Just to document my progress…

I am still doing my best to rest and heal. Sunday I did nothing…Monday, I went to the local pharmacy and got crutches and meds…It is impossible to buy an Ace bandage in this country, they just don’t have them. 

( you can get them on Amazon but they come from China and take about 4 weeks.) The good news is insurance covered almost everything. I skipped the strong meds as they are bad for the stomach …I prefer to just take paracetamol when needed. 

In France, Crutches are called something like>  Les béquilles des Anglais...  I asked the woman in the pharmacy why Anglais ( English)…she and the other worker laughed….I said…do the french think of the english as old people on crutches….I always fear the French think I am english as they don't really like the english.  They must have been invented by the english…but that is the official name in french. Mr. Google seems to think the ancient Egyptians invented crutches...

I had to go to the supermarket and that was exhausting even though I used a shopping cart. I was in line to check out…there was one woman in front of me that was almost finished unloading her cart , waiting for the cashier to finish with the woman ahead of her …when, a store employee came over and tried to help. I was about 4 lanes away from the handicapped, pregnant, senile lane and she decided I should be there as it is wider…Ok…she took my cart and pulled it over,,but…in front of me was an old guy, slow as molasses with a wife that was non stop talk to the cashier…one of those old women that have so much to say…so in essence, the employee doubled my time at check out…hell. I was just wiped out when I got to my car. Then I had to schlep everything down the perilous slope of a side walk to my house. I had to take a few slow trips.

Tuesday, yesterday, I stayed here. Rune is beside himself bored and keeps trying to get me to play…throw his toy for him. He can’t understand how we went from these wonderful walks to doing nothing but me working. He’s a bit pent up. I tried to get an appointment for an ultrasound but the hospital has no openings till mid April!!!! I know I need physical therapy but how to get a prescription for it??? I called my GP to see if I could email a request for a prescription. She had given me one before when I had a similar but less severe problem with this knee. The receptionist told me that she couldn't give me the email as the dr. was off and she would have to have her permission, but she asked me what I needed.

So the receptionist is just that, a lay person in lay clothes who coordinates appointments…I have seen this doctor from the beginning and have dealt with this receptionist for years now. For the first 8 years, she was just nasty. So many people complain about her to the doctor ( the office has maybe 5 doctors and just the one receptionist at a time, I think there are 2) …The doctor told me to call on the days she wasn’t there. she told me that the woman is a struggling actress…for whatever that is worth. I would try to speak french to her every time I had to deal with her but she would steer the car back to english….she didn’t want me speaking french…so eventually, I only spoke english with her and her attitude changed toward me. She has become helpful! Go figure.

It could help that we have the same first name even though mine has a Y.

Anyway I told her I was trying to get the echography and could not get an appointment…so she said…I will get you one…ohhhh…ok…so she called me back and I have a RDV for friday, but in Antibes!…I am grateful but I am trying to not walk or drive too far….This is similar to the supermarket where the woman thought she was helping me when actually she was making things doubly hard!…what to do?

So difficult. I need a prescription to go to physical therapy and a doctor will want to see the echograph before I go to PT so I am at a road block. Throw the french language into it and it becomes more difficult. 

I think I will call the local hospital back and try to argue my way into a RDV , but it will have to be in French.

Things always come in 3’s so I am looking for the next helpful person who is going to double the difficulty for me….

The swelling has come down some…maybe there is 40% left. The leg is very stiff. I am doing basic PT exercises and icing and compressing. I need to get going with this. I want to get out and take photos but I need to be able to get down on the ground to do it. I can get down on the ground but will not be able to get up. I also cannot go too far from the car.

I look on the bright side or what the positive is…I am getting some things done in the computer I need to. I have been accepted by a few big art publishing companies. Each one requires extensive input of info. It could be good money making and I have been avoiding doing it. I am also painting and I can take abstract photos ….

The problem is with Rune…he is upset…He has a big yard to run around in, lots of barking time, a nice bed outside to be in the sun, toys, food, bones, but no big walks so he is pressuring me. There is nothing I can do about it at the moment.