Friday, 10 March 2006

Today I went to see the doctor for the first time in the US.

I went for a few different reasons, there was a mole on my back that Sarah was worried about having changed, my wrist still hurts from that bike crash a few months ago, and I thought I'd see if I could get a 'flu shot.

The first thing that's different is when you make the appointment, the receptionist asks why. I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable explaining what ails me to a receptionist from the comfort of my office cubicle shared with three other people within earshot. Besides, it's between me and my doctor. I was a bit taken aback by this level of questioning, just to make an appointment, and hid behind a "general checkup".

The second thing is each doctor seems to have their own personal nurse to do the pre-consultation blood-pressure taking and examination room setup.

The third thing is the prescription seems to go straight from the doctor to the dispensing pharmacy of your choice. Pretty cool.

So today I had my "general checkup". Hoo boy. Let's just say an hour later, I was feeling very poked, prodded, and squeezed, and emerged with a tetanus booster, a blood test, and an order for an x-ray. I certainly felt like I got my ten dollars' worth.

Holy Blackberry product placement, Batman!

Tonight Sarah and I went and saw Syriana.

It was an interesting movie. It told a story, which is what I like in a movie. In fact it told four, and that was the problem. It had four plots that vaguely intertwined, each with their own sets of characters, and it became damn hard to follow who was who, and what was what. This is definitely one to watch a few more times on DVD, with the director's commentary, just to work out exactly what the heck was going on...