Sick….les deux; The French Medical System; Saint-Cinq Lapopie

Our Church Week—We’ll start with the end of the week, today (Sunday). Our theme for this month has been The Temple. For Latter-Day Saints, that is the pinnacle and culmination of all that we do. Among other important ordinances, marriages for Time and Eternity are done within these sacred walls. Today, our 4^th Sunday repas, centered around The Temple along with the decorations, Children’s Primary Musical number (I Love to See The Temple) and all our speakers spoke to this topic. In San Diego, we have a temple 20 minutes away; in Tarbes, the Paris Temple is 7 ½ hours. Church members here make many sacrifices to attend.

We had a heavy travel week planned with a lot of special Church meetings this week. But best laid plans….have gone much awry this week. None of our travels took place: sickness took hold…les deux (both of us). Very untimely. Meg spent 5 days in bed—chills, aches and pains; feverish; barking cough; hoarse and weak. Marc was following suit about 2 days behind her. Fortunately, he was able to do sitting down activities at his desk. He was grateful since he feels he already paid his dues, and then some, last year.

With Meg in bed, she could not travel…nor would anyone want to sit by her or be in the same room from the sounds of her barking cough and deep, hoarse voice. We were in standby mode to see how Marc would fair Wednesday morning to make the trip to Toulouse (2hrs) for Zone Conference. The fear was he would make the drive, participate in the 3-hour long Conference and then at some point succumb and be hit with Meg’s version of what seemed to be inevitably coming his way. Then he’d be hours away and have to drive home with no one to spell him off. It’s a hard call. Will he get better by morning and stay better enough to make the trip, or get worse half-way through the day and feel like he can’t get home due to the weakness with this flu bug? By Wednesday morning, we opted for him to stay home. GOOD choice. Sure enough about 2 hours into the day, he was feeling very weak, not sounding good and was very grateful (health-wise only) he did not make the trip.

By Thursday, Meg was feeling worse rather than better. After so many days in bed, Mucinex, Tylenol and cough syrup, it’s not the outcome we were expecting. It hurt to cough. The chills were stronger and constant; it hurt to have the covers touch her skin; despite all the medicinal help and rest. Normally Mucinex works like a charm for her. Knowing we were coming into a damp, humid environment, we brought plenty and then some. So Marc called the Mission Nurse to see if she thought Meg needed an anti-biotic or whether she thought it was viral. We both had flu shots. Based on symptoms and knowing we lived in arid Southern California, the Mission Nurse recommended Meg get checked for pneumonia to play it safe. Not the news we wanted; on the other hand if an anti-biotic was necessary, she couldn’t wait to get started on it and feel better.

French Medical System, in part—So now we get to see and learn the ropes in France. In Lyon, where the Mission Nurse is serving and with the Church Health Insurance which most have here, you go to the Emergency Room to be seen as a foreigner. We did that but they said it was not an emergency. Now what? When you are sick and feeling horrid (now times 2 people), no one wants to be traipsing around in icy cold, damp air….the reason we are likely sick in the first place. We explained our Mission Nurse thought she could have pneumonia. She explained the person who arrived at 8 am had still not been seen yet; it was 2 pm. But she still said it was not an emergency. Our Military Overseas Insurance just has you find your own doctor then submit your receipt. The ER receptionist did let us know there was an after-hour’s Doctor that comes in from 8 pm-Midnight. So we opted for that option since Doctor’s waiting lists are 2 weeks long, or so we’ve been told.

We came home and contacted Valerie, our around-the-corner friend with a heart of gold and a true extra-miler. We knew she had her after-sabbatical exams this week but we weren’t sure which days, so we tentatively sent a text to see if she was available at lunchtime (officially 12-2:30 pm in France) for a question. No worries if she was testing or got the message late. We asked if she by chance had a Doctor in Tarbes. Answer: she’s been using her old Doctor since beginning her search for herself for a Doctor here in Tarbes. Her search so far was that they were not taking new patients, so she’s been returning to her old Doctor about 45 minutes away. She still has ties there, so do-able; just not preferable over the long run. She then called us saying she has a colleague whose husband is a Doctor and she already placed a call out to her to see if he could fit Meg in any time that day.

We still had the special Neil A Anderson, one of the Twelve Apostles, conference from 7-8:30 pm, which luckily for us, at the last minute was brought in via the Church’s remote viewing app to Tarbes….a tremendous blessing. Marc wanted to be at the Church building just prior to 6:30 pm to make sure all the technology was function properly.

We went to the Church meeting and gave no one the French greeting so as not to share all our germs. The French greeting varies based on what part of France you are in: in Tarbes, we kiss each person on each side of their cheek, so 2 kisses; whereas where we were last semester, it was 3 kisses—left, right then left cheek again. Men also greet men in the same way. We will miss this special cultural greeting greatly; we can already tell. We sequestered ourselves sitting behind everyone just for extra measure.

