What could possibly go wrong?
Happy Sunday all, and this today’s weekly waffle comes from a ‘definitely-not-at-all-anxious’ mum of teenagers!
Just when we started replenishing the ‘emotional coffers’ post GCSE and A-Level season, over the horizon looms the prospect of my eldest daughter’s first girls-only overseas holiday. Suddenly I find myself irresistibly drawn to travel news stories about freak one-off happenings or tales of misadventure. It doesn’t help that Dr Tom has quite a few hair-raising stories from a spell doing medical repatriations for travel insurance companies. Oh and there is the fact that when a certain 17 year old went on her first independent holiday to Tenerife, 1.5 days of it were lost to an unscheduled sojourn at the British Consulate in Santa Cruz. And the same thing happened the following year .. thank goodness camera phones were not a thing in the 90s ;-)
Suffice it to say that my inevitably tearful departure gate monologue - working title: To do, or NOT to do’ , is getting longer by the day!
Meanwhile, I’m distracting myself by sourcing a few practical bits and bobs that could save the day in some of the more predictable ‘scrapes’ that she might encounter. Here’s my list, informed by our travel medicine blog post:
generic paracetamol and ibuprofen lysine (the lysine bit makes it faster acting, Dr T tells me!)
rehydration salts (handy for all causes of dehydration- self inflicted or otherwise)
cystitis relief sachets (click here for more on that)
antihistamines
generic Loperamide (diarrhoea relief)
antiseptic wipes
steristrips and plasters
I will of course be nagging about contraception - eye rolls be damned!
Other suggestions (more in hope than expectation) read Dr Rina’s blog on summer skin care and the one from Dr Catherine on heat exhaustion/heat stroke… oh and there’s always that one on managing hangovers…
And right now I won’t hear a bad word about smartphones, being the closest thing we get to stabilisers as they set off on their maiden solo voyage! (And yes I realise it's more me that needs stabilising!) Thanks to this I can have her patched in to one of our fabulous doctors in a matter of minutes, should the need arise.
If any of this is resonating with you, then be assured that while our doctors cannot directly prescribe overseas, you can still give your young adventurer our details, and/or the password for the subscribers only booking portal if you have Nest or Nest Plus. So, should any medical issues come up, they can at least speak to a sensible, worldly-wise and medically qualified adult who can guide on what DIY steps they could take, or what to ask for if they need more local support. Oh, and our service is of course fully confidential to every patient. What goes on tour really will stay on tour - from our side at least.
Thank you, thank you for listening! And have a wonderful incident-free week! ;-)
Gemma and all at Winchester GP
p.s. check travel insurance
p.p.s. check data roaming is 'on' and chargers and adaptors packed
p.p.p.s. Is a spare phone too much? Ok, yes they do have shops in Portugal... somebody stop me!