The past few weeks have been a little bit crazy. Between The Killers concert (which deserves an entire post all of its own) and Christmas shopping madness, as well as an attempted road trip, it's been rather busy. In the midst of all of this, I also ended up with the most amazing (and awful) hay fever last week.
It all started in the middle of the night on about Monday, when I woke up with a sinus headache and couldn't get back to sleep. It got steadily worse from there, and going to work with a streaming nose didn't really help (it's hard to answer the phone without sniffing and I feel really awkward about coughing over people's credit cards). Not even the doggy antihistamines helped (they're exactly the same as the human ones, and the vet and I both take them whenever our allergies kick in). I eventually gave in on Thursday and decided to go to my GP. Without a second thought, I called his office, expecting to get an appointment that morning, and so you can imagine my disappointment when the phone rang and when through to an answering machine message telling me that he was away until January and that I should go to another doctor, who is just down the road. A little irked, I called my old GP, only to be told by his receptionist that he was also away until January. Still feeling like hell, I decided that the best option was to go to the office of the doctor that the first GP had recommended - the argument for this approach was mainly based on the fact that there was no answer when I called the practice to make an appointment. I should probably also point out that my old and new GP's offices are on the same road, and about a block from one another, and that the GP who was recommended by the original one also had his offices on the same road! It's Glenhazel - we have a surplus of Jewish doctors! Anyway, I pulled myself together and drove down the road to the offices, which, lo and behold, were closed! At this point, I drove back up the hill to the original GP's office, because I knew that there was another GP there (see what I meant about the surplus?). Amazingly, they were open, but could only schedule me an appointment for the next day, so I took a business card in case I needed to call them, and drove to the Bagleyston Clinic, cursing the fact that all the GP's in Jo'burg appeared to be sitting next to each other on a beach in Umghlanga!
I got to the clinic (and I swear that the guy who parked next to me was the same guy who I had seen in the waiting room of the GP who was actually open!) and located the offices of one of the GP's. Naturally, it was packed with people - I vaguely suspect that this doctor was the last remaining one in Jo'burg. I tentatively approached the reception desk and asked if I could make an appointment. The receptionist responded by telling me that the doctor was very, very busy, but that, if I didn't mind, I could see "the lady doctor". Happy to see anyone with a medical degree at this point (I was seriously debating just driving to work and seeing if the vet had any ideas about what I had!), I agreed! I feel a lot more comfortable with female doctors and the only reason why my GP is male is because he's the closest one to where I live (expect when he's tanning on the beach, obviously). I filled in their form and saw the doctor 15 minutes later. I was a little mystified as to why the receptionist had given me such a meaningful look when she had mentioned the "lady doctor" - and it got me a little worried, because in my mind, a lady doctor is a gynae. It turns out that she wasn't just a lady, but also a very nice Chinese lady, who was only about 4 years older than me! This got me wondering why I hadn't been asked in I wanted to see the "ethnic minority lady doctor"...
In any case, Holly (the GP), was very nice, and checked me over and concluded that I merely had severe hay fever, and that the exhaustion which had caused me to suspect that it was 'flu was merely incidental and a result of the heat. She gave me a script for some more exciting antihistamines and sent me on my way. I am feeling quite a lot better - aside from the coughing, which kind of causes people to look at me with concern. I'm mostly okay though, and might actually be able to enjoy my holiday, now that I'm no longer feeling sorry for myself.
It all started in the middle of the night on about Monday, when I woke up with a sinus headache and couldn't get back to sleep. It got steadily worse from there, and going to work with a streaming nose didn't really help (it's hard to answer the phone without sniffing and I feel really awkward about coughing over people's credit cards). Not even the doggy antihistamines helped (they're exactly the same as the human ones, and the vet and I both take them whenever our allergies kick in). I eventually gave in on Thursday and decided to go to my GP. Without a second thought, I called his office, expecting to get an appointment that morning, and so you can imagine my disappointment when the phone rang and when through to an answering machine message telling me that he was away until January and that I should go to another doctor, who is just down the road. A little irked, I called my old GP, only to be told by his receptionist that he was also away until January. Still feeling like hell, I decided that the best option was to go to the office of the doctor that the first GP had recommended - the argument for this approach was mainly based on the fact that there was no answer when I called the practice to make an appointment. I should probably also point out that my old and new GP's offices are on the same road, and about a block from one another, and that the GP who was recommended by the original one also had his offices on the same road! It's Glenhazel - we have a surplus of Jewish doctors! Anyway, I pulled myself together and drove down the road to the offices, which, lo and behold, were closed! At this point, I drove back up the hill to the original GP's office, because I knew that there was another GP there (see what I meant about the surplus?). Amazingly, they were open, but could only schedule me an appointment for the next day, so I took a business card in case I needed to call them, and drove to the Bagleyston Clinic, cursing the fact that all the GP's in Jo'burg appeared to be sitting next to each other on a beach in Umghlanga!
I got to the clinic (and I swear that the guy who parked next to me was the same guy who I had seen in the waiting room of the GP who was actually open!) and located the offices of one of the GP's. Naturally, it was packed with people - I vaguely suspect that this doctor was the last remaining one in Jo'burg. I tentatively approached the reception desk and asked if I could make an appointment. The receptionist responded by telling me that the doctor was very, very busy, but that, if I didn't mind, I could see "the lady doctor". Happy to see anyone with a medical degree at this point (I was seriously debating just driving to work and seeing if the vet had any ideas about what I had!), I agreed! I feel a lot more comfortable with female doctors and the only reason why my GP is male is because he's the closest one to where I live (expect when he's tanning on the beach, obviously). I filled in their form and saw the doctor 15 minutes later. I was a little mystified as to why the receptionist had given me such a meaningful look when she had mentioned the "lady doctor" - and it got me a little worried, because in my mind, a lady doctor is a gynae. It turns out that she wasn't just a lady, but also a very nice Chinese lady, who was only about 4 years older than me! This got me wondering why I hadn't been asked in I wanted to see the "ethnic minority lady doctor"...
In any case, Holly (the GP), was very nice, and checked me over and concluded that I merely had severe hay fever, and that the exhaustion which had caused me to suspect that it was 'flu was merely incidental and a result of the heat. She gave me a script for some more exciting antihistamines and sent me on my way. I am feeling quite a lot better - aside from the coughing, which kind of causes people to look at me with concern. I'm mostly okay though, and might actually be able to enjoy my holiday, now that I'm no longer feeling sorry for myself.
