For the last month, I have been thinking awful thoughts about getting ill and having no money. So this is a blog about ailments and hospitals: a sure sign that I am not myself! Too much time on my hands. Is that why old people spend so much time talking about food, diets and their ailments? Am I getting old?
I finally made myself go for a check up here, as last year (when I wasn’t paying) it seemed very cheap here in Greece. At least, not cheap, but a general health check in Britain costs 750 Euros and BUPA say they won’t pay, unless the doctor recommend the tests. They have paid for a mammogram for me every year so far while I have been abroad, so this is nonsense. It seems that they would rather pay for breast cancer treatment than checkups to prevent it. Last year I got everything done for nearly 400 Euros which seemed good value. How much does an MOT for an old car cost these days?
My father died mainly of old age in his 80s despite heart disease and high blood pressure, and my mother died of breast cancer in her 70s long after it was first found and treated. Despite their long life, I was brooding that one of these diseases will get me soon, since my blood pressure is high and my cholesterol comes down in the summer on the Mediterranean diet but goes up, along with my weight, on the British Christmas diet, which somehow always takes over around midwinter, even if we are not in Britain . Perhaps I should stop reading Random Acts of Reality and deciding I have symptoms of a heart attack myself.
My British GP in Athens says that the Greek (private) hospital always makes you have more tests than you need. Not sure how to take this. More tests than the British Health Service could normally afford to give you? Tests that are hardly justified by the probability of the disease for Brits in the UK, but might be justified by the Greek lifestyle where despite the available Mediterranean diet, Greeks are more overweight than many other Europeans? As he also practices electric acupuncture for pain relief (works a treat!) and has been qualifying in homeopathy (very popular in Greece) he is clearly not an advocate of high tech medicine. The implication is that the hospital is just giving you tests to collect money for their equipment.
The hospital doctor who arranges the tests said I needed to have a colonoscopy as I was over 50. . In the case of the colonoscopy, it sounded unpleasant enough for me to refuse, but I remembered I had also refused when it was offered in Vilnius. Maybe it is standard practice everywhere but Britain? I found it hard to argue in my current hypochondriac mood and anyway I like to see the new machinery and how it works. By the time I had got the instructions for taking the laxatives the day before, (now I know what mild dysentery must be like), it was too late to back out. She also signed me up for ultrasound to check “upper and lower abdomen”. So I ended up with a whole battery of extra tests.
The experience allowed me to compare different medical practices. On the whole it was a very positive experience. The nurses or technicians were very friendly and careful, only the language barrier causing minor problems. Only the ultrasound was bad, with the doctor not making any effort at all. He just dug the sensor in my ribs which really hurt. He announced baldly “did you know you have a gall stone? Look!” I wonder if he would have done the same if it had been cancer. Less than impressed, I asked was it necessary to hurt me with the sensor, but he just grunted. At the end he just threw me the tissues to clear up the jelly they use for good contact between the skin and the sensor and walked out. I haven’t felt so used since I had an IUD fitted at Marie Stopes Clinic in my late 20s. In those days, they wouldn’t fit them in single women (meaning if you hadn’t had a baby, in practice). The doctor spoke only a couple of words to me and then worked silently, not bothering to ask if I had any questions and then went out, leaving me to get dressed. I remember walking down Gower St and bursting into tears without understanding why. Eventually I realised the process had felt like I was just an object, being violated. These days I would have gone back and complained, but then? Now I will have no hesitation in complaining to the doctor who manages the tests, especially as she is a woman.
Contrast that with the German ophthalmologist, who carefully introduced herself in Greek and then English, and explained everything she was going to do.
My GP decided it was necessary to have a stress test, just to see about my heart. He was happy to recommend me this, in view of my work travelling to out of the way Balkan places. I called him from Durres with a severe attack of asthma brought on by our attempts at a homeopathic cure. The treatment was working fine in producing strong symptoms, but the cure evaded us. I also called him from Belgrade having pulled a muscle lifting a suitcase. Nothing helped ease the pain, so I went out to dinner both nights and ended up drinking wine till 2am which definitely aided sleeping.
Anyway, I survived the stress test with a commendation from the nurse. In Vilnius I got an exercise bike to work on. In Athens it was a treadmill. Found it hard to know what was good or bad, but was horrified to realise that as the treadmill forced me to run, I couldn’t run! Of course I knew that really, since the effort last year of rushing to catch the departing bus usually wiped me out and brought on asthma. But the need to catch the bus usually was enough to get me going fast enough. Unmotivated by running on a treadmill, I just began to fall over and stop. Luckily I was let off at that moment, and allowed to rest. I felt terrible that I really couldn’t run.
The colonoscopy was not so bad, only the money extraction afterwards. I was given an injection tranquilisers and painkillers and told to lie on my side. That’s all I remember until I woke up an hour later, still on my side, having had a really good sleep. The doctor appeared, said everything was fine, and I should have another one in 5 years. What a relief! Then he asked for 200 Euros in cash (with a receipt) for his personal fee, and 300 Euros for the use of the hospital facilities. Difficult not to feel ripped off, and slightly wondering about the whole procedure. I suppose I shall see the results of the tests, to prove that they were actually done.
So far (haven’t had all the results of the tests yet) it seems more likely the chest pain is from the gall stone just discovered. How useful it is to look up things on NHS Direct Online and find the symptoms, treatment and prognosis so it is not necessary to stress out about what you have suddenly got.
On the other hand once you start on this website it is difficult to stop. Looking in the Best Treatments section for gall stones I was diverted into several other areas, but won’t include them here. However, I have to report on the entry for “Anxiety”: “Many people who have anxiety disorder don't realise it. They just think they are born worriers.” There is even an online test for it. Unfortunately I can’t convince myself that my worrying is sufficiently serious to qualify as I can only honestly answer yes to 2 or 3 of the questions.
Should I be worrying that my worrying is not serious enough? As soon as work kicks in again, I shall have plenty to worry about.
