I’m a little bit out of sorts

Since emerging from the space washing machine thingie* I’ve been given lots of appointments and letters, all amounting to not very much – so far.  It’s taken me twenty years to get round to whinging at the Doctors about my back because of a guilty feeling that it was all my fault – something to do with Mum and Dad making me stand with my back pressed against the wall when I was little (because I slouched dreadfully – even then), which didn’t improve my posture at all but felt like a punishment! **

The short of it is, I might have osteoporosis, I might have some compression fractures in my spine and I might need to be taking some tablets for it or, I might just have wear and tear and a bent spine.

I’ve seen a consultant, several doctors, a spinal assessment physiotherapist and a regular physiotherapist.  Oh and I’ve had an MRI scan and an Xray.

I now have two appointments for a bone density scan (slight crossing of lines there between some of the above but I only need to attend one of them).  I also have an open ended arrangement to attend physio if I need to after they’ve decided whether I’ve got anything and what they plan to do about it.  And I must say, lots of people have plenty to complain about but I’m quite impressed with the NHS so far.  The letters and appointments keep coming, quite quickly and they’ve all been very helpful and thoughtful.  There’s a change in the way they approach people these days it seems to me – they actually believe you when you say there’s something wrong and look for it.  Or maybe the change is in me!

Still, it’s quite possible that after they’ve done all the scans and tests they might say, sorry, there’s nothing we can do – it’s all your fault!  So, while I’m waiting for all these people to give me information, I looked up all the Alexander Technique*** teachers in the area and blow me if there aren’t three just down the road from where Mrs Middle lives.  And one of them, who seems to have extremely good posture himself****, only charges £20 a session.  So that’s going to be my next line of attack especially if they decide it’s just wear and tear.  After all, I’ve put up with it for a long time but now I’ve made a stand I might as well try everything.

Anyway, a good laugh cures all.  I was idly reading the Radio Times this morning and in an article about One man and his Dog was astonished to learn that “…the modern pentathlon (shooting, fencing, swimming, running and show jumping) is designed to reflect the average commuter’s daily journey to work.”  A delightful, pythonesque vision floated through my head of commuters thundering by on their horses, leaping traffic jams, whisking foils from their umbrellas and briefcases as they approach queues before plunging into the Thames under fire from snipers and finally, running triumphant, through the doors of their places of work.  A case of computer game overdose maybe?

Last week, I stopped on the way home from Oxford and caught a bit of evening light

And ages ago, I went for a not quite early enough walk in the woods.

though if the sun had been much lower there wouldn’t have been shadows like these

And maybe the cat wouldn’t have been up yet.

Tomorrow I plan to go off for another early morning trip.  Perhaps this time I’ll see windows and sarsen stones.

Oh, well actually, tomorrow I’m going to have my bones scanned and coffee with Tim, guitarist and banker extraordinaire.  I already did the early morning and it was pretty good, though too early for sarsen stones – more of that another day.

*MRI scan.

**I’ve always been contrary.  The mere suggestion that I ought to do something causes a whole story, of how and why I probably won’t do it, to flit through my head.

***I’ve had Alexander technique lessons before and they were rather nice and quite effective.  Unfortunately it also used to be very expensive and my teacher (who charged a tiny amount because he didn’t need to make a living from it and just wanted to teach) moved away.  

****Nice photo on his website : )