Zen10

We use Medicare. We have no private at all.

Zen10

We have Medicare which is paid for by general taxation. Contributions are about 1% or 2% I think. We've been very impressed so far, but then I was always impressed with the NHS, on the whole.

Tr1boy

Then you're paying a lot more than the Medicare levy as you're being fined 1% of your annual salary for not having private (unless that's changed?)

northernbird

Hope all is Ok with you

Tr1boy

Well, you know, it's not a normal week at Chez TB without a trip to the hospital

Mon morning got up, showered and dressed for work. Just about finished my brekkie and with about 15mins to spare before I left for work, I started to feel like I had a stitch. 2 mins later I was rolling on the floor in absolute agony and the left lower abdomen felt like it had been stuck with a hot poker.

20 mins later it had gone off the scale and I was writhing around, throwing up uncontrollably. 10 mins later I'm being whisked off to hospital in an ambulance with the siren going!

Ambulance crew were not sure what was wrong but told Mrs TB to pack a bag as I would obviously be going straight in for some kind of surgery and be in for a while. Lots of pain relievers and meds later, and after some tests and scans, things had settled down and by 2pm I felt absolutely fine.

Turns out I have two stones in my kidney and one of them decided to move down the road a bit, man that's some full on pain Drs reckon it will disintegrate or will be passed relatively unnoticed (yeah right!).

Been fine since!

quoll

Sheesh TB cant win a trick can you? Better stay in UK if you are going to have this close relationship with ambulances and A&E! Hope 2013 is a much better year for you!

Bevm

Kidney stones are very painful, TB. Hope it moves on without too much more of that!

Bev

cheers

Know what you mean. I have the tea shirt! One lady said as a comparison, I will take child birth anytime, it is less painful.
One of my stones was so painful and the doctor wouldn't give me a pain killer
even after I had pleaded with him. I think he was thinking, "whats it worth to you" He billed me $250. That was about 15 years ago. I'll have to pay that some day.

cheers

Re, Stones.
Drink water until you feel like you are drowning. That will take care of them.
That's my experience

Back2UK

Triboy,

I have just put an update thread and I am heading back to Canada. I hope you are doing better now after the last operation.

Good luck

Tel8

WOW Tr1Boy, I hope you feel a bit better now- I'm glad to hear that it was just a kidney stone the last time around, although my flatmate had one once and we thought she was dying!

Its so sweet that you want to make sure the Mrs. is happy (my dad would agree- when my mum's happy, we all are!) but how do you feel about potentially going back to Oz? Was life okay for you there? It sounds like you prefer it here a bit. Either way, I'll be rooting for you to find whichever place makes you both the happiest!

Tr1boy

Thanks for those kind words

I don't think I will feel any different about Oz when we go back, as I never really enjoyed it in the way most folks do. But I always did ok there in terms of friends, career etc. I've spent nearly half of my life there (I'm 46 and was there 21yrs).

I think what will change though is how I react to being there. I'm much more inclined to go with the flow of life nowadays and 'what will be will be' kind of thing.

I'm going back to some great friends (and fellow competitors), we have all the business contacts we need and are liquid enough to set ourselves up in a modest way. So it's very low risk, but then again so is staying here, just a question of what works for us.

I've had my UK fix and if Oz will be home in the future, I do feel that being here and getting through the surgeries has actually made me stronger on the one hand, and more carefree on the other.

Can't say I'll ever embrace living in Oz in my inner heart, but I won't rail against it either