Haven’t had the time to really blog these two days due to a little commotion in the household.

Raeven’s down with a urinary tract infection which caused her to have a fever two nights ago, and it wouldn’t go away until this morning, so yea, I’ve had other things on my mind.

Suffice to say, this was not a pleasant experience. She wouldn’t pee because it hurt. She threw up because of all the water she had to drink. She won’t eat. Thanks to the antibiotics the doctor prescribed, she’s now better.

The healthcare system here is so different from Malaysia’s, and I hear that it’s the same in Australia. Back home, you go to a doctor, you get diagnosed and they prescribe meds you can take from a counter in the same clinic.

Here, you can’t just walk into a clinic. For non-urgent care, you have to make appointments. For urgent care, you go to a hospital or a privately owned Urgent Care clinic, such as if you have something that requires urgent treatment. After you go through the checkup, you’re given a prescription. You then have to get yourself to a pharmacy and then wait half an hour for the pharmacist to check if they have what you need. If not, you need to visit another pharmacy. Usually, people drop their prescriptions in a letter box so they pick their meds up a day after, or they just wait.

This is SO new to me. I mean, here I was with a sick child in the car, trying to get the antibiotics she needs to feel better, and I had to go traipsing around town with my prescription half a day to get it. It’s a little ridiculous and frankly, not very efficient. Maybe it’s just me and my third-world mentality. But what’s the rationale, really, for clinics not to have their own pharmacies? Is it a cost thing? I mean, can’t you carry emergency meds, for like when you know this person needs to take his antibiotics right away?

Anyway, I already have a ton of meds in my cabinet now. No wonder people here invest in pharmaceuticals like nobody’s business!

ps. Good news. Our shipment has arrived and cleared customs. Probably arriving next week to our house, so yay!