May 18

More on French medicine. I had to get a mammogram at a fancy clinic in the 7th near Les Invalides. In most ways it was just like having a mammogram in the U.S., except...

I was shown into a changing room and told to take off my top. But there was no cover-up. So I sat there shivering, waiting to be called. When the technician came, she had me walk down the hall as I was. It was about as modest as a French beach.

Then, after the films were taken I waited, half nude, in the changing room again. Eventually I was called by the radiologist, a smart young woman, who had my pictures up on the wall. Right away, she smiled and said everything was normal.

We talked a little after that, I paid the bill ($120) and went away overjoyed that I didn’t have to wait weeks for the results, as I do in the U.S.