You can get an MRI in 24 hours in London. Of course it will cost you L250 and is not covered by the National Health Service — but you can get one.
How do I know this? I walked into a spa-like place on Drury Lane to find a massage for my husband and there on the reception desk was a brochure announcing the opportunity. Why? NOT because National Health doesn't provide MRIs, but because you can wait as long as 6 months to get one. That's one of the legends of National Health that looks like it 's at least partly true. Then I had a tiny experience of my own.
A small disaster and quick work. I was up very late last night talking to a friend in DC -' til 2 AM. So when I got up this morning I was a little raggedy. And in the process of slicing bread the knife slipped and I stabbed myself in the left hand. Bled like anything. There I was, alone in the apartment, bleeding and imagining sliced tendons or non-stop bleeding or God knows what.
I was impressive though. Stopped the bleeding with pressure and ice, called our local
Boots' pharmacist, who told me to call a
walk-in clinic who told me they were NOT insured to apply a butterfly bandage and gave me the name of
a doctor far far from here. Not too reassuring.
I struggled into some clothes and walked to Boots to beg for help, and even though they'd refused on the phone, help me they did. Looked at the "wound," told me I'd "done all the right things," sold me some special band-aids and anesthetic disinfectant and sent me on my way. But it' clear nothing is ideal. The pharmacist says that the services are often "abused" and that we in the US have "the right idea." I'm going to try to figure out more about National Health "on the ground" while we're here. It's always different when you're right on top of it. In the meantime, I seem to be fine; pain diminished, bleeding stopped at least for now. More later.