Apple#85
Disappointed, I am.
(Watched Star Wars, I have)
I have faithfully eaten an apple a day for over 80 days now, and have, despite all that commitment, been hammered with a bad bad bad sinusitis that sent me howling to the Doctor this weekend. Does the familiar adage have to be relegated to the collection of Old Wives’ Tales?
Or is it because I have missed a few? (Oops, now the truth is out).
But I have to say that the New York medical system worked fantastically, which was an enormous relief after many other encounters we have had with American bureaucracies and departments that have required nerves of steel and the patience of Job, which obviously I was not going to be able to come up with after so many nights and days of poor sleep, difficulty breathing and a painful face. We have a health insurance, through Luca’s office, and I applied via an App called “Doctor on Demand” to have a video link appointment with a Primary Care Doctor; within 5 minutes I was talking with a nice young chap who immediately prescribed antibiotics and recommended all sorts of additional remedies to clear my head of the plaguing stuff. Trudged through the bitter cold (yes, indeed bitter, but nowhere near the -40˚C that the BBC has been claiming for the East Coast of the US) to the Pharmacy where they had already received the script and could hand over the goods. I paid $25 for the consultation and $10 for the medicines. Think I can cope with that.
Just for the information, I have also several times seen a Chiropractor,
Dr Joe Cucci, who clunks and cracks my spine from top to bottom with
barely a consultation and in the blink of an eye. True to stereotype? I
seem to know from somewhere deep inside that all Americans have a
shrink and a chiro who they visit occasionally, and that the chiro
mercilessly pops the spine like it’s a toy and the client leaves
miraculously walking on air. Remarkably, I do leave feeling lighter and
taller and, er, painfree-er. He promised I would be better in 2 months
or I can claim my money back. I am all for taking people at their word.
As I’m still hoping this treatment will also be covered by insurance the
issue does not yet weigh at all on my mind; I shall find out tomorrow
what the damage will be to me (of the financial sort, clearly), and
whether, if my problems persist, I will have to work out how to
challenge him to fulfil his extraordinary offer. But best all round would
be to find that the treatment is paid for and I am indeed ‘better’. The
x-rays he took on Day 1 didn’t look pretty.