Own fault

Note: Today is "National Toothache Day". Please if you don't believe me Google it yourself or hit this link. I only found out late afternoon after hearing a mention on the radio.

By the time Angie got home yesterday evening, she could see from a distance I had a tooth problem or was stuffing one side of my mouth with chocolates or similar.

I could tell this was different to previous times and was quite surprised I had got a few hours sleep with my "organic/vegan" painkiller. However at 6:00am I had opened up the box of long out of date painkiller bottles. I didn't think it warranted morphine so went for a simple bottle of liquid for "strong pains". I hate and distrust the stuff but it did ease the pain.

I actually had an appointment at the GP for 9:30 to have my second iron infusion (last one 14 days ago) but thought it could wait. Phoned the dentist at 8:00 and they said if I could hold on 10:30 would be good for them. So this is how my day then went

9:30 At GP. No wait and had iron infusion which seemed to take forever.
10:20 Left GP, home, quick teeth scrub
10:35 Arrive at dentist. Got told of. X-Ray on super new machine
10:49 CD with .jpeg picture in the hand and told to go to oral surgeon in Memmingen
11:05 Arrive at oral surgeon. Fill in all the 1st time patient forms.
11:40 Walk out having been lanced and with appointment for next week to have the teeth pulled
11:43 Sent WhatsApp photo of antibiotics.prescription to chemist
12:03 Picked up antibiotics in Ottobeuren

Not bad time management for a standard national health patient. (I am not in the private patient exclusive club). And from a cost point, I didn't have to pay for any of the treatment but had paid 5€ for the prescription for the two iron infusions a few weeks ago and today 5€ for the 10 antibiotic pills.

I think the rule here for prescription only drugs is: you pay the full value of any costing less than 5€, above that 10% of the cost to a maximum of 10€. i.e. a box of pills costing 70€, you pay 7€ but one costing 600€ you pay 10€.

Within an hour or so the pain was gone but the hamster cheek stayed all night.

What I rather liked today was the technology in use. OK the old fashioned drip infusion bottle hasn't progressed much although I do seem to remember nurses "flicking" at drip lines to knock out air bubbles back in the 1980's. Why it never seems to happen nowadays, I don't know . perhaps better vacuum technology in the bottles & bags?

However at the dentist, he seems to have re-equipped all the "operating rooms" with complete new outfits . chairs, lights and the drilling equipment. Not sure if he has four or five such rooms. But in addition, a new x-ray machine which whizzes around your head without one needing to have horrible things shoved in your mouth and then having to bite on them while holding head still. And then no more paper or x-ray films clipped on to white illuminated screens. Doc can swing PC screen in front of you and show you where the pain is coming from.

In the Blip the top x-ray is one from 2014 which I scanned from the plastic film "negative". The bottom one is today's JPEG.

Next was at the oral surgeon. Never having been there, I had to fill in forms with personal details, allergies, medication etc etc . However instead of a clipboard, I was given a tablet (no! as in iPad). Very swish.

This weeks renewed reporting in the UK press (annual event much like Wimbledon) blaming the foreign health tourists being the reason for the collapse of the National Health Service always makes me shake my head. Why is it so difficult to have a control system? Sure it isn't the best system but here for instance everyone has a health insurance card (credit card type) with a photo and every medical practitioner, clinic and hospital a card reader. End of story.

At the moment the card only holds basic information: name, address, date of birth and insurance number. I would like it to also include all my medical history but I understand and accept the reservations of many regarding such data falling in to the wrong hands. I would have thought though that some essential info such as blood group, long term essential medication, allergies to medication etc would make sense.

After all, many of us men who do the main weekly shopping are quite happy that the supermarket chains know more about what we buy than our wives do. The wives don't get to see the two chocolate bars and three doughnuts we eat in the car on the way home.