One of the charms of life in a nanny state is that, when it comes to routine check-ups and the like, you don’t decide when you go to the doctor; the government decides when you go to the doctor. And so it came to pass that Tage’s 5½-year checkup (how random is that?) and my post-partum checkup were scheduled within a half-hour of each other, twenty miles apart. When we received the summonses in the mail a few weeks ago we tried to reschedule, but to no avail, so Petra tagged along with Olof and Tage to Tage’s appointment, while Brynja kept me company at mine.
We swapped notes when we all met up again at the lunch table here at home, and I’m pleased to report that both the boy and I passed muster. Olof announced proudly that Tage took his polio shot “like a man,” and that he passed all his tests with flying colors. As for me, my lady parts got the stamp of approval from the midwife (I swear, they wax positively poetic about these things; I’m sure it’s meant to be encouraging, but I have to say that it falls a bit short), and my baby got a few oohs and aahs, as well. We’re just in tip-top shape around here, looks like.
It must be some northern Sweden thing. What if you’re out of the country that day?! Although, I guess when it comes to children’s health they are quite strict in Stockholm too. And women who have just given birth.
I suppose you’d just have to cancel if you couldn’t make it on a certain day. When we tried to reschedule Tage’s they told us that there were no more available dates, so we’d miss it entirely if we couldn’t go when it was scheduled. I probably could have rescheduled my appointment, but it probably would have taken weeks or months to get a new appointment, and I didn’t want to wait that long. Like those in much of the rest of the country, our medical centers are ridiculously short-staffed.