Much better than the pharmacies here but I have noticed since COVID that they seem to be offering more services than they used to or maybe I was just not aware of them. Just taken the dressings off my foot and it’s healing beautifully so very pleased!
For minor situations ie nothing serious… first aid and the pharmacy are tops.
However, no-one should be afraid to call the pompiers if they feel the situation warrants it.
Common sense and a knowledge of the medical history (if any) of the “patient” will help make such a decision.
(Never made a false call to our pompiers… their quick responses have kept OH alive… hurrah)
To find a Pharmacy outside opening hours (Pharmacy de Garde) nearest to where you are… don’t phone 17/18 as they don’t have the information…
Put in your postcode/town and work you way through the site… take a look, it’s straight forward.
Of course, you need to choose a time outside normal opening hours (silly me, I tested it by asking for 18h 
)
On the other hand, use 3237 (accessible 24/7)
Thought that looked great, so I tried the website and the pharmacy they listed for us is not/no longer a pharmacie de garde! On the pharmacy’s own website hey say they are not and tell you to phone or consult this same site… So potemtially a useful site but seems not to be up to date.
We phoned a central number to find one last time we needed one and it cost around €5 for phone call, plus €5 to text contacts of pharmacies. Which we didn’t care about at the time as needed a pharmacy but just to be aware the number is 0.35€/minute
Hi Jane… this is daft, isn’t it. This link is meant to be current… aargh.
However… the number 3237 is displayed on the site as costing 0,35€ per minute, so no surprises… but it shouldn’t take that long to get the address, surely.
Ah well… the best laid plans of mice and men…
Thinking about it… I think there is a list of P d Garde available in our local Pharmacies … might be an idea to keep an eye out for such stuff…
I’ve just tried the site again and it’s offered me 3 towns… so that’s good. Did it only offer you the one pharmacy…???
Yup, only only the one pharmacy. When we phoned to find one the nearest is in Dijon, which is 136km. But we needed it, so no choice.
There used to be posters up in the window of the pharmacy, but no longer. I should perhaps ask one day.
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Good grief… 136km !!!.. the furthest of the 3 offered to us today, is 50km away.
I think our pharmacy staff are exhausted by last two years and need their weekends!
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Them and the hospital staff too… in fact all medical/carer folk…
Today, 9th May… wandering to the compost heap with a full wheelbarrow. Scraped against the wooden gate and a rusty nail “attacked” me.
Good grief you’d think I’d been slashed with a sabre or something… sharp pain, blood everywhere and me… sort of looking, wonderingly, at my arm.
Phew, dashed home and First Aid came into play…
With an excellent assortment of “goodies” from OH’s various medical happenings, I was soon dealt with. Hurrah.
The point of today’s post is… to remind folk to check on their “jabs”.
I was confident that we were up to date with our Tetanus jabs (every 10 years) but, on checking through our dossiers I couldn’t see anything past 2006… yikes.
Swift call to the Doctor’s Surgery and the Receptionist has found me a space this evening 18H (don’t be late, she said… whereas in reality I shall have to wait for him, he’s often delayed as he gives each patient the time they need. )
Hurrah… all will be well… my arm will not drop off and OH will be fed on time (I’m sure he was worried about that … 
)
So, now is the time… Check Tetanus Jabs… and see if you are Up-to-Date.
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I was thinking of posting something similar as had a shard of wood go into my thumb and hit the bone. The thumb swelled to 3 x the normal. Dr proscribed antibiotics, anti-inflammatoires, some cream and alcohol compress, she wasn’t too pleased with me as last tetanus jab over 30 years ago (God time flies). I was subsequently ordered to the chemist to pick up the jab and to return to get jabbed. Looking on the bright side 10 days off work 
. On the downside the inflammation has only gone down a bit and I’m having a scan on Wednesday and may need an operation 
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Ouch! to you both. May your white blood cells be lively and immediately on the attack.
I got a ‘birthday card’ from Ameli 10 days ago offering me tetanus, polio and diphtheria jabs to celebrate my 65th 
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Yes Ouch!
Happy birthday 
Get well soon 
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Age related accidents, my most common, fortunately non serious recently, are tripping (and not in a '60s sense) particularly walking Jules in the forest. I rarely fall but am appalled by the sheer number of trips on branches and in holes (left by the wild boars) and by snagging on plants. Once I did fall rather heavily while I still had Noubia as well as Jules, and all the treats in my pocket were lost. When I realised at the top of the wood I couldn’t remember where. Shouldn’t have worried though, both dogs found them all on the way back down. 
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i am sure I asked about a tetanus booster many years ago at doctor’s in the UK and was told my childhood vaccs plus the one booster I’d had in early working life would be enough, no more needed, it would be effective for life and anyway vaccinations aren’t that effective after a certain age.
Have medical views changed or is the view different in the UK? I was asking them particularly about tetanus knowing the large cart in our barn was quite likely pulled by horses.
Oh dear. Medical orthodoxy here is get tetanus boosters every 10 years or so, usually the médecine du travail remind people, it is retired people who forget and guess which demographic is most represented in deaths due to tetanus every year (can’t give you exact data, this is what was said in conversation by a friend of mine who is a hospital consultant here).
Get a tetanus booster!!!
Childhood illnesses and/or vaccination don’t necessarily confer lifelong immunity any more for a variety of reasons, eg I had whooping cough as a small child and again about 4 years ago.
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I’m quite confident that vaccines work at any age over 12 months (before that too, but it’s not so simple).
Accidents in the home can be quite unexpected. I was going upstairs with both hands full, when the tip of one of my sandals caught on the edge of stair tread. I became overbalanced, and went down like a ton of bricks, splitting open my eyebrow on another stair tread higher up.
Went to A & E for stitches and overheard nurses mention the word drunk! I was not drunk. I found that you can very easily trip on a staircase going up, completely sober!
Conversely, on another occasion I was going downstairs wearing for the first time a new pair of Doc Martin’s type shoe, heavy and thick, one of which got caught momentarily under the last stair tread as I was descending. I was in the process of swinging my left foot forward onto the tiled floor, when my right foot got stuck under the 1st stair tread, overbalanced and again went down like a ton of bricks, breaking my wrist, needing a stainless-steel repair job.
Both accidents happened at what seemed like warp speed – you have no chance with gravity!
So, in my case, my stairs could be my worst enemy. The 90+ year old father of a friend fell downstairs, full flight, breaking his back and dying a few weeks later.
Beware the stairs!
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Ta Vero Ta Ancient.
It seems a request to my doc to update all my NZ childhood vaccs would be a good idea. Will have to wait a bit because I have just managed to visit CPAM this week after fighting UK government inefficiency since last November.
Basically the UK left a gap between S1’s which I asked and asked and asked them not to (there was no reason for them to do this, they just aren’t dealing with requests), which has resulted in a gap in my coverage in the health system here - ie no current coverage - due to the UK’s inefficiency. I may even have lost my médécin traitant (the only doctor locally, who is totally overloaded) due to this. My guess is CPAM will take 3-5 weeks to reinstate my health system access, after I finally got the new S1 from the UK after months of chasing and personally visited CPAM with them to hand over the documents last week.
I am just hoping that as and when CPAM reinstates me, I won’t have to wait a further 5 months to get a new carte vitale as well.