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[Ginger Blog] Sleepy Kitty
🕑 Added 2023-06-01 21:05:54 +0000 UTCHave you ever had one of those times when your accountant calls you very early in the morning and tells you in a panicked tone that the documents you've been submitting for the last few months suddenly don't fit? Not the best feeling, believe me. Especially when you know these are the only documents you have. I will say right off the bat that right now, on preliminary reports, the story ended well. But I got three weeks of very high stress and uncertainty.
So why am I telling you about this? No, not to evoke pity! As it turns out, our lives are sometimes like dominoes, with one event leading to another.
On the morning of May 27th I felt a sore throat. I immediately started treatment, but it only got worse. The health care system in Finland is quite unfamiliar to me. You have to make an appointment in advance to see a doctor, and you can go to the emergency room only if it's serious. But how do you know how serious your situation is when it is your first situation? In any case, the doctor's appointment phone doesn't work on weekends, so I continued to treat myself, using the few remedies I could buy at the pharmacy (the only pharmacy in town that was open on Sundays) without a doctor's prescription. Except that the situation was getting worse, as my throat began to hurt incredibly badly. I'm not exaggerating - I've never had a sore throat this bad in my life. After surfing the internet, I got the answer that I needed to go to the emergency department right away. I called them on the phone and they said they would make an appointment for me the next day. This didn't seem like the worst solution to me, since, despite the terrible pain in my throat, I could tolerate another day... That's what I thought. During the night I began to have a fever that could not be brought down with the usual medications, and the pain in my throat became unbearable. I would describe it as a red-hot sharp knife that you tried to swallow, but it got stuck in your throat.
In the morning I got to the doctor's office and got my first glimpse of Finnish medicine. Let me tell you right away that the acquaintance was quite pleasant, also thanks to the amazing staff. They examined me, took a swab from my throat, and there, in a special machine they found out what kind of bacteria I had. They immediately prescribed antibiotics and half an hour later I was already lying at home under a blanket, counting up how much time had passed since taking the first pill and desperately trying to catch up on sleep after three sleepless nights.
By evening, I felt better. At any rate, I was able to drink. My throat had stopped hurting completely just today... And I had another week of antibiotics ahead of me...
Apparently, it was a simple sore throat. But I've never had such a sore throat in my life... Apparently, because of the stresses I've been through, my immune system is weak, and the bacteria took advantage of it... So I had four days and three nights in between, and it was completely out of my life. All in all, this turned out to be a more sensitive event than I would have thought...
At the juncture of these two events, on May 20 I was able to go to a Käärijä concert in Helsinki. I must admit that I was a bit skeptical, but I really needed some emotional relief. And I didn't regret it! The concert was simply delightful! Live all that loud music and pyrotechnics have a totally cool effect! You can watch the whole concert here - https://areena.yle.fi/1-65740787
I would have loved to go to the Rammstein concert on May 27 and 28 too, but the tickets were sold out before I got to Finland... But while I was waiting for my test, doctor told me how cool it was to see the Rammstein show!
I feel much better now, but I still sleep a few extra hours during the day to make up for the lack of sleep and to relieve fatigue.
Where am I going with this? Even simple illnesses can sometimes have a serious impact on the course of your life. Take care of your health, friends! While I… Well, I’m off under the blanket.
Love you guys! <3
![[Ginger Blog] Sleepy Kitty](https://img5.leakoo.com/storage/6/cl/qb/93d9f0-019e8f99-f4f4-72b6-b24b-c33ed0ab164f.png)
Comments
Ginger
Thank you so much for your support! I will try my best to make my work even more interesting! ;-)
Ginger
The health care system here differs from the U.S. in particular in that it is for the most part government-run, so no additional insurance is required. The downside of this is that almost all information is in Finnish and Swedish, and many nuances can get lost in translation into English. But they have an official website where you can write down your symptoms and they will tell you how urgent it is and where you can go =D
Ahry Siss
Glad you are better and thank you for all despite all that. Keep up the amazing work and wish you all the best.
Zed
Good to hear you're feeling better now! I only have experience working in the US healthcare field (I was Nationally Certified Paramedic, as well as former army Combat Medic), but usually there are specific situations or symptoms that define when treatment is an emergency. For example, perhaps if you had a fever that lasted more than a specific number of days, or had a fever that was a specific temperature, it might be considered an emergency. I would reach out to the agencies who handle that to find out if there are documents that specifically say what those emergency situations are. In the USA, whats covered is outlined by documentation from your insurance provider. I have no clue who the reaponsible party is in Finland, but hopefully you can find out who that is :)
