Women Over Fifty

In my last post I said I was sick.  Sick with a nasty upper respiratory infection.  I could get around if it was nothing too strenuous, but I felt terrible and I needed a lot of sleep.  So, while at Uluru I asked at the desk if there was a doctor.

I was told, yes, there was a doctor, but he was flying out after lunch.  The park at Uluru is spread out in a large circle.  You can walk around the circle or go through the middle, but it’s going to be a distance from one thing to another.  The distance to the doctor wasn’t within my abilities at the time so I asked about the bus that circled the park periodically.

A bus was coming soon, they reassured me.  An hour later and no bus and I was in tears.  I feel awful, I told them.  I want to see the doctor, but it’s too far to walk.  After trying to convince me it wasn’t all that far, they finally found an employee to take me there.

When I walked in, I discovered this was the fabled Her Royal Majesty’s Flying Doctor Service of Australia.  (I may have the exact title wrong.)  I was the last one on the doctor’s list that day.   I decided to pay with my Visa card since I had no idea what this visit would cost.

In the waiting room there was a woman waiting to be flown out with the doctor to a hospital.  I was fascinated.  I had heard of the Z position people assume when they have appendicitis, but I’d never seen it.  Apparently it’s the most comfortable position for the patient.  She was on her knees on the floor with her head in her companion’s lap looking very sick.  I felt awfully sick, but I knew it wasn’t close to what she was feeling.

I got my time with the doctor who gave me antibiotics and prescribed lots of liquids and bed rest.  I could have told him that, but he held the key to the antibiotics I needed.

It was back to the motel for a rest before taking the bus out to meet my husband.  It felt good to just crash for a while.

At the time I was a Kaiser Permanente patient.   I knew there wasn’t a Kaiser hospital within reach and I wondered if they would reimburse me for the bill.  I was glad now that I had used my Visa because they paid the doctor in Australian money and I paid them back in US money.  Both sums were on the statement.  By providing the receipt I got from the doctor and my Visa bills, I was able to point out to Kaiser that no hospital was even close, that calling in for permission to be treated at a non-Kaiser facility was not practical, and that they should pay for my treatment.

I’d heard so many negative things about Kaiser, but in this they were totally fair and paid the entire bill.

You’ve already read about my going to Uluru to wait for my husband.

Now I have to tell you that I’m suffering from a strained muscle and must opt out of blogging for a few days.  Wish me luck because I will suffer from not being able to blog.  I’ll be gone for up to a week.  After that we’ll talk about our trip to Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef, and Karanda.

Meanwhile, you can continue to read about Australia by letting Roz tell you about life in Australia today, as she lives it.

Marilynne

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