BACK FROM LONDON

Our 5 ½ days in London just flew by, as expected. The good news is that we met up with my sister as planned, liked the location of the hotel, and didn’t have any rain. The bad news is that it WAS pretty cold most of the time, and although we were prepared for it, warmer weather would have made it much more enjoyable. Of course if the weather was nice, there would be more tourists this time of year, so once again, the bad news is also the good news.

I came home with some sort of upper respiratory infection. After fighting off a cold a few weeks before the trip, I think I succumbed due to sheer exhaustion. After pounding the pavement for the first 3 ½ days we were all absolutely exhausted on Saturday. For those considering a trip to London’s Portobello Rd market, let me warn you….go on a day when you’re full of energy and patience! I’m not much of a yard-saler or a thrift shop person, but my sister is, and even she was just too tired to even try to look at anything…it was just too overwhelming.

That night I dreamed that I was sick, dreamed that I woke up with a sore throat and told Art and Terri to visit the British Museum without me! Luckily I did wake up feeling slightly better than I had dreamt about; the hot bath twelve hours of sleep might have had something to do with that.  Anyway, in the end, I felt just a little worse each day, and by Tuesday when we were due to fly home, I was starting with one of those unproductive coughs that just tear up your throat. The flight itself was very painful on my ears, and once we arrive home I anxiously waited until the appointed time to visit the doctor. 

I only had to wait for a few minutes to see the doctor, and told him about my previous cold, and about this new, more serious episode. A check from him confirmed inflamed ears and throat, and he wrote me two prescriptions and also wrote down the name of a cough syrup to take. I’m now in the third day of taking these medications, and hope I’m on the road to recovery. Last night I woke up coughing several times, and after the Italian cough syrup pooped out after only two hours, I switched to a generic Robitussin DM-type remedy to control the cough.

The antibiotic was only for three days, which seems to be the norm here, and if I’m not feeling incredibly better by tomorrow morning I’m going to return to the doctor for more. Our family doctor is here at least five days a week, maybe six…I don’t know about Saturdays. On Monday, Wednesday and Fridays he’s here in the morning, and on Tuesday and Thursdays he’s here in the afternoon. The procedure is simple: you go to the office, wait your turn, and then see the doctor. No appointments, no secretary, no nurse, just the patients and the doctor.

Hopefully I’ll be inspired (and well enough)to write up a full report of our trip within the next few days. For now some of the highlights were: our trip on the London eye, buying cheddar cheese, and seeing Brokeback Mountain AND an IMAX 3D movie! Oh yeah, and we saw the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the British Museum too!