hurray for the socialists! i gotta pee.
Something bad happened today, and then something good happened, and then I took a nap.
The bad thing was that I suddenly had to pee every five minutes. Uh oh, must be a bladder infection. (OK, so I don't think this is embarassing to write about, so you shouldn't think it is embarassing to read. It happens to the best of us.)
The good thing was that I had my first taste of the Norwegian socialist healthcare system, and boy was it ever delicious. I got the name of a doctor's office from my roomie Hanne, and I called anticipating a lot of trouble...you know, paperwork, questions about where I was from, why I was here, and why I didn't have any medical forms with me. But instead, the woman who answered the phone just told me to come in at one o'clock.
"Huh? Just come in? No appointment? No waiting? No fuss?" I showed up at one on the dot, filled out two simple forms, peed in a cup, waited ten minutes, saw the doc (who affirmed that I did, indeed, have a bladder infection), got a prescription, paid the doctor 35 kroner (six bucks or so...yes, a little weird handing him cash, but that's how they do it over here), and left.
The whole process took 45 minutes. The prescription cost ten bucks at the pharmacy two blocks from my apartment.
So, for those of you who were wondering, such is the healthcare system in Norway. You just get treated....kind of like magic. I promise my next post will be slightly more discrete, but I jump at any learning opportunity.
The nap was great, by the way.
The bad thing was that I suddenly had to pee every five minutes. Uh oh, must be a bladder infection. (OK, so I don't think this is embarassing to write about, so you shouldn't think it is embarassing to read. It happens to the best of us.)
The good thing was that I had my first taste of the Norwegian socialist healthcare system, and boy was it ever delicious. I got the name of a doctor's office from my roomie Hanne, and I called anticipating a lot of trouble...you know, paperwork, questions about where I was from, why I was here, and why I didn't have any medical forms with me. But instead, the woman who answered the phone just told me to come in at one o'clock.
"Huh? Just come in? No appointment? No waiting? No fuss?" I showed up at one on the dot, filled out two simple forms, peed in a cup, waited ten minutes, saw the doc (who affirmed that I did, indeed, have a bladder infection), got a prescription, paid the doctor 35 kroner (six bucks or so...yes, a little weird handing him cash, but that's how they do it over here), and left.
The whole process took 45 minutes. The prescription cost ten bucks at the pharmacy two blocks from my apartment.
So, for those of you who were wondering, such is the healthcare system in Norway. You just get treated....kind of like magic. I promise my next post will be slightly more discrete, but I jump at any learning opportunity.
The nap was great, by the way.
posted by Rachel @ 9:18 AM
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