Friday, July 24, 2009

Be healthy don't be sick

Since I arrived in Australia I have been visited the doctor in a regular basis contradiction when I was still in Jakarta I rarely see the doctor, well dentist is an exception though :)

My first visit to doctor because I got flu, horrible one because of the cold weather makes it even worse and I also need doctor certificate for work. Called up all GP (general practitioner a.k.a doctor) around neighbourhood but they won't take me because I am not register as a patient on that clinic arghhh, checked out GP list on the Yellow Pages but none of them will take me either, the fastest they can take me as a new patient was mid of July, bear in mind I called them early June.
I almost in tears that day and I miss Jakarta so much, I won't have any problem if I were in Jakarta I can just pop in any doctor/clinic/hospital without any problem.
I knew from the news that there is shortage of GP in Canberra but I never thought it will be this difficult :(.
In Australia you have to register to a specific doctor or medical clinic, you can't just show up at any medical clinic like in Indonesia and you have to make an appointment first if you want to see a doctor.

I finally got information about walk in medical centre about 10 minutes drive from where I live so I went there and boom the waiting room was full of people and there are 75 people in front of me! So I have to wait for 3 hours until they call my name and the doctor just take 5 minutes to see me, what a process!

I found out why this particular medical centre is full of patients because they do bulk billing so what you need to do is showing your medicare care at the receptionist and you don't have to pay for the doctor you just need to pay for the medicine (if any), what a convenient condition.

The second visit to doctor when I hurt my toes, I fell of at the fresh market twisted my feet and slammed my toes to the floor. The result is swollen foot. But I tried to put ice pack everyday to reduce the swelling, but after 2 weeks with no progress then I give up and go to see a doctor. Good thing the xray result shows that there is no fracture on my bone, otherwise the recovery times will take such a long times.

We have registered to medical clinic not very far from where we live but they haven't get back to us with the result, so until then we have to queue for hours just to see the doctor.

My third visit to a doctor was on Thursday night last week when I feel sick, has massive headache and my throat hurts every time I swallow. Again, we have to wait for hours until my turn.

My fourth visit to a doctor was yesterday when I found out that I have swollen in some part of my joints, and every time I take a deep breath or cough I feel pain in my left chest. oh no.... What now? :(
We tried to be at the doctor as early as possible so we don't have to wait for hours, but apparently we were not early enough. There were 17 people in front of me and 4 doctors, not too bad.
This time doctor diagnosed me with allergic reaction towards the antibiotic medicine he gave me and I might hurt my chest wall during my bad cough. The allergic reaction is a rare condition as the antibiotic is a common medicine that doctor gave to patients. The doctor is pretty good, he asked me to do some tests: blood, urine and chest xray just to be sure. And I will see him tomorrow to discuss about the result, hopefully nothing serious.

My conclusion about the whole medical experience is that maybe my body still adjusting with the whole Australian things, the weather, the fresh air and no pollution and the medicine at the same time :)

I am sick of being sick, I want to be healthy as I used to be, and I will be!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor thing Ecky! Hope you will get better soon. You can always go to CALMS (lupa singkatannya - canberra after locum medical service... something like that). Telponnya 13004CALMS. They are at Calvary and The Canberra Hospital. $70 a visit. partly refundable by Medicare. But, it's good to have a regular GP. :) Hugs

secondary earner

Anonymous said...

Oooh, Ecky, I feel for you! There is no pain worse than being sick abroad! It is good that you have Sam to accompany you.

At the end of the day, we only have our health, and health is the most valuable thing that we have. So, take care and I hope you feel better!

Thanks for the information on the medical in Australia.

Anonymous said...

called early june and was offered appointment in july? not bad. here you'd have to wait for almost 6 months.

i know it's not easy, the transition. and adjusting to it. the way things were back home is different with the way things are in the new country. and it wasn't meant to complicated your life. it's structured that way for a purpose. for a better care.

coming from indonesia, and now work for a medical clinic in the us, i experienced and witnessed the changes myself. it's very hard at first, but now i see that it's way better.

hope you're well by now :)

Fenty said...

I was experiencing medical difficulties in Australia myself. I had a very bad case of illness that made me went through severe pain for three hours. I was taken to a nearby hospital to get a treatment in the ER but when we got there, there was no immediate treatment at all. In fact, we had to wait for a lot of other patients who had not been treated as well, the nurse there said there's nothing we could do but to wait like all the other people. So there I was, feeling pain so severe I couldn't even talk. I waited two hours before finally got admitted.

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