Brown Girl in London

NHS

Sorry for no posts the last week but it's been a crap week since I was ill. On Sunday, after going to the Rhythm Factory to hear what we'd hoped was going to be some good tunes, I awoke feeling kind of crappy. Figured it was because of the late night - we got home at 4am - so I just chilled out in the house and relaxed.

But then Monday came around and I'm at work and my head is pounding and my skin was just so sore. I knew that I was feverish but I was able to get through the day and when I got home I took some Advil and felt a bit better. Tuesday morning I woke up still a bit headachy but went to work - because there are no "sick days with pay" here in the land of the temporary worker - and it was just a brutal day. I got absolutely no work done that day, I couldn't think straight. When I got home that night I went straight to bed and figured I could sleep "it" off. Wednesday morning and the headache and sore body won't go away so I stayed home to rest. It didn't help because Thursday I went back to work, felt like crap, and so I bit the bullet and went to the walk-in clinic in Soho Square run by National Health Service (NHS), the UK's health system, like our OHIP, well used-to-be OHIP. I really really really should've gone earlier but usually when I'm ill bedrest is all I need. Not this time. Turns out I got some viral infection, hence the fever and headache, so they gave me some antiobiotics and suggested I get some paracetamol for the pain. Man, as soon as I took the first pill when I got back to the flat I felt 10 times better and gradually it's gotten better and today I feel pretty much like myself.

I'm glad I went to the clinic, I just wish I'd gone sooner, but I will next time, let's just hope there isn't a next time anytime soon. The clinics are free and open to anyone who is a resident of the UK and pays into the NHS; I fall into both categories. No appointment is necessary which means you can be waiting for a while before you get checked out - my wait was about 2 hours. They are staffed by nurses and the three I saw were all very nice. The last one gave me a list of GPs in the area and recommended both me and HD get ourselves registered, so we'll do that this week sometime. All in all a good experience but not one I care to repeat.

posted by RC @ 7:02 AM