Our life in France - It can be testing sometimes.
I haven't posted since just before Christmas (which incredibly was last year) and really seams so long ago,
Well Christmas came and went without event in fact it seamed like a bit of an anti-climax but as they say "all water under the bridge"
Then came the new year, we stayed up and saw it in but didn't have a drink because we were going to the airport the next day to pick up our dear friend Joy who was coming for a break with us, we got up in the morning and I was a bit short of breath but didn't think too much about it, we picked up Joy and got back home ok, we had been invited to friends to eat that evening, Roast Lamb so I wasn't going to miss it but started getting some pain along with the increased breathlessness, went to bed but trying to lie down was too painful and made me even more breathless, by morning I was ready to go to the doc's ... he said he thought it might be gallstones and sent me for an echogramme, I got to the emergency ward and got booked in, I seemed to jump the queue as I was deemed to be an emergency, I was promptly stripped of my clothes and put into a hospital glory gown (I must tell you they are exactly the same here as in the hospitals in England)
The echo thingy was what became known as the doughnut, a round scanner, I had to have an injection that would circulate as I was being scanned, the technician in his effort to tell me in English said it would burn me which alarmed me slightly but what he meant was it would feel hot, at this time they could have blown me up as I was in so much pain, the next problem was they wanted me to lie flat and hold my breath and I couldn't do either. I was then asked if I had my next of kin with me so I thought there was something terminal wrong with me...well it turned out to be a Pulmonary Embolism (A Blood clot in my lung) which meant I had to stay in hospital, my stay lasted 9 days and what ensued was the biggest and best French lesson I was to encounter so far, I don't think I have ever had so many drugs pumped into me in such a short space of time but they saved my life and I cannot fault the care I received plus the morphine was very nice and I really don't remember too much about the first couple of days.
Sadly our dear friend Joy was only here for 6 days but luckily she took charge of John my OH and cooked for him, keeping him on an even keel and taking down the Christmas deckies (A job I hate) Thank you Joy
my next problem was with my Carte Vitale ( my French health card) but you will have to check in next time to find out about that.
