Weather - bloody cold - whether you speak Centigrade or Fahrenheit - it's just bloody cold!!
The things that trigger my asthma are exercise and cold weather and I've been exposed to both the last couple of days. I'd brought one Ventolin puffer with me as my asthma hasn't been much of an issue over the past few years, but somewhere along the way the little cylinder slipped put of the plastic casing. No problem I thought - in Australia I would just go to the Chemist's shop and buy one for $10 over the counter or $6.50 on line from Chemist's Warehouse. NO PRESCRIPTION REQUIRED.
I caught the shuttle to Walmart and explained my predicament to the Pharmacist. Seems in America I need a prescription and that means seeing a doctor. As I had no transport and didn't really know where I was, I followed directions and walked to an Emergency Centre where they did everything short of taking my appendix out. This cost me $125. (Meanwhile I'm struggling to breathe normally - I wonder what they consider an emergency. They could have at least administered some Ventolin). Then it was walk back to Walmart where my prescription would be ready in 40 MINUTES - even though it had been sent through electronically. Of course that meant I had to wander around and buy things meanwhile. I finally picked up the Ventolin - 2 just in case - and it cost $122. To add insult to injury I am walking everywhere - which is exercise - in the freezing cold - which are both triggers.
FFS! - I was not a happy camper and when you consider I was having difficulty breathing and this all took over 2 1/2 hours - I could have been dead! Also this US$247 is about $300 Australian. I do have travel insurance and I can claim this later but I was very underwhelmed by the whole experience.
At what point does someone say - big picture - she needs Ventolin - NOW - we'll work the rest out later!!
Ok - rant over -moving forwards. I returned to the hotel and had a nap and then went to the gym to test drive my Rolls Royce Ventolin (hmmm the rant obviously isn't over). All is now well and my 2 gold plated puffers are located in 2 separate suitcases so I don't go through this again. (I'm really not letting this go, am I?)
I had a quiet rest of day watching TV and will have a good sulk tonight and wake up to a new day tomorrow.
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| From my Hotel room - looks like Siberia out there - so coooold! |
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| Ah! Here's my boy. He makes me happy again xx |
🚶🏻🛀🏻 💃🏻
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