Doctor's Office Visit

We went last Thursday, and it was an experience. I actually really liked the Doctor that we saw, he was really nice, spoke great English, even spent some time in a Houston hospital. I shouldn't really say "the doctor we saw" as there was only one as it is his practice...actually was his father's and then was handed down to him (or so I think I have been told). Any way, it wasn't the Doctor that threw me...it was everything else.
It all started when TJ had to come home from work because he was sick (I had already been in a sick state for three days), and then called in the next day because he was worse. His boss is totally awesome and went way above and beyond when asking us if we would like him to call the doctor's office in our town and make an appointment. I am so glad we actually moved to this town as it happens to be the town where TJ's boss grew up and he knows everything about it...including a doctor. So there we were with 4 pm appoinments.
Let's talk about the office...there is no fabric in the entire office which does three things, makes everything a little more sanitary, colder, and of course noisier. Noisy acoustics are a problem when the door to the exam area is left open...and exam room doors aren't closed. HIPPA does not exist here, there seems to be no privacy and people are just a yacking away regarding their problems. Of course I couldn't understand them...but still I felt a doctor's office might be a little more private. And then we have the girls at reception...I liked the doctor, but wanted to drop kick the main lady at the desk. (BTW customer service is horrible in Germany in all situations). So we get up there and I tell her in German "we had an appointment called in for us for 4:00", and then told her our name. I distinctly remember going over appointments in language class, so I know I was saying the right words...she didn't understand me. So I followed up with a "Sprechen Sie English?", and she says offensively "Nein!" Then I go on to say in German "we are sick" and then state our name again. Then this is what we get as a response..."okay I need your names, address, and date of birth written down before you can see the doctor"...yep, all in English. Bitch. To make it worse she then goes on to make some crack to her sidekick in German about English now being a requirement in the office. I wanted to say something like, Bitch I know my speech isn't good, but I can understand everything you are saying! I only had to listen and decipher every word in German class for 4.5 hours for two months! So any way the doctor comes to the window and says, "I am sorry, we do speak English in the office and I will call you in soon"...or something like that.
After we get called in we went into his warmer, more private office/exam room and tell him we are miserable and this is what happens...TJ gets an antibiotic because he is an asthmatic as well as a heavy duty cough suppressant and I get cough drops and nasal spray. TJ is better, I am not. He did give me an emergency prescription for an antibiotic in case I needed it over the weekend...it will be filled today. It doesn't end there as we have to go to the Pharmacy. Here they are called Apotheke, and you can only get prescriptions and over the counter meds...you can't get them at the market and there are no Walgreens. So we get 4 things (including an antibiotic) filled and a box of herbal tea...and we have no insurance here. Guess how much? 36 EUR! Hello, can you say affordable? Anyway I should remind everyone that this is a Socialist country and we pay 19% tax on everything we purchase, so it isn't that big of a surprise over here, but when compared to the inflated prescription drug prices in the US it seems amazing.
The bad news is that I have to go back and pick up the bill for the appointment tomorrow, and of course see the reception lady again...can't wait.
Auf Wiedersehen