L'Infirmerie

This post may not make any sense; I just took a Codine tab.

So today has been different. Apparently, in addition to my luggage, carry-on and hopes and dreams, I also brought with me to Edinburgh the beginning of an extremely aggressive infection (yay me!). All week, this spot of my back had been getting bigger and redder and more and more painful, until finally I had developed a Frankenstein-like walk to keep my shirt from touching it and things seemed to be a bit more than I could handle with hot compresses and band-aids (or plasters, as they call them here). You've heard wounds described as looking "angry"? Well if this thing had had ears, steam would have been coming out of them. Which, actually, might have helped relieve some of the pain.

Anyway.

Once it became clear that I needed medical attention (last night at 18:30 when I Skyped my mother in tears because I hadn't bent or turned from the waist in three days), I found myself in the unenviable position of being an uninsured American alone in a foreign country, with no doctor, no money and very little know-how. Managed to call the National Health System 24 hour line, spoke with a nurse, waited three hours, spoke with a nurse, was given an appointment at 10am this morning at the Royal Infirmery of Edinburgh. My mother told me not to think about the cost, just to go and that they would take care of it. I have good parents.

So I went. Let me tell you, and more explicitly any American who thinks that Obama's "socialist" leanings are detrimental to the country--I have never had a better experience with a government system, or a more reassuring interaction relating to a medical issue. I showed up ten minutes early, was seen five minutes after I arrived, instantly told what I could expect for treatment and then treated in the office (treatment accompanied by apologies from the doctor each time I expressed any discomfort, which actually became a little ridiculous as I was being a total baby and so he essentially spent half an hour begging my pardon), given antibiotics and a painkiller, and out again in less than twenty minutes, at no charge. No charge! It was honestly the best interaction I've had here yet, even though both doctor and nurse seemed horrified that this was one of my first experiences in Scotland. They were wonderful, and though it's unlikely that anyone from RIE outpatient facility 6 will ever read this blog, I thank you all from the bottom of my shriveled heart.

Now I am going to go to sleep, and dream about tomorrow, when I might be able to rotate from the waist. Here's hoping!