In sickness and in health

It took me a week to get an appointment with a Rheumatologist at a hospital.  I went to the hospital last week hoping to see the specialist that day but it was not possible.  Instead I had to wait for the secretary to arrive and she wrote my name down in position 15 in a book for the following Wednesday.   She said 12 o’clock but I had no clue what that meant as there were 15 written down before me.  The waiting room was overflowing so I imagined I would have to be waiting for hours.

Anyhow, Wednesday came and we turned up at the hospital to an empty waiting room and I was seen straight away.  The doctor was very nice and I was given medication for my Rheumatoid arthritis and I have to come back in 6 weeks time.  It is a 3 hour bus ride from our placement city so I guess we will be in Khartoum for the night otherwise it will be a very long day.

The fee for the doctor was 150 SDP which is about £19.  So that was ok.  But the meds were very expensive.  The pharmacy wanted 50 SDP (£5.50) for 10 tablets and when I pulled a face she gave me some cheaper ones for 16 SDP (£2) Why not give me those ones first? I tried in 4 different pharmacies for the main medication and they didn’t have it.  In the last pharmacy, they called a number and a bloke appeared who sold me some directly.  Apparently, he is a pharmacist who goes to Egypt to stock up on drugs that are not available in The Sudan and sells them to pharmacies.  He charged me 150SDP that’s £19 for what would be 2 month’s supply.  I have bought drugs in Egypt and they are very cheap.  Am I being ripped off?  No doubt.  What a pisser.  Not happy.

But the good news is that I have my meds, am off steroids , so my little chubby chops should start to recede and am on the way to being pain free.  Also, my blood pressure is normal for the FIRST TIME IN 8 years without any medication.  Why is this the case?  I have no idea.  In fact it is very good not even just OK.  It was up when I was in the UK in June, maybe Africa suits me after all lol.

As you will gather from my FB statuses, we are working our way through the Sopranos at a steady rate and this has required lying down in bed for endless hours in an awkward position.  This has resulted in a painful muscle spasm at the top of my ribcage.   It was so bad that when it “went” it woke me with a start and I honestly thought I had cracked a rib!  It is like a crick in the neck but in the rib cage so not as bad but I am groaning and moaning like a good’un when I turn over in bed.  To top it all the last batch of our staple food – BBQd chicken – left us with a bug or two and we were up all night with sickness and diarrhoea which has lasted all day today.

BUT this morning we have woken up full of beans and feel great!!