and today i have mostly been...

[DiscoPol]

Back in 2009, i had an episode with my back, it was a ruptured disc(L5-S1) and a bulging disc (L4-L5), i was flat out for about 3 weeks then slowly with physio and some crazy injections direct into the spinal column, you know the rascals, epi-feckin-durals,i managed to get back on my feet, now the pain has slowly reduced(or my tolerance has increased) over the last few years to the point where most of the time it isnt even noticeable but every now and then i have periods of elevated pain.

So what Im trying to say is, Christ Wiggy I feel for ya mate, and i hope you get sorted one way or the other, funnily enough in the last couple of days i have been having trouble with getting in and out of the car and sitting in one position for longer than about 2o mins is impossible I really hope it isnt going to last too long this time for me. hmmm maybe time to get some weight off? being a fat knacker really doesnt help

[Welly]

Well I'm a recovering slipped-discer too and still get episodes of trouble 12 years on

Take your time steve and try to keep going (carefully).

[steve_earwig]

That's the trick though, at the moment I know all about it, if it stops hurting I won't know anything about it until I'm flat on my back again.

I'll tell you what though, I really need to get myself fitter. Looking at those MRIs if I pulled a pork chop out of the fridge in the supermarket and it looked like that I'd chuck it back and look for one with less fat in it. I'm told the muscles either side of your spine help to keep it all together so I need to work on them as well as stomach muscles, which also do a similar job apparently. And not throw my back out while I'm doing it...

[steve_earwig]

Swift one - I now have an appointment with the physioterrorist. On Friday. And I was lucky t get that as he's pretty much booked up until the middle of November (bluddy country of hypochondriacs ) And this is just to work out what I need to do next!

And I've been smelling bacon all afternoon (neighbour is probably smoking some pork),it's driving me nuts 'cos I love bacon but it's one of the things I'm not allowed to eat And I've got a headache


FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate everything

[lozz]

its just the same here mate if not worse,

apointment to see Gp 1 - 2wks wait, and you after ring up at 9am to get an apointment,
apointment to see specialist, up to 6mths, oh and when you see them they carnt understand you or you carnt understand them, (language barrier)

Many people are ringing for an ambulance to get to the front of the que,
not only that theyre closing hospitals down and sending people upto 40miles to another one,
ifeel sorry for the elderly,

As of bacon idont eat it either but there is a substitue,

the Vegetarian Bacon, tastes pretty good think its called Quorn or something,

[steve_earwig]

Before I left the UK they had some scheme going whereby I had to be seen on the day I called and it did seem to be working, however I hear from my family that this has long gone tits-up as the result of more ministerial meddling (if it aint broke f*ck about with it 'til it is)

Mind you at one point I was seen whenever I strolled in there - a side effect of Prozac can be suicidal urges and I think I was scaring them

Getting to see my GP here isn't too bad, it used to be put your card on the pile and wait (the smart way was to dump your card on the heap in the morning) but now it's all done by appointment, if I sorry, the wife rings when she starts I usually get to see her that day. Hospitals are a bit different, it's a couple of months wait unless you know someone (and my wife knows lots of people, which is why I got to see the neurostergeon so quickly) and they love their paperwork (must have a referral no older than a month ) Or you can pay for it - ,y MRI cost about 200 quid, I'd dread to think how much it would cost back in the UK (anyone know?)

The hospitals are usually a complete mess, they just built bits on with no logic so it can be quite hard to find the right place (especially if you're not capable of asking someone )

So, occasionally slow, stuffed full of stupid rules and mountains of bureaucracy - but it still out-performs the NHS.

I'm sure they were waiting for my dad to die before they did his hips. Absolutely sure.

So, ok, I realise it could be worse but, ffs, I can't do anything, I can't sit down, I can barely get in the car to drive it. Even taking a dump hurts Is it really to much to ask that I might take precedence over someone with tennis elbow?

[lozz]

My Grandad waited 2 years before they did the hip replacement, both hips,
he couidnt walk totaly bed bound,

iwas discusted by this but ive been told he was lucky to have had it done within 2years,
What made me more angry is most of my dads family is pretty wealthy, there was no mention of having a whip round and sending my grandad somewhere to have it done private,

ididnt have apot to piss in so to speak - so ihad to watch him suffer for the 2years and helped best icouid,

[steve_earwig]

My dad had to wait 10 years until they'd even consider doing him, by that time he'd lost a lot of height and on so many pain killers he's damaged his kidneys. Then he had to wait a year for his first hip to be done. He's long since cashed in his assets to avoid death duties but still has a fair bit stashed away and we kept telling him to pay for it, but he kept insisting there be some left for an inheritance (I told him to stuff the inheritance! I would be more than happy for him to spend his last penny on his last day!!!). He was so pleased how much more life it gave him he didn't wait for the NHS to pull its collective finger out and had it done privately (cost something like 25 grand - should have come to Croatia ). He's gone from a doddery little old man to Mr. "I don't have time to watch telly" now, he's amazing! And he's 78.

How about your granddad? A new lease of life?

[lozz]

Q: How about your granddad? A new lease of life?

A: Honestly you wouidnt beleive me when isay this, but here goes,

~Day after the op. they had him up on his feet, he moaned abit but they got him Motivated.
He wouidnt eat the Hospital grub tho,

2nd day, He wanted to go home said hed had Enough, Ididnt blame him realy,
they said no you couidnt go home your not eating properly,

so imade a deal with him, take the food from Nurse and iwouid sneak food in bacon butties and all that,
he scraped the unwanted nhs grub into carrier bag and i flung it somewhere away from the hospital,
it payed off tho as theyd thought hed eat it all and comented on his apetite

after aweek he was back to his old self pushing wheel barows full of soil etc, ( another keen gardener)

[steve_earwig]

I'd imagine you'd get a severe bit of finger wagging from matron if she caught you doing that! Can't say I blame you though.

Lovely image of him rushing out with the wheelbarrow It's great at the moment, I ring my dad up and tell him the state of affairs this end and he tells me about how he's finish rebuilding the car port and back to rebuilding the fence again

[lozz]

Tbh. iwasnt botherd about the nurse,
ijust wanted him to eat something, he was going abit pale, anemic (sorry about the spelling im dyslexic)
Had to be there most of the time, as he was getting abit Miffed not with the nurses but with the rest of the family which apeard out of the woodwork,

when he blurted out to my aunts and uncles, Im not Dead yet what do iowe this pleasure of a visit,

ithought oh feck hes gona blow a fuse,
they only visit him when they want something,

as of the Gardening itried to stop him took the spade and the barrow off him but he soon told me to feck off and leave him too it,

strangely after his surgery, hes stopped telling me about all the stuff he got upto when he was in the forces,
some of it iheard over and over again, same story,

ikinda miss it now, as ive got older ive forgot