Tuesday 3 November 2015

Doctor Doctor

I woke in the early hours of this morning and I cried because the pain in my head was excruciating - I had thought it was getting better but no and I was so blinking tired from waking up every morning with what felt like a kango drill making its way from one ear to the other that enough was enough - after nearly five years on the island I was going to have to investigate a doctor.

I contacted my friend Sheila to ask her whether she thought queueing up at the hospital in Polis or paying to go to Dr George was the best idea and she reckoned that if it was an ear issue they would send me down to ENT in Paphos and I just couldn't face that journey today so we decided to investigate Dr George.

Apparently you just pitch up at his office and wait your turn and then see him, pay €30 for the consultation and  then take whatever course of action he prescribes. The cost wasn't an issue and the convenience of being seen quickly was looking very attractive.

We had to go down to Polis anyway as we have a small bond with the Co-op Bank that matures today - we like to keep some money in the Co-Op for regular bills like the phone, community charge, water etc so whilst it is there it just as well earn a little bit of interest then basically those bills aren't really costing us anything.  We initially did all our Co-op banking in the village but when the crisis hit they practically shut the branch down.  It now only opens on a Thursday morning and you could get killed in the rush of the village pensioners on that day if you go at the wrong time!!

For a change, and contrary to the forecast, the day started out clear and bright and the drive down to Polis was lovely - the recent rain has turned things much greener and the sunshine made everything look bright and cheerful and so it was a very pleasant run down to the coast first thing on a Monday morning in the rush hour!

We stopped off at the Co-op first and failed to get everything sorted as the manager was in Paphos so we will have to go down again later in the week which is a bit of a bind but such is life - it's not like we have anything better to do!!!


We then went in search of Dr George - Dr Georgios Petrou Lavrentis has his surgery in what appears to be a flat above the Alpha Bank.  We found it quite easily and were pretty impressed that he is even open on a Sunday morning.  We went into the little waiting room.  No receptionists here - you just sit down and wait your turn but if someone comes in who feels they may be more ill than you are you have to sharpen your elbows and stand your ground!

The internal door was shut and we could hear voices so we assumed that the Doctor was busy so we sat and waited.  I was taken by the artwork he had on his wall and John settled down to watch an episode of the Cyprus equivalent of This Morning!!!

I thought I should come clean and tell Dr George that I had assumed I had an ear infection and had been taking some antibiotics in case that affected anything he planned to do.

Dr George is apparently a Doctor who is in love with gadgets and the latest technology so I had no less than three different instruments poked in my ear before he looked at me and announced that I did not have an ear infection and the antibiotics I had been taking had served no purpose at all and that I should have gone to him sooner - to be fair he is right and now having been I wouldn't hesitate to go again - I just didn't know the ropes earlier!

I have something called Fothergill's Disease or Trigeminal Neuralgia and if you look it up the symptoms described are exactly what has been happening.  In some cases this never goes away - I hope that doesn't happen to me because it has been very unpleasant indeed.

So I duly took my prescription off to the Chemists (I know if I had been to the hospital it would have been cheaper) and got my painkillers, anti-inflamatory and stomach settler because the combination of the first two can upset the latter - deep joy!

Dr George says I should feel some improvement in about three days and I have my fingers crossed - I have a feeling this may all stem from the jaw reconstruction I had about 25 years ago.

On arriving back at the village John dropped me off at Marianna's to collect our community charge bill which needs paying by the end of the year.  Somehow ours never seems to make it as far as the postbox and she has to print us out another one.

I then wandered down the road for my morning of art with Sheila and lunch prepared by Klaus.

My picture is now three quarters finished but the area in the top right hand corner is a tree which I think is going to severely challenge me.  I have had to use some artistic licence with the chairs and the wall but I am making the picture bigger than the mount in the frame so the proportions should eventually look ok.


I walked home - it was a very pleasant afternoon and still no sign of rain thank goodness - I don't know if a morning of being creative brings out the artist in me but even a squashed and faded coke-can on the side of the road looked attractive! I am beginning to think about my next picture but have suggested the Sheila that she and I go out with the cameras somewhere so that we can capture something we want to paint.  If the picture isn't for someone particular I want to try and find a commercial subject that someone might want to buy and hang on their walls!

It was lovely walking home - we live in such a beautiful part of the world and sometimes it is easy to just pass through the village and not take in our surroundings!

I often walk through the village on my way back from Art and see no-one at all - but today I was greeted by the goatherd walking the goats along Framenon Street.

I am not entirely sure how good the old figs and fig leaves are for the goats but they seemed to be enjoying them and to be fair there isn't an awful lot else that is green for them to eat at the moment!

It was a hive of activity when I got home - the dry day meant that the work on the roof could continue and John was busy cutting tiles with his newly acquired water cutter and Bassam was up on the roof laying them.

The forecast appears to be good for tomorrow so it means that the remainder of the tiles can be laid and then grouted
and then cleaned
and then the surrounding wall painted
and then the railings painted
and then
and then
and then...

owning a house is like painting the Forth Bridge!!!  All this is happening along with refurbishing the pool and the surrounding area, painting the inside of the house and painting the outside of the house and revisiting the 'to-do' list we started five years ago when we first arrived - there are still things on there that we have never got round to tackling!

It was a very quick turnround tonight as it was Belly Dancing night and I had persuaded Lou-Lou to come and Hywel was going to keep John company in the Insomnia Bar (shit job but someone had to do it) and then we were all going to have something to eat afterwards.

This was Lou-Lou's first foray into the world of shimmying!  Diana was unable to make it because she was feeling under the weather and poor Jutta had had some child stand on her shoulder and do her damage but Cara and Elena came along and we were joined by some very skinny and fit looking younger girls.

I am not sure I am improving any and I just cannot seem to separate the movement of the top half of my body from the bottom but I do enjoy it and I reckon that an hour dancing around has to be better than an hour sat on my backside plus we get to do an awful lot of movement which is akin to pelvic floor exercise so that can't be a bad thing and at least I will be able to sneeze and cough with confidence!!!


The greatest thing about it is the feeling that we can reward ourselves with something to eat afterwards as we have burned off some calories in preparation.

I was a good girl and had a Chicken Caesar Salad and asked them to be sparing with the dressing.  I like to kid myself that that is the healthy option.  I have to say that FryDays would not be an obvious choice as a venue to eat a salad but their Chicken Caesar is absolutely delicious - I used to think Oniros was the best but now I am not so sure!

Once back home we settled down for some easy watching TV - John and I squeezed onto the small sofa together as the boys where settled down together on the big one!  Minnie was sensible and had her own chair out in the conservatory.













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