I have to say that the French medical system is in no way stingy with the diagnostics. They are and have been very generous. I have been to see a lung specialist this morning and she gave me a full work over. I am due a pulmonary CT scan in around three weeks and this is now booked. This turnaround time of the French system is admirable. Give my history of colon cancer and smoking, there is a tendency not to piss about. I am to have blood tests for allergens, vitamin D, a pneumococcal vaccine and have been given an “pseudo-emergency” prescription for a nebuliser for asthma.  I am going to have an analysis of my sleep including overnight cardiology in May. They haven’t overtly confirmed full blown COPD yet. I have a moderate hypoxia as measured by blood even though my haemoglobin count is a fair way above normal, the latter is genetic apparently. Because I showed evidence for bronchospasm today it means that they will probably not give me a general anaesthetic if they ever operate to replace my hips. Guidelines are closer to rules here.

Since I have been in Brittany, I have been to A&E twice, seen two orthopaedic surgeons, a neurosurgeon, a specialist in sports medicine, a neurosurgeon, a gastroenterologist, a urologist, a lung specialist, a couple of dermatologists, a physiotherapist, an osteopath, a podiatrist, dental surgeons, my own general practitioner and several others. I have had X-rays, CT scans and multiple MRIs. They have been very generous.

It has been said that I have multiple co-morbidities. The French system is a bit reductionist, they send one off to see a specialist, then it is Someone Else’s Problem (SEP) and responsibility, for a while. Eventually somebody might figure out what to do with me. They will have investigated thoroughly.

It feels like I am the parcel in a game of pass the parcel.

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In my life I am aware that on multiple occasions I have been seen as a SEP, in some ways a hot potato, even a bit of a leper. Nobody knows what to do with me because I do not fit into any diagnostic social pigeonhole.

To me it is funny, sitting where I am, knowing what I do, that people consider me a SEP.

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I have often had this sensation that people see me a problem to somehow be “solved”.

Bizarre…