#54 - Mardi 5th

chercher

(look for) 

Woke up at 1am with really painful stomach ache...quite scary being alone in a foreign country in the dark, thinking of the worst-case senario.... after about 45 minutes it eased and I dropped off to sleep again. Waking up with my alarm, not pleased about having to get up, snoozed a few times.... leaving no time to eat my breakfast and get out of the house!

Lets just say for one reason or another, maybe I forgot them... but maybe... just maybe I lost them/had them purposefully stolen (I highly doubt that) but I spent my morning visiting pharmacies, which only open at 9am.... when I'm supposed to start... clutching my handwritten french note I visited three with no luck before deciding at 9:45 I really ought to show my face in hospital. Regretted it immediately... great way to introduce yourself to ten french people... as the english one with a pharmacy problem! The demented lady thanked me enthusiastically for my message and I left again... feeling pretty fed up, still a bit sick and very homesick... someone I think said something nice to me in French but I don't know and ignored him... I feel bad now but my eyes were a bit teary! Next pharmacy thankfully could help, she was very excited about my 'ordonannce anglais'! I guess I am about French things too... Pharmacies are big businesses here - very nice layouts but lots of vitamins and herbal tea looking things... even cat medicines.... I assume there are so many, so large and so nice because in France, even the elderly pay for their medications (& they're not so cheap!).
 

view from clinic at Bain de Bretagne.... the lac looked lovely

Ward round again, one of the medical students spoke to me - so happy - but I didn't understand him.... terrible. I escaped for lunch (was told off/told to use a tray in the dining room... at least I understood!) before clinic 20miles south of Rennes.....the doctor has to travel there as the old geriatrician who did the memory clinics had moved to Australia! She's very nice, very young to be a 'consultant' equivalent in France. Two patients, the one for the assessment's wife spoke alot and 'trop vite' - too fast... she did ask me afterwards did I understand much? "a little...",  she admitted she speaks fast.... "a little..." "je suis desole!" 

Home at five, sat in the park and wrote differences in healthcare here and at home. Phoebe sick again, visited the shop for some picnic items before Paris tomorrow! & some pressies too.... Courgette curry take two... crepes (experimental), chat to Gran and the girls & final Paris plans!! I've got my 'sac banane' ready....


Quick run down of French/English medical schools/training:

England. 5 years at uni, graduate as doctor, junior doctor for two years (6 varied jobs), then choose a specialty and begin GP rotations, or core medical/surgical training... you will later take entry exams to secure a job/training job to become a consultant... I think this takes 5-7+ years (?3 to be a GP)....

France. 6 years at university, graduate (not a docteur), choose your specialty to work in, work as an interne (like a junior doctor) for three years, taking jobs relevant to your future specialism, you are then a 'chef du service' in your specialty - like a consultant I think.