Officially 2002

January 1, 2002-No More Room

We just got back from an open house. The couple are from Canada by way of Florida. Today, we found out that they’re temporarily moving back to Florida. They tried to get a permanent visa to stay here, but, due to his high blood pressure, they were denied. He will get a cardiac workup & try again. Evidently, there are only 500 slots/year in the entire country in the category they applied for. The category was “aged parents.” One of the couple has to be over 65 years old. There are more openings if you are between 20-35. If you have over 1 million dollars in the bank you have a good chance of being acceptable.

There’s a well-known dodge some people have used to get into Australia. They immigrate to New Zealand first. Their laws are more lax. Another couple trying to get his nephew’s family into Australia from Colombia. They agreed to sponsor them, but were turned down. The Colombians are in their 40’s & he’s an architect, but Australia doesn’t think highly of Columbians. There’s a drug stigma attached to that nationality. The Aussie couple may move to New Zealand in order to help their relatives immigrate there. After two years, they will apply for a permanent Australian visa again.

A couple who wanted to celebrate their 50th anniversary by taking a trip to the U.S. told another story. They had everything arranged & paid for, but found out that their Australian medical insurance wouldn’t cover them in the U.S. They couldn’t buy any extra coverage in Australia to cover them during their travels. She had bypass surgery & Australia considered that she was too great a risk. Medical care in the U.S. was too expensive.

As 3pm rolled around, the TV was turned on so we could watch the real New Year’s celebration in Times Square. I held my breath as the ball descended, but it came off without a hitch. I don’t think Mayor Gulliani could have taken another crisis.

January 2, 2002-Medicine Aussie Style

David has had a cough & cold for the last five days. He decided to call a doctor this morning. We’re leaving for Melbourne & Tasmania Sat. night & he didn’t want to get sicker while we were away. We had the name of a doctor, so he rang up her office. He got an appointment for this afternoon. They took his name, but not his phone number. They did establish that he was a new patient. True to form, he began to feel better as soon as the appointment was made.

We showed up at her office a bit early thinking that he’d have to fill out intake forms. Since the doctor’s office is at the shopping center across the street, it was very convenient. David got his haircut, we picked up our dry cleaning, & had a cold drink before heading to the office. The office was presumably air-conditioned, but I began to feel weak & listless from the heat. The temperature outside reached 34 Celsius (mid to low 90’s), but none of the A/C in the mall was able to cope with it. Maybe it’s because all the stores & the arcade keep their doors open?

The doctor is a true GP of the old school. Except for the presence of computers, the office could be right out of the ‘50’s or ‘60’s. It is a two-doctor office with a receptionist. That’s it folks. There were no nurses, cashiers, or comptrollers. We needn’t have come early to fill out forms. The only information the receptionist took was name, address, phone #, & birth date. Since I was with David, I asked if I could have the doc look at a spot on my shoulder. It was not a problem, although we were told that they would have to charge us for two visits. That sounded fair to us.

David was surprised that the doctor was listed with a specialty in women’s medicine, but I assured him that we’re the same from the neck up. I don’t think he bought that. He was pacified by the fact that the receptionist knew that he was a man & wasn’t at all disconcerted. The doctor calls her patients in herself, runs in & out of the office getting her own equipment, & was generally a Jill of all trades. I heaved a sigh of relief when I realized she wasn’t going to weigh us on the bathroom scale sitting in the corner or take our blood pressure. I’ve been really happy all these months not knowing.

The examination room was her office as well. It had an examination table with pretty floral sheets on it. I didn’t see any paper sheets, but they might have been stored elsewhere. She input our information into the computer on her desk & we became official patients. She did ask David about what meds he took before printing out a prescription with one refill for roxithromycin. I figured that the refill would do for me if I got the crud. She told him not to take it unless the symptoms got better, then worse. She didn’t think it was bacterial. She heard some upper chest crackles, but didn’t even mention the need for an x-ray. She went to get the liquid nitrogen for my spot & said that after practicing in Queensland for 10 years, she was very adept with it. She didn’t give me any instructions on what to expect or aftercare, but I’ve had it done many times before. We paid $A 34/person by credit card to the receptionist & headed out.

We passed a pharmacy & decided to fill the script in case we needed it while we were away. Then we went to MediBank Private, our insurer. They have an office in the mall. We gave them the receipts for the doctor ($A 68) & the pills ($A 17.50). They gave us cash back on the spot for $A 68 for the doctor visit & $A 14.90 for the meds. I love this system!

Toby