the doctor today. I was worried about going to a GP (general practitioner) here in Australia because I don’t have Medicare, the national healthcare plan. Visiting the doctor without insurance in the United States would cost you upwards of $50, assuming you don’t need any tests or x-rays, which is doubtful. And that doesn’t include prescriptions. I know my birth control costs $75 without insurance. This could easily start a rant on America’s backwards healthcare system, but that’s another discussion for another day.
So I walked into one of Marrickville’s many medical clinics, without an appointment of course, and saw a doctor within half an hour. I described my symptoms and he poked and prodded me. His diagnosis was (as if the title wasn’t a spoiler) dysentery, likely from something I ate or drank. I don’t know about you, but that word scares me. As my friend Rebecca said, “Oregon Trail just got shockingly real.”
It all felt so ironic. It’s not like I’m eating street food in some third world country. I’m in Australia, for crying out loud, more like England and the US than anywhere else. I picked a “safe” country to travel to and I still wind up with some odd disease.
I asked the doctor what the damage was, assuming I would have to break out the emergency credit card. “Thirty five,” he replied. I got my prescription, took it to the chemist and found out it was only $8 without Medicare. A doctor’s visit and a prescription without insurance for under $50. Take notes, America.
Glad to finally have some answers and to finally rule out all of Web MD’s suggestions (liver failure? kidney stones? that scene from Alien?), I took my medicine home and waited for it to kick in. Except that it didn’t really. I guess it’s unreasonable to expect antibiotics to work immediately, but the pain continued and I was frustrated that I had to stay at home in bed. Thank God for my roommate Doctor Nell, who gave me rehydration salts to get me back on track. Adding that to the travel first aid kit, for sure.
This experience probably should have learned a lesson out of all of this, maybe about how I should eat healthier or be more careful or something like that. ‘Should’ being the operative word.
Ohmigod, feel better SOON!!!!
I really shouldn’t have laughed quite so hard reading this but honestly it’s pretty funny.
Also, I’ve got tonsillitis right now so it’s not like I don’t have any sympathy for you.
Hope you feel better soon!
Haha no worries. As long as my pain is humorous.
I wish that I were there to make it all better. But I am glad that it worked out well with the doctor. Next time call me and I can at least cheer you up! I am counting the days until I can see you!
Was it the place in Marrickville Metro by chance? Glad you were taken care of and are on the mend!! Health insurance (or lack thereof) is already a pain back home!
Nah I don’t know how to get there by bus from my house. This was right across from Post. You can always come back here to go to the doctor!
I had no idea you could get dysentary in a first world country! That’s nuts- some restaurant you visite must haves some serious health code violations.
I had emergency surgery when I was living in London and had zero insurance. I ended up paying nothing! America could really take note- our system is so broken.
Me neither. But count on me to find out, right? No telling where I got it. Glad I can get medical care so cheap!
AHHH! Good to hear you have meds and hopefully on a fast track to feeling better! Being sick away from home totally sucks- I just want to crawl into my own bed and watch horrible chick flicks! :)
Oh my! So crazy to hear that you got Dysentery. I agree, being sick away from home is the worst!
I was sick for a month while studying in Oz and it took forever to figure out what was wrong. I coughed for an entire month non-stop. My mom had doctors write Rx’s and sent them over to me, haha.
Once we realized it was probably from when I managed to swallow sea water (well I gasped for air after falling off a surfboard and hitting my head) and it got in my lungs.
The doc figured out that I had aspiration pneumonia, gave me a steroid pack, and I was good to go in a week.
Hopefully your meds knock that crap out and you feel better soon!
Sounds shitty.