A New Life: Moving to France with his wife and nine children was an exciting challenge for Owen Gallagher, who had grown tired of his job as GP, writes Regina Daly.
Many people, at some stage in their lives, think about taking a career break and heading off somewhere new. Few ever get around to doing it. Fewer still with large families, like 51-year-old Antrim native Owen Gallagher.
The Glenavy GP moved to France this summer with his wife, Catherine, and their nine children. They settled into a large house in Vire, South Normandy where they will live for the next year.
Why? "Many reasons," explains Gallagher. "I'd been in general practice 18 years. I was tired and getting jaded. I wanted a change.
"My children were very interested in having a second language, and I thought it would be good for them to experience the rich French culture and become fluent in the language."
The thought first occurred to Gallagher during a family holiday in France the previous summer but it required a lot of planning.
He had to secure work there, get a locum for the Glenavy family practice, re-acquaint himself with French (30 years after his A-levels), and, more importantly, find a suitable house for the family.
He was also finishing his first book called A Spoonful of Medicine, a humorous account of his times as a junior hospital doctor in Dublin. It was a stressful time.
"Finding a job was proving difficult. On top of a busy practice, I was writing the book and studying French one hour a day. I almost gave up but my daughter AnnaSophia wouldn't let me."
Shortly afterwards, Gallagher got a job in the local hospital in Vire - a hilly town in South Normandy about the size of Enniscorthy, and with an ageing population of around 15,000.
He went to France to find a house but it proved difficult initially.
By mid-July - still no house - the family departed Glenavy in a 12- seater Land Rover and a box trailer packed with their belongings. Just outside Arklow, one of the tyres burst and they just made it to the boat, adding to the drama.
They arrived on a Thursday, found their new home on Friday, and on Monday Gallagher started his new job, to the incredulity of friends and new colleagues.
The house was unfurnished but large, with an acre of garden, beside two schools, and near the hospital. It is also close to a boxing club much to the delight of Owen's sons who are all boxers (two of them are Irish boxing champions).
Working in his new job, however, presented a much greater challenge to Gallagher than finding it, or the house.
The problem was mainly linguistic: "The medical terms can't be translated directly, and the abbreviations and doctors' handwriting were impossible to decipher.
"For example, the French abbreviation OAP I thought meant 'old-age pensioner' when, in fact, it means 'cute pulmonary odema'. NAD would mean 'nothing abnormal detected' but the French abbreviation is RAS 'rien à signale'.
"To add to the stress, I face a sudden jump in academic standards. I got this job as a GP and was suddenly raised to some sort of general physician.
"In the first week, I had two cases of query meningitis, a case of porphyria, acute rheumatoid arthritis, and several cases of heart failure.
"As a GP, I would refer them to hospital. It's over 20 years since I worked in a hospital, so it was a strain," he admits.
"I had studied the language according to my medical level but it went beyond the level I'm used to practising. The French medical system is also different to what I'm used to, so I've had to learn all about that as well."
Centre Hospitalier de Vire is not like a "local" Irish hospital. It has a cardiology unit (four cardiologists, 25 beds), respiratory unit, gastroenterology, geriatric (250 beds), acute (up to 100 beds), intensive care (four beds), medical and A&E.
The consultants run the service and there are only two or three junior doctors in the entire hospital. All the trauma and serious operations are dealt with in the university hospital in Caen, 45 miles away.
A typical working day starts between 8.30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Doctors break for lunch at 1 p.m. for an hour and a half and return to work until about 6.30 p.m.
Doctors are not as well paid as in Ireland, earning a half to two-thirds of the Irish salary.
How does he cope with the stress? "I take a lot of exercise and walk to work every morning. My colleagues have also been supportive, which helps. I've found the people here very polite, friendly, and not in the least aloof."
Will he stick it out? "I have had my doubts, but I imagine the job will get better once I get my head around the language.
"The children are very happy and start school soon. They'll suddenly realise why I've been that bit irritable lately. I just hope they don't have to go through the same stress.
"I'm optimistic. The first week was okay, the second went rapidly downhill, the third I thought 'why did I do this'? But now there's light showing at the end of the tunnel - but it's tiny."
Owen Gallagher's first book, A Spoonful of Medicine, is available in Eason's, Dublin, and WH Smith. Published by Barny Books, Lincolnshire.