Visite chez le Docteur Gregoire

For the past couple of days, I have had a sore throat. I didn't really think much of it because the weather has been fluctuating a lot over the past week and I've also been really tired. To alleviate some of the pain, I've been taking aspirin and sucking on lozenges. Yesterday morning though, my sore throat worsened. It hurt so bad that I knew had to skip school. I couldn't face the idea of sitting in a classroom for four hours working on pronunciation--the act of practicing guttural consonants would be too painful.

When Robin's mom came home from work and realized I had skipped school, she grew worried. She didn't want whatever I have to begin affecting my asthma, so she scheduled an appointment with the doctor. Today was my appointment. I was a little nervous because I didn't know how it would work without having French health insurance. In France though, unlike the U.S., a visit to the doctor is not expensive--mine only cost 22 €. After the appointment, I received a form to give to my insurance company documenting that I went to the doctor. After the insurance acknowledges my appointment, I will be reimbursed for the cost of the appointment. All in all, it only cost me 2 € to get medical attention.

I like the French medical system far better than the American one. When we arrived at the doctor's office, there was no wait. We walked in, and Dr. Gregoire (Gregory) was waiting for us. Here it is not customary to have multiple patients at the same time, therefore I had his full attention. Dr. Gregoire speaks a little bit of English, so I told him about my sore throat. "Oh, zis is not a problem! I will give you medicine and you will be better. Zis is not serious, do not worry!" he told me. Then he checked my throat. It turns out that I have tonsillitis. Apparently my right tonsil was large, swollen, and had white spots on it. The tonsillitis also caused my right ear to be sore and swollen. Dr. Gregoire wrote me three prescriptions and told me I would be feeling better by this evening (he was right). In total, Pascale and I spent ten minutes at the doctor. After leaving the doctor, we went to the pharmacy to pick up my medicine. That only took about ten minutes also, even though the pharmacy was very busy today.

Although being sick is never fun, it is nice to have quick medical care. I like France even more now.