Frog Blog

i've been trapped in my room for the better part of a week with bronchitis. today i am beginning to feel human again, just really friggin' tired. i've been so inactive that trying to be active again is a struggle, but i absolutely cannot stay in my tiny little apartment for one more minute. my room measures about 9x13, not including the adjoining room for my shower and sink (i share a toilet with a flatmate). small enough to give you a major case of cabin fever.

today it's not as cold out and i can just barely sense a tiny bit of spring in the air-- it's a fragile feeling, a delicateness. god, i can't wait.

going to the doctor was an interesting experience. my teacher called for me and got me into an appointment at 8:45 wednesday night. we arrived and there was no receptionist, no paperwork to fill out, nothing. just a small waiting room full of magazines. the doctor himself came to meet us and i followed him back to his office. i think his apartment is in the same building, which would maybe explain why his office hours were so late.

he was really, really nice, and proficient-- he took a good long listen to my lungs, asked about my sinuses and fever, etc., all the things a doctor should do, of course. he said, yep, it's bronchitis, and gave me a note excusing me from class for two days along with a prescription for some amoxicillan, that wonder drug! then he said, ok, 20 euros, please. no receipt, no submitting paperwork to insurance companies-- i didn't even have to give him my date of birth. just pay 20 euros and i'm done. he was actually surprised that i have a "carte vitale," a social security card that renders me, as a card carrying member, a temporary citizen of france, eligible for health care benefits, etc.

all of my medicine came to 8 euros.

back home, without insurance, an office visit like this would have cost 80 dollars-- and at that time of night it would have been at the emergency room, which would have doubled the cost. yikes! healthcare-- something everyone should be able to afford!

now my breathing is better (although i am not free of general snogginess) and my fever is gone and i went out to buy some bread today and it was still warm from the oven at the boulangerie. and the weather is 9 degrees warmer than it has been... so things are bound to be looking up, right?