Poorly Sick

No blog entry yesterday because I was busy re-adjusting my paper cap; Ella's been crook and I've been playing nurse. It was nothing serious, just a gastro that's been going around nursery, one I thought we'd escaped because we'd gone to Noosa.

It's the first time Ella's ever been properly poorly and unfortunatley she decided the best place to aim your projectile vomit is right down the front of your mother's clothes. As she threw up eight times, the washing machine has been going all day and night ever since. I'm really not good with vomit, though realise now I'll have to toughen up because it'll be approximately ten years before she can deal with her own.

By yesterday afternoon she couldn't even keep sips of water down. She was listless and drowsy and her feet were cold. I called Batman, who came home to take a look at her.

"Hmm" he said, stroking his chin. "Do you want to take her into hospital?"

"I don't know" I replied. "You're the doctor, what do you think?"

"We'll keep an eye on her over the next few hours and make a decision later"

So she went onto monitoring, even after she'd asked to go to bed at 6pm, and I just sat there worrying what they'd do to her in hospital and would they do it properly? We have no private healthcare insurance, just reciprocal arrangements through the Australian Medicare system. The reciprocal arrangement means they'll give like-for-like medical care to British citizens, provided they can produce a Medicare card.

The general perception is that the public health system isn't a patch on the private. Darren reckons it depends what's wrong with you. And there's some things the Australians pay for that he doesn't think are worthwhile, like antenatal care and giving birth in private hospitals, where the facilities for an emergency aren't always on site. When he worked in the private system, Darren would sometimes be the only doctor on call for the entire hospital; not just the only anaesthetists, the only doctor. Makes you look at Carl Kennedy with whole new eyes.

Anyway, the patient had a good night and she's making a recovery on the sofa with The Wiggles and her Toastie Pup. I'm going slowly round the bend, but then I'm just the nurse.