I’m back! 🙂
We’ve had such a fantastic couple of weeks touring the Balkans in our van, Casper! We saw some incredible waterfalls in Croatia, drank some incredible coffee in Bosnia, got blown away by the beauty in Serbia, and enjoyed sharing my shower with a green widow in Romania. Well…..maybe not quite enjoyed, but I certainly had company that morning!
Here’s a little photo dump of the highlights:
The weather, well let’s not go there! It rained and it rained and it rained! Wherever we travelled to, the rain hitched hike a ride along with us! It was no joke! In fact, it had rained so much in Bosnia, the rivers had burst the banks!
This a photo of our picnic table at one of the campsites:
The Wolf
The wolf didn’t want to leave me alone on this trip! On some trips he gets the memo, I want a break. Sadly, on this trip, he must have missed it! Instead, he just caused trouble!
It was the day I was in Tara National Park, Serbia. The National Park is home to many grey wolves. Or as the locals call them, Canis Lupus. Thankfully, I didn’t get to meet any of his friends. However, this was the day he decided to make a fuss!
Shingles Had Appeared
I noticed a painful rash has appeared on my back. It looked just like the shingles rash I had a couple of years ago. I knew I needed help. I knew I needed to get some anti-viral meds in me, asap. But I also knew I was in the mountains. I didn’t think there would be a doctor anywhere nearby, but I was wrong!
The Serbian Healthcare Is Brilliant!
We drove down into a local village, located just outside the National Park. We saw the green pharmacy sign, so we decided to pop in for advice.
The pharmacist was brilliant with me! She rang the local hospital for advice from a doctor. (Yes, believe it or not, there was a hospital in the village, in the mountains!) The doctor said, because I have Lupus, I must go and see them straight away! I must not delay it!
I asked the pharmacist two questions:
‘How long are the waiting times at the hospital, please?’ Worrying I would be spending the rest of my day sitting in the waiting room, waiting to be seen.
‘Do you roughly how much will it cost us please?’ Worried it was going to be a few £100s, especially with me needing hospital care.
Both answers completely shocked me!
I Was Straight In!
The pharmacist looked at me oddly when I mentioned waiting times. When I was trying to translate if the waiting time was going to be 4 hours, 6 hours, or longer. She was like, ‘no, no waiting times, it’s a village hospital. You don’t need to wait!’
Honestly, she was not wrong! I turned up at the emergency department at the hospital, and the doctor was there waiting for me. I got pulled straight into a room and had everything checked over, just to check nothing else going on.
After she had finished doing an assessment on me, she sent me into another room with a bed. This was where I was given an injection into my bum cheek. After that, I then got hooked up to an IV infusion. There was still no waiting around, not even for the medication to be administrated!
I Could’t Belive The Cost!
After my infusion, they discharged me so I could carry on enjoying my holiday. She prescribed me some cream and tablets to take away with me for the next few days. She then handed over the bill to Alex, with a big apology for it being so expensive. Alex was like, ‘no, it’s absolutely fine!’
For an assessment, an injection, an infusion, tablets, cream, a hospital bed, etc, it all came to £15! Cheaper than my 5-minute check-up at the dentist I had before my holiday! Honestly, I might move to Serbia! No waiting times, can get seen when you need to, and affordable!
That’s the thing with private hospitals, people only go when they really need to, because they have to pay. Therefore the emergency department doesn’t get congested with people who don’t necessarily need to be there! And the people who really do need help can actually get the help!
Two Weeks Later
My shingles is healing slowly. My rash is still here, but now only faint. The pain is just a consistent throb all day long. But I know it’s going to take a few weeks before it completely goes. Patient and time is the key.
I know many of you warned me, I probably get shingles over and over again, due to our messed up immune systems. But I honestly wasn’t expecting it again just after 2 years! At least this time, I knew what to expect and I knew the importance of getting help asap. I’m also very grateful it happened in Serbia and not somewhere like Croatia. I don’t think my bill would have been quite as appealing!
That’s it from me this week. I had my Covid Spring Booster this week, which completely knocked me for six. Luckily, the side effects only lasted 48 hours, and I’m doing so much better now! I will probably talk more about this in the next coming weeks.
Next week I have my very important eye test to see if it’s my illness damaging my eyes or my Hydroxychloroquine. If it’s not my medication, it will mean I can go back on the higher dose again, which I really need! I will talk more about all this in next week’s blog.
Until next week,
Goodbye for now
Emma
xox
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My book, How I Tamed the Wolf, Living with Lupus is available on Amazon via this link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09M73X2JQ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MWAF58981F0VVMNRV1WN
Want to catch up on my previous blogs, head to: My Weekly Lupus Diary
