One of the very first issues to sort out when moving house is to find a doctor. Just in case...
I neglected to do this. I just don't do doctors unless absolutely necessary. Tim has been nagging me for months to get this sorted. A friend ventured to comment that she hoped Swine 'flu wouldn't attack us this winter. And still I did nothing.
Well, I had done a bit of research; we were given a list of approved doctors but they were all miles away or they didn't have all the facilities I wanted. It seems that GPs aren't really the norm here - or perhaps that was just the list. I really didn't fancy having to go to a separate doctor for one ailment and another for a different complaint. And I didn't want to have yet another place to go to see a paediatrician for Rhiannon. What I wanted was an all in one service, close to home. There was a nice sounding clinic which covered every potential outcome, but it was on the other side of the city.
However, it transpired that I wasn't constricted to The List so several months ago I started Googling and found a potential candidate. This surgery was only a few kilometres away and an American lady doctor who seemed to cover all eventualities - kids included. So I bookmarked the details and... did nothing.
Until this week when the services of a doctor were required.
Rhiannon developed a very nasty cold over the weekend which quickly settled onto her chest and, when a fever started on Monday evening, I realised something needed to be done.
Her fever dropped by Tuesday but her cough got worse. She's slightly asthmatic so we needed to be careful. I called the doctor and asked to be registered urgently as my daughter was ill. We were given an emergency appointment to come in between 9am and midday and wait around to be seen.
Parking nearby was dreadful but I found somewhere and we walked in the utterly freezing air to the surgery; it was -8 degrees C.
Rhiannon was stoic but obviously unwell. She has a love / hate relationship with doctors, always terrified she will have to have an injection (she's extremely needle-phobic) yet fascinated with the entire process of check-ups. She is also absolutely petrified that she may have to have another operation. So a lot of calming down and full explanations have to be entered into on the lead up to, and during, an appointment. It's quite exhausting.
After about an hour's wait the doctor managed to see her and diagnosed bronchitis. Rhiannon now has another issue to deal with - the throat swap. She's never had one before. She's had one now! Without being asked the doctor produced the apparently mandatory letter for school. She's been signed off all week. We left with this and a prescription for antibiotics and then we had to brave the icy streets again to find a pharmacy.
Thankfully there was one on the way back to the car. The pharmacists were very kind and made up the medicine for me in case I couldn't correctly translate the instructions. When all was done, the journey wasn't too stressful, just very long, and we were soon back in our warm house.
Luckily my neglectful ways had no serious repercussions, but please don't do as I do.
Put 'register with a doctor' at the top of your list and DO IT!