Entry tags:
Adventures in medicine
I woke up in the early hours this morning with stomach cramps and chest pains, and I was like, "Wow. If this gets any more serious, I should probably put on some clothes and walk down to the emergency roZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."
(There is a private hospital around the corner from our house. It also has an emergency room, for which, I presume, any unlucky visitors aren't billed? Anyway, the pains did not get worse, so I never found out.)
When I woke up, it was eight am, and I was not going to work. Instead, I phoned work (I fear they are growing weary of my absenteeism) and then found a doctor. Any doctor.
I wound up at the Moreland Medical Centre. It was not bulk billing, so I got an appointment almost immediately, and off I went.
The doctor, I would like to say, was very nice. Friendly, welcoming and unjudgmental. But I knew this had been a waste of time when he looked at the medical history form I'd filled in and said, "Rheumatoid arthritis? You can't have rheumatoid arthritis!"
I gave him a potted history, and explained about my belly, including the fact that I have a lactose tolerance test scheduled for next week.
"Lactose. That's milk, right?"
Anyway, his conclusion is that I have some kind of gastro-intestinal problem, and should take antacids and eat small meals, and have no more than one standard drink with meals. THANK YOU, DOCTOR, THAT WAS WELL WORTH $55. Suddenly the trip across town to my doctor in St Kilda doesn't seem so lengthy.
Afterwards, I caught the train up to Coburg, and Medicare refunded $30 of the $55 I'd paid. But $25 is still a lot of money in exchange for what I already knew. On the way back I stopped in at the Coles (which is randomly opposite another Coles?), where I discovered that Quorn has finally been released in Australia (only when I got home,![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
suburbannoir pointed out that piecesofalice can't have it, because it contains gluten in its most deadly form, barley malt extract thingie.
And I somehow fell into the library, and came away with a book about Sesame St, one on film adaptations of Jane Austen, and a behind-the-scenes book on season three of Babylon 5. Along with all of this, I am reading Wolf Hall on my Kobo (so far: the most ridiculously beautifully-written historical fiction I've read in years, and a really extraordinary portrait of the legal and political machinations of Henry VIII's court. And all without the king actually appearing, so far.) so I guess I won't run out of books in the near future.
I also found the DVD of The Dismissal, the 1983 dramatisation of the ... well, the Dismissal. After yesterday, I was in the mood for more crazy Australian politics shenanigans, and two episodes in, I am not disappointed. It's possibly the best piece of television that had only two non-secretarial female roles in the opening credits (out of, like, a dozen middle-aged white men) that I've ever seen. And yes, that is a rather narrow field in which to judge things, but really, I saw the credits and predicted bad things.
But no! Even the fact that it's an Australian miniseries from 1983 doesn't seem too apparent, although it helps that there's a lot of file footage mixed in with the dramatisation. I like it enough that, if it holds up, I may share it with the rest of the class. Oh come on, you totally want to watch a six-hour miniseries about political events that took place 25 years ago in Australia!
I'm thinking of creating a drinking game, like, Do a shot whenever Whitlam addresses someone as "Comrade", do a shot whenever Jim Cairnes does something amazingly stupid OH MY GOD HOW CAN AN EDUCATED AND INTELLIGENT MAN BE SO DAMN STUPID??; do a shot whenever someone tries to borrow an absurd amount of money from overseas bankers without having anything like the proper authority.
In other, terrible news,baggers has just informed me that we live in a pizza delivery blackspot. NO ONE WILL DELIVER TO US! From the major pizza chains, I mean; presumably, this being Brunswick, we can have any kind of boutique pizza we like delivered to our door. But sometimes, you know, you're in the mood for the oversalted goodness of Dominos. Why do they deny us? WHY?
(There is a private hospital around the corner from our house. It also has an emergency room, for which, I presume, any unlucky visitors aren't billed? Anyway, the pains did not get worse, so I never found out.)
When I woke up, it was eight am, and I was not going to work. Instead, I phoned work (I fear they are growing weary of my absenteeism) and then found a doctor. Any doctor.
I wound up at the Moreland Medical Centre. It was not bulk billing, so I got an appointment almost immediately, and off I went.
The doctor, I would like to say, was very nice. Friendly, welcoming and unjudgmental. But I knew this had been a waste of time when he looked at the medical history form I'd filled in and said, "Rheumatoid arthritis? You can't have rheumatoid arthritis!"
I gave him a potted history, and explained about my belly, including the fact that I have a lactose tolerance test scheduled for next week.
"Lactose. That's milk, right?"
Anyway, his conclusion is that I have some kind of gastro-intestinal problem, and should take antacids and eat small meals, and have no more than one standard drink with meals. THANK YOU, DOCTOR, THAT WAS WELL WORTH $55. Suddenly the trip across town to my doctor in St Kilda doesn't seem so lengthy.
Afterwards, I caught the train up to Coburg, and Medicare refunded $30 of the $55 I'd paid. But $25 is still a lot of money in exchange for what I already knew. On the way back I stopped in at the Coles (which is randomly opposite another Coles?), where I discovered that Quorn has finally been released in Australia (only when I got home,
suburbannoir pointed out that piecesofalice can't have it, because it contains gluten in its most deadly form, barley malt extract thingie. And I somehow fell into the library, and came away with a book about Sesame St, one on film adaptations of Jane Austen, and a behind-the-scenes book on season three of Babylon 5. Along with all of this, I am reading Wolf Hall on my Kobo (so far: the most ridiculously beautifully-written historical fiction I've read in years, and a really extraordinary portrait of the legal and political machinations of Henry VIII's court. And all without the king actually appearing, so far.) so I guess I won't run out of books in the near future.
I also found the DVD of The Dismissal, the 1983 dramatisation of the ... well, the Dismissal. After yesterday, I was in the mood for more crazy Australian politics shenanigans, and two episodes in, I am not disappointed. It's possibly the best piece of television that had only two non-secretarial female roles in the opening credits (out of, like, a dozen middle-aged white men) that I've ever seen. And yes, that is a rather narrow field in which to judge things, but really, I saw the credits and predicted bad things.
But no! Even the fact that it's an Australian miniseries from 1983 doesn't seem too apparent, although it helps that there's a lot of file footage mixed in with the dramatisation. I like it enough that, if it holds up, I may share it with the rest of the class. Oh come on, you totally want to watch a six-hour miniseries about political events that took place 25 years ago in Australia!
I'm thinking of creating a drinking game, like, Do a shot whenever Whitlam addresses someone as "Comrade", do a shot whenever Jim Cairnes does something amazingly stupid OH MY GOD HOW CAN AN EDUCATED AND INTELLIGENT MAN BE SO DAMN STUPID??; do a shot whenever someone tries to borrow an absurd amount of money from overseas bankers without having anything like the proper authority.
In other, terrible news,
baggers has just informed me that we live in a pizza delivery blackspot. NO ONE WILL DELIVER TO US! From the major pizza chains, I mean; presumably, this being Brunswick, we can have any kind of boutique pizza we like delivered to our door. But sometimes, you know, you're in the mood for the oversalted goodness of Dominos. Why do they deny us? WHY?
no subject
no subject
no subject
Anyway, I've been wanting to try Quorn since a US vego friend of mine recommended it as 'fungus grown in a vat'. Thanks for the heads-up.
no subject
And yes, I was very puzzled by the supermarketstravaganza, although also excited to find Coles, Woollies, Liquorland, Dan Murphy's AND a Dimmey's all just a train ride away.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Sorry to be internet diagnostician at you. What tediously poor doctoring.
no subject
no subject
What crappy doctoring! (Also *growlyface* at "Rheumatoid arthritis? You can't have rheumatoid arthritis!") :( I'm glad that private hospital is around the corner. I've had to get emergency ultrasounds at a private hospital and it was carried on the medicare network as free, but I've got a concession card, so I don't know if that'd hold up, but then, it is emergency... be weird if they did charge.
Gosh, the Dismissal! I might see if the Library has it up here. That would actually be really interesting.
I only heard of Quorn a couple of weeks ago... bummer on the gluten thing.
:)
Jaydeyn
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Hope he's not treating any kids with RA then!
no subject
Out of curiosity, which of the books on adaptations of Jane Austen's novels did you get out of the library?
no subject
More problematically, so far it seems to be entirely literary scholars examining the films, and missing -- at least to my untrained eye -- a lot of really obvious things about the visual languages of the various adaptations. So I'm doing a lot of skimming so far.
no subject
Adaptation studies can be a bit lit scholars v. film/tv scholars. I went to an Adaptations of the Nineteenth Century Literature conference a wee while ago and the lit people were really hostile to those of us who were film people. *shrug* :)
How are you feeling?
no subject
Wolf Hall is fantastic! I read it over Easter, and was wondering if you'd read it. I found it completely absorbing and, like you say, beautifully written: rich without ever feeling overwritten.
no subject
D:
no subject
Also re: pizza - Mr Natural's Vegetarian Pizza (on Brunswick just on the north side of Alexandra Pde) specialise in gluten- and dairy-free pizzas. Are you familiar with menulog.com.au? It is awesome, and probably the best way to find just what will deliver to you in the vicinity.
no subject
Yeah. Um, even I know that much, without having to ask.
no subject
Library trip sounded fun.
no subject
Are you getting settled into you new place okay, absence of pizza delivery notwithstanding. (I have a pizza place just round the corner, so we never bother with getting it delivered. Just ring and pick it up)
no subject
I used to live in a pizza delivery blackspot. Or maybe not a blackspot because if you kept at it you could get pizza delivered. Our problem was that we were right on the line separating delivery zones (for Dominos and Pizza Hut) so when ordering a pizza you'd have to bounce back and forth between places trying to convince one of them that they do in fact deliver to you. Once or twice it got to the point where the manager of one store called the manager of the other store and told them they had to deliver a pizza to me. I never did figure out which stores were the "right" ones as I'd gotten pizza from all four in the past.
So, maybe if you lie and tell the store that you've had a pizza delivered to you before you'll get a pizza?
no subject
no subject
no subject
Oh, for the love of-- ! Proof positive of the old saying "What do you call the guy who graduated lowest in his medical class? Doctor."
no subject