Paris Medical Matters

It is impossible to number the days any longer since I don't know whether to continue with the Paris sequence or include the Marseilles days so no more numbering.

During our travels over the years we have been pretty fortunate in not having any medical problems of significance.  But, from time to time, we have had to see various medical practitioners and have had to learn our way around the systems that are common in a number of countries.This leads us to the case of Virginia's ingrown toe nail.

A problem which manifested itself after our arrival  in France became a matter requiring attention.  Now you may think an ingrown toenail is something quite minor but consider the fact that the first death under anaesthetic was during an operation for just such a problem and if you haven't suffered the misery of an ingrown toe nail, you have no idea of how painful and inconvenient it is. So how does one find a Podiatrist?  Thank heaven for the internet.  A search turned one up located not far from where we are staying.  The next question becomes, how does one make contact?

We went along to his address but could not gain entrance.  How do you get into a door that looks like this.  

Entrance to the "Pedicure"

The door isn't open and we don't have the codes required to gain access.  Que Faire? (What does one do?)  Friends told us that one makes appointments by telephone which is very difficult if one doesn't speak fluent French.  But Virginia managed to make an appointment and found out what she had to do to get into the building.  On the day of her appointment she discovered that the system worked and once past the receptionist (who apparently had been trained by the Gestapo) met up with her "Pedicure" (and that is what the Podiatrist is called in France).  It was exactly what one would expect and all proceeded well.  The conversation was all in French until Virginia made a grammatical error at which point the "Pedicure" corrected her in perfect English.

The moral of the story is that once you understand the "etiquette" of the system, you will receive the quality of care you expect.  One difference, however, is that you would be hard pressed in Australia or the United States to find a Podiatrist who was trilingual.  This young man spoke fluent English and Spanish in addition to his native French.