jasper123

HI cheers its really nice to hear from you again, everyone has forsaken us every day I look in this room for any activity and its always the same, not a single post for a couple of months I think
cheers whenever I need to see my doctor its only a 15 minute walk from my house, if you don't mind me asking why is your doctor a couple of days hard drive away from your house? I do remember you saying that your wife's specialist is a long distance away, but you never explained why a specialist just as good could not be found close to you in your same town?

aries

Hello Cheers,

Yes, that's a long way to drive to visit a doctor, it would have been worth a flight during such a hot day. I must admit I've driven that distance in one day in Oz, but I was a lot younger and with tons of enthusiasm.

Are you well rested, and was the result of the medical appointment satisfactory?

This thread has slowed down in recent times, perhaps many members now don't have the time, or don't feel the need to be involved any more. Also, I believe some members keep in touch using "social sites."

Mallory

Husband is fuming - bus lane fine in Oxford last September, fine 74 pounds - Oxford is a traffic nightmare, and you can be pushed into a bus lane without realizing it. We were in UK in June this year. We were super vigilant about bus lanes. Another bus lane fine in KingstonUponThames area, 9:30 pm, going through one of those narrow roads toward Epsom. Fine was 180 pounds, reduced by half if paid within two weeks. Hertz did pay it in time. If you don't know the area, bus lanes pop up suddenly. Such a rip off.

between two worlds

Just to say hello as you are all saying the room is empty!

I have been trying to get on with life here rather than spending lots of time with dear expat friends, which was fun but tended to suck me in for hours! Also, as aries says above, the need to be involved does diminish depending on your life circs.....as I am no longer so much of an expat, being based in UK now, it's less urgent for me to find that solidarity with other expats.

Tho I appreciate that those who haven't moved back do like to keep hearing from those who have...so I'm sorry about that! (In case anyone noticed....!)

Lovely weather here today in south-west UK. Recently I visited Brighton.....in the opposite direction, lovely estuary town of Fowey in Cornwall...there is so much beauty here. I hope I never take it for granted.

jasper123

My cousin has been living in Italy for 55 years now, she is over here in Pompey now staying a month with her Mum who is 95 and now in ill health, she is waiting for all the red tape to pass before her Mum can have an MRI of her kidneys, she's already had the CT scan, she told me that in Italy once the c.t. scan was done and if it found something bad then an MRI WOULD BE DONE very soon after, she said that you don,t have two weeks waiting for an appointment for your GP in Italy either, she said that social health care there is very good, I think you find this in most European county's don't you? I wonder why the UK being one of the richest are having so many problems?

cheers

I got stuck too. Same. Hertz paid it and passed the charge to me.
It is a cash cow for the local authorities.

cheers

We go there because the doctor did the defibrillator implant and she believes saved her life by doing so.
She has to have the battery changed, which means surgery, every few years and that time is coming up again.
We have to go down again at the end of next month because he wants to check her out before we go on our next cruise in October to Bermuda for our 50th wedding anniversary.
Yes, I'm still trying to recover.
Cheers

cheers

The doctor is a world renowned cardiologist specialist. ( so he says)
Again, my wife says he saved her life.
Typically we walk into his office he takes about two minutes to check our hearts and then he vanishes and we are seen by other medics who are usually doctors in training. Most are Jewish which we like. One of the doctors this time, she, was a medical student from Italy and just there for a week and her home is in Israel. Complicated. She is doing her medical studies in Italy. She was a very upbeat girl.
So restated, there are a lot of medical students running the place.
One of the doctors looks Indian and went to Cambridge University. I think he said he is from the Middle East. He fly's home often because I think his parents live in England. He likes us because I am from England.

aries

Some senior cardologists can be full of self importance, I've always been pleased to see their registrars. In December a senior cardiologist told me that he couldn't understand my dizziness, and was totally disinterested when I told him that my GP had added another high blood pressure medication which I thought had begun my issues. After blacking out constantly, and a locum on Boxing Day also failing me, I collapsed in my shower room but managed to dial 999.

The ambulance crew checked my BP with me standing as well as sitting (which the 2 doctors didn't do), and I was taken to hospital for 6 days. It had been found that when I stood, my systolic BP dropped from 140 to only 50, hence my blackouts, and I was taken off 3 prescription medications, though one was reinstated a few weeks later.

A friend who works there suggested that I ask for another cardiologist.

scot47

What I find difficult is I am seeing different specialist. the cardiologist is only one of them. For some reason the other specialists seem to defer to the cardiologist but I feel there is no real cooperation between cardiologist, renal specialist and vascular surgeon !

Perth

This is how it is here now - doctors no longer talk to one another. It is up to you to tell them what care you have received elsewhere.

scot47

Well here it is still an integrated system with shared files but I would sooner deal with one doctor !

J.JsOH

The waiting time for a doctor appointemt at my doctors surgery is 3 weeks for anything other than a regular repeat visit..
I can make a comparison to 20 + yrs before bcause I returned to the same area. The population in my locally popular suburban catchement area has increased 40% since 1992 yet it has still the one surgery with just one additional nurse.

scot47

Italy is not throwing away its money on a useless Trident system !

J.JsOH

Or on such an elaborate over generous benefits system as UK !