A good day

Today has been one of those good days, though I must admit I didn’t think it was going to be.

I’m a big NHS fan. I’m only 2 years older than the NHS so really I’ve been a user of it all my life and it’s really coming through for me now.
My GP was in a bit of a conundrum regarding one of my tablets that I take for Diabetes. Roziglitazone is not recommended for people who have heart problems, but it’s an extremely effective diabetic drug. As I have both difficulties my GP sought an expert opinion and I visited the consultant today. After a very careful examination and an extensive interview and questioning session, the specialist decided that I should stop taking the tablets. He also recommended that I check my blood sugar levels using a meter. This is something that I have tried not to do as I don’t want to become one of those people who seem to be paranoid about what they eat and what effect it has on them, however, there’s no point in seeing the expert if you don’t take the advice that’s given, so I agreed.

I waited for a short time before a specialist Diabetic nurse arrived with a meter and showed me how to use it. This is really quite a sophisticated device that not only tells you pretty instantly what your sugar level is, but stores the result and produces a running average. I’ve just looked up the price of this little gizmo, and with all the bits and bats that go with it, there wouldn’t be much change for fifty quid. If you take that and all the drugs that I take (far too many to mention) I simply dread to think how much this illness would cost if I was a private patient.

Talking of private patients, I’ve found, with some help from one of my sons friends, a NHS dentist today. That’ll be good as I need to have some dental work done prior to the operation and the cost looked like it was going to be horrendous – certainly several hundred pounds.

So, all in all a good day. Lets hear it for the good old NHS