I filled in some forms upon arrival & was told to take a seat.
Some 90 minutes later, & finding it difficult to sit comfortably, I approached a different receptionist. In my usual British 'sorry to be a nuisance but ...' I explained that I had been waiting an hour and a half.
She searched her computer, explained that I hadn't been shown as arriving & asked who I spoke to ?
'That lady there' I said, indicating the women in the green top who had booked me in & was now looking at me in a very embarrassed fashion.
I expected the usual reaction of a UK doctor's receptionist, denial, anger & possibly some tae-kwon-do. This lady hurried over to me & apologised profusely, explaining that directly after my arrival she had dealt with a protracted enquiry which diverted her from logging my arrival. The poor thing even held my hand whilst apologising.
I finally got into see the dr. who also apologised.
She has diagnosed a popped disc which has trapped my sciatic nerve.
At least I have a proper excuse for almost flaking out on Murray.
I am off work for at least a week & have been to book an appointment with the physio on Friday at 5pm.
It's painful to say the least but the doctor seems to think it's a freak occurrence & should give me no more problems once healed.
On my way home I got a good idea of what it must be like to be elderly, infirm & surrounded by cocky, healthy, young whipper-snappers.
I popped into a stationery store (for medicinal purposes honest) & tried to locate envelopes. I hobbled through the shop & found them at the far corner of the store. They were sold in minimum units of a 1,000 but there was a notice advising customers that if they wanted smaller units they should ask at the counter.
I gingerly negotiated my way to the counter & made my request.
'They're over there' the school-leaver informed me with a jerk of her head, indicating the corner I had just melodramatically crawled from. 'I tried there - they are only in large numbers'
'In that case you'll just have to look everywhere else, I know we sell them'
The urge to drive my knee into her face was overwhelming.
I didn't partly because I couldn't stand on one leg to do it & she had no idea how much discomfort I was in. After locating said envelopes I queued behind an elderly, deaf lady who not only asked for each part of the transaction to be repeated but who fumbled in a plastic bag for the appropriate amount of money.
As she produced each 5 cent coin towards the total of $2.45 I could feel my back going into spasm. I cannot stand straight without leaning on a solid surface & I was resembling the Leaning Tower of Pisa & feeling increasingly light-headed.
I stopped myself from snatching the carrier bag from her, inverting it & shaking the loose change onto the counter only with the most supreme will-power.
I took advantage of my indoor-curfew by completing all of my change-of-address details & listening to a very interesting talking-book about the disappearance of an NZ schoolgirl in 1983, Kirsa Jensen. To this date her body has not been found. Poor Mum.
Michelle is making tea at the minute, Eric is putting up fencing panels at a phenomenal rate & the girls are under orders to tidy their rooms as there will be 14 of us here for the weekend. Michelle has invited the Stokes & the Frews so it will be a full house. Not to mention the 4 dogs !
I made the mistake of telling Eric that the doctor had recommended that I move little & often to prevent my back locking. He thinks I should be able to crack on in the veg patch this weekend. Oh how we laughed !
Bye for now,
gotta clear my paperwork from the table,
Cx
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