We had registered with the NHS, and I figured out getting my endometriosis medication. I haven't yet received the call from the NHS gynecologist (it has been more than three months...) who was supposed to follow up with me to manage my case - not just prescribe me medication.
We are incredibly fortunate to have private insurance that covers pretty much everything, so I have explored parts of the private system as I try to figure out my back. I have gone to Physio, an Osteopath, a Gynecologist and will soon go to a spine doctor. We have also had our teeth cleaned and checked (did you know that this requires two separate appointments here? One for cleaning and one for a dental check. The cleaning was about 3x the cost of the dentist!). The osteo wasn't able to help me, so he said make sure everything is right with my uterine innards before I go to a back doctor.
The gynecologist I went to was recommended from my doc in Newton who is a global specialist in Asherman's syndrome and endometriosis etc. He was super expensive (but it was covered). And the experience was so interesting. He wore a suit, not a white coat. No mask. There were no stirrups on the table - just a table. He was a MISTER (Mr not Dr). I asked about that, and he said in the UK you become a doctor and then if you're a surgeon you go back to Mr. Apparently it started when barbers (hair) were surgeons. Doctors were those who gave herbal medication, but if you needed surgery, you went to a barber who was trained with scissors. Apparently the red and white swirling thing out front of the barber used to be a cloth with blood to show that the barber was experienced. (Googling to see if I can find sources and ). It was 780 GBP to see the doctor, get blood tests - including an expensive one bc I have a big cyst and they are testing for cancer in my blood - negative - but more than 100 GBP for that test alone. That is a lot more than a less fancy gyn. But it doesn't compare to the 8,000 that it cost to replace my IUD last year IN THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE. So there's expensive, and then there's the USA.
As the weather turned colder, I realized I should figure out what we do when we get sick. I emailed a mom from the neighborhood and school (the woman who loaned us the space heaters), and it turns out when you are sick you do NOT go to your GP. They only help you with ongoing issues or vaccines or something like that. When you're sick, you go to a private urgent care or the NHS A&E (Emergency Room). (Though I just googled, and it seems that there are at least some public urgent care clinics. The woman at the private urgent care yesterday told me these are our options. Hm.). This sort of means you don't have a doctor who is managing your care...
The same woman also gave me the name and number of a private pediatrician. I understand he makes house calls and DOES manage the kid's care.
Two Thursdays ago, Koby threw up (in class - that sucks, but he doesn't seem to care!). He was fine the rest of the day, had a few cold symptoms but was FULL energy, eating, playing football non-stop, and I sent him back to school. Friday (8 days after that - he had had a runny nose the whole time, and it was also the day our heat didn't work), I picked him up at school, and he was coughing a bit. Saturday morning he seemed a bit better, but still coughing. He went to soccer and a birthday party (wrong decision, but we didn't know at the time). Came home and was really coughing a lot. And that night he got a fever. I'm usually low key when my kids are sick. JUST a fever and I wait 3-5 days before contacting a doctor, but I remember a pediatrician told me once that if the kid has a fever AND another symptom you should deal right away. We waited Sunday just to see if he resolved. Sunday night he had a fever, so we let him sleep in on Monday.
When he woke up after 9 on Monday he had 101.9 temp and an AWFUL cough. He had been up a lot that night coughing. I called the pediatrician office the woman had recommended, and waited for a call back. After an hour or so I decided to just take him to the private urgent care in the same hospital as the pediatrician.
Side note - it's one thing to take a sick kid to a doctor in your own car. It's also ok to walk to the doctor. But we are a half hour walk away, and he could not walk (2" of snow and he was legit SICK). We called an uber, put on a mask, and he didn't talk or cough in the uber. I felt bad, though.
We got to urgent care, registered and waited about 5 minutes - not even enough time to get through Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. We got taken back to triage. While there, we got a call back from the pediatrician who said they could see him RIGHT NOW. Boom - the triage nurse walked us there, and we waited about a minute before getting into the doctor. He examined Koby and said that given what he saw (red throat, swollen glands, congestion, cough, fever, lethargic) and how much is in the community, he is almost sure it is Strep A. (He said testing for it takes a while. I'm not sure why I didn't press this further). He said he would treat it with amoxycillin. He said no real downside. He said if it responds to the antibiotics, then it's Strep A, and he will likely get better quickly. If it's not, then it is a virus, and there isn't much we can do anyway. He said this antibiotic is not likely to contribute to him becoming resistant bc he isn't on it a lot and also because it's not a strong one. Fine.
We got the antibiotics RIGHT THERE IN THE HOSPITAL and something for his cough and went home. The doctor gave me his mobile, and he said follow up with him on what's app in 48 hours. He said any questions, let him know. He said he would come to our house, no problem. He likes to manage his patients' care. It was 250 GBP. Not cheap, but not outrageous. And super interesting to have such access to a doctor. In the US it's all so guarded (and I understand why it might be better that way!).
And in the US when the kids are sick, I go home, figure out a way for Matt to stay with them, or something and then have to go to the pharmacy which usually takes a while. But to take a sick kid into CVS as a separate stop home to wait for a prescription is miserable. And anyway it's not usually ready on the way home from the doctor. For some reason it takes hours. This was truly quick and easy.
I found out that five kids out of 19 in Koby's class were out yesterday.
He was really un-Koby all day yesterday. Didn't want to eat almost anything. Barely drank. Tried popsicles. Juice. Ice cream. NOTHING tasted right, and his stomach didn't feel right either. He was miserable. No football at all. No jokes. Just laying all over the place. Poor dude. Went to sleep at 8:15. Was up coughing a bit in the night, but slept until I went in there after TEN because I was sure he was NOT ok. His eye was half open, and he was like, "what?" He has no fever today. Still not into eating a lot - but is up for eating a BIT - drinking more. WAY happier. Still weird in the stomach. But it DOES seem like he's responding to the antibiotics. I super hope that's it and he is better. And now we know if others of us get sick, antibiotics should do the trick.
In other news, Sam had a violin and chorus concert yesterday. It was AMAZING! Sam learned violin on Zoom from a teacher they had never met, barely introduced themselves, in a class of people Sam didn't know. Not at all in person. Last year in school, the poor teacher had the responsibility for all instruments, and it seemed like most of the kids had taken private lessons, so they knew what they were doing. Sam truly had no idea, and Sam hated it. Understandably. I felt like they should make it through the year and decide. At the end of the year, Sam said they never wanted to play again. Fair. I agreed. Then we got to ASL, and in 6th grade, every kid needs to be playing an instrument. So back to the violin it was, and Sam actually went to the beginner level. Sam looks AMAZING now! It's so cool to see.
Another neat thing was that in the chorus part, Sam was three people away from our friend, Oscar. I have blogged about their family before, but we were close in Singapore, and when we were moving to London, Stephanie was one of the key people that encouraged us to go to ASL. So it's so cool to go from having babies (actually before we even got pregnant!) in Singapore to this. Together.
(the first pic in this post is Sam and Oscar right before they left Singapore)
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