Doctor Visits....
In the past few years, we have not had too many reasons to visit the doctor- any doctor. We regularly go for Chiropractic appointments, and always do your our annual/bi-annual Dr. and Dentist visits, but have not had too many issues to have to deal with outside of those. Since moving to Amsterdam, I feel like we have seen every doctor under the sun. The first few weeks we were here, Maya's molar broke apart- no joke. In the middle of eating, half her molar just fell off. What the hell? Not having any idea where to bring her, if I needed to have her see anyone, I resorted to my first best friend here in Holland- Facebook and the Holland Homies Facebook page. This web page has literally been a life saver for me. I have asked every question any normal, Type A personality would ask, and am pretty sure that "they" were tired of my multiple times daily, random questions (where can I get X, anyone know of a hairdresser in Oud Zuid, can someone PLLLEEEAAASSE recommend a dentist!). That being said, I have never posted a question out there that someone has not been able to answer- it has been a very huge tool in my figuring things out here in Amsterdam and I am grateful and appreciative to everyone who answers my crazy questions! I ended up finding a Dentist, and was told her tooth was coming out because the one underneath was pushing it out! No need to do anything at all....20 Euro later! (Not to mention, the appointment was after school, it was dark, we had to bike there, didn't know where "there" was, got lost, ended up being basically escorted "there" by a random woman on the street (who had two small kiddos, and was still kind enough to help us out!) and were late to the appointment...ahhhh...the glamorous life of an Expat- feeling stupid daily!).
A little background on the Dutch medical system and how it works. Unless it is an emergency, and you have to have medical treatment ASAP, you are required to go to your GP (General Practitioner) before being allowed to go anywhere else, Then your GP must refer you to the specialist. Your GP will not provide you with antibiotics, and generally tells you to go home, rest and call back in a week if you are still feeling bad/have the symptoms, etc. In December, Maya ended up getting a very weird eye infection. The Nurse at school told her to take her contacts out and leave them out for a week...which we did and it looked like it was getting better. We then headed to Ireland for a week, in which time the infection kicked back in. We went to a pharmacy and they recommended some drops, which she took for a week. They did not clear it up, so I took her to the regular General Practitioner in our neighborhood, after waiting (hoping) it would just miraculously disappear (it didn't). The GP thought it was sinus' (no clue how she got to that determination), and sent me to Etos (like a CVS or Walgreens) to get some decongestant nose spray, told Maya to use it twice daily and call back in a week if it wasn't cleared up. One week later, with no improvement, we called the GP again. She called in a prescription drop for her eye....which didn't work. Called back in another week and she referred us to an Eye Dr. She ended up having a bacterial infection on the lids of both of her eyes (by this time, it has spread to both eyes!). She was prescribed some weird drop which she took for another week, and it finally cleared up. So, the poor kid had a month and a half long eye infection- had to wear glasses and rec specs, no contacts...was not happy.
Scott has had a random infection, I had a period of time where my entire face and upper body went numb (don't ask) and we have had MULTIPLE colds, in all forms- head, throat, chest, nose...we have gone through all but 1 box of the HUGE stash of Kleenex that we brought with us (thank you Sam's club....and YES, they do have Kleenex here....I like to be prepared!). We have had back issues (me), teeth cleanings and more new experiences in the medical area than I care to have. I am just hoping when we go back to our U.S. doctors/dentists this summer, they do not have to do anything special- hopefully we can hold off on braces until we get back, and Maya's scoliosis has stayed in check...or we will be figuring that all out next fall as well! I guess the good thing is I have a very remedial sense of how to get things done here in the Netherlands when it comes to medical issues/needs!