The Conference was wonderful and very uplifting. Elder Anderson told many stories of his time here and had some friends from times past when he was both a Young Missionary and as Mission President in Southern France. He had them come to the pulpit and share yesterday-stories and their lives now; in each case, several generations were growing up now in the Church and some ready to create the next generation of faithfulness. It was wonderful hearing the growth of the Church in general via these personal experiences and how the Church has exponentially grown.

After the meeting, we learned from Christine how to navigate the after-hours Pharmacies. You call the Police. “I’m sorry, could your repeat that please.” You call the Police….you let them know your name, your needed prescriptions and then they let you know which night Pharmacy is open that night. Certain alternating Pharmacies have a bed for the Pharmacist for when they are on call to fill after-hours prescriptions. They have a special rear entrance door that you buzz. The Police call the Pharmacy with your name which you state at the night door to the Pharmacy and they grant you passage if all matches. The public, and potential would-be thieves looking for prescription drugs to add to their larder free of charge, does not know which rotating Pharmacy is open on any particular night. Well, now we know that part of the system.

After everyone left the Church building, we locked up and headed to the Doctor, at 9 pm. When we opened the door and saw a good 15 people there, all coughing and sounding like they each had miserable colds; we thought we were going to be there easily until midnight. But things moved surprisingly quick and we were seen about 10:30 pm.

Whew, no pneumonia! Once was enough of that long and tiring recovery. Lungs are clear; music to our ears. We left with 3 prescriptions. Now we can rest easy hearing the relieving news and just push through whatever remains of the flu….rather a short word for a long list of miserable, show-stopping ailments potentially accompanying you all week long. We had the flu shot and guess it did not cover the particular strain we have. Let the record show, Marc still holds the record (from last year, about 6 days short of his one year “anniversary”) of his knock-down drag out illness the entire month of February. Everything pales in light of that, and we’re grateful. ONLY the “flu”. Comforting in comparison!

The silver lining in the cloud of sickness is truly those whose care and concern are palpable. Church friends and Church family were so helpful in providing us the needed information to navigate their system. How grateful we are for their love and kindnesses shown us.

Jean-Michele, the father who needs open-heart surgery, was at the Anderson Conference. His surgery is scheduled for 11 Feb. We witnessed an incredible out-pouring of love for him; members flocked around him at the end of the Conference. One by one, they each took a turn kissing his head, men included. And that’s not just one kiss; he was basked in 8-10 kisses per person. It was an incredible insight to see love and concern made so visible. Tears suddenly welled up in our eyes.

We found out since his Monday appointment that 3 other men in our congregation of on average 35 have had this same surgery with the exact same diagnosis, enlarging aorta. Those are high odds with low numbers, yet definitely a source of comfort to Jean-Michele to know that no matter how frightening the sounds of open-heart surgery sounds, these 3 men function at full capacity. Jean-Michele was visibly comforted in a powerful and palpable way. Because we are both a source of bad germs, we hung back and away from the circle. The image of Jean-Michele sitting in his chair watching other’s flock to his side, kissing his head will stay forever engraved on our hearts.

The French sometimes have been associated with a certain “crusty” outside—like a baguette. But the rest of the unspoken image is that they are soft on the inside, like a warm, fresh baguette. On our part, 99% of the time, we have only seen the soft inside. The trick is to say, “Bonjour”. Truly. This formality connects you first to the person…..then you get on with your business at hand in what you have to say or ask. Forget that nicety imbedded in their culture, expect the crusty outside of the baguette. It’s insulting to them to not recognize your friend, neighbor or businessperson with this kind, acknowledging greeting. That also includes the equal and formal farewell. Oh, how we will miss that sing-song BONJOUR and all that it represents.

Well, enough on being sick and all that it has entailed for us this week. Plus, we have work to do…no time to sit idly in bed. Flu, Please hurry up and go away. In reality, we’d be sick again to witness such heart-warming acts of love and kindness.

Town of the Week—Saint-Cirq Lapopie. This town is as far back as September in our backlog line-up of towns we have gone through months ago while en-route to some apartment inspection, out-of-the area Conferences and the like.

Saint-Cirq Lapopie is one of France’s “Favorite Villages” voted by the people. It has our vote, for sure. This Medieval Town is rich with vignettes of the past at every possible angle. It is a destination spot we’d like to return to visit more at length. The entire area is beautiful—along a winding river gorge with scenic backdrops changing on every curve. If you are looking for a preserved heritage, quaint, picturesque and memorable charm, this is the town. The town’s shops and cafes are not open year-round as vendors come in for seasonal work during Summer and begin returning home by Fall.

Enjoy Saint-Cirq Lapopie.

A la prochaine!