So, I actually drove to work today because I am going to pick Ray up from the airport this evening. What normally takes almost 2 hours by train took about 1 hour in my car. If I had a motorcycle or even a scooter, it would have probably taken half that time. There are some really odd things about the roads here… There was one spot that went for 3 lanes of traffic to one. But without any merge arrows or indications of who has right of way, etc. Well, this settles it – I am going to do the Compulsory Basic Training and get a little 125 cc motorbike so that I can get my motorcycle license. The hoops you have to jump through are just a bit silly, but…

I finally registered with a GP here, and part of the process is that you have to go into to the doc’s office with all of your prescription medications. Wow. Was that ever fun. The whole thing went something like this:

He demands of me, “What is wrong?”

I respond, kind of confused, “Nothing. I was told I had to make an appointment within 4 weeks of registering with NHS.”

He apparently didn’t hear me. “What is wrong with you today?”

Again, I answer, “I don’t have anything wrong with me today. I am here for my initial appointment.”

He didn’t seem like that answer. So, then he asks all kinds of questions that are mostly questions I answered in their initial form that I had to fill out to become a patient there. I guess reading my answers required too much effort? He didn’t seem to understand that I don’t take baby aspirin to counter the possibility of a DVT due to my Leiden Factor V condition… (The thing is, aspirin is only effective in combating arterial clots due to platelets. LFV causes VEINOUS clots because not enough of the chemical that stops clotting gets produced. Big difference.) Then we move on to my medications. Among them is Nexium – the glorious little purple pill that allows me to still drink coffee, even if it is only in small quantities.

He tells me, “You can’t take that every day because it stops the production of acid in your stomach, and that just isn’t normal.”

I explain, rather gently, that I have to take it every day because I have a tendency towards severe heartburn and I have an eroded esophageal flap thing, etc. We go back and forth on this, and I just gave up. Finally, he prints out a prescription for the UK version of Nexium at half strength, and hands it to me.

That’s it.

Finally, after 30 seconds, he looks up at me, and I ask, “Umm, are you done with me now?”

“Yes, you get that filled at the chemist. Go.”

I am thoroughly impressed by his level of incompetence and arrogance. I might not have always gotten along with Dr. Shoffner’s staff, but at least she was always competent and professional without coming off as arrogant. If she didn’t know something, she would first admit it and second refer me to someone who did know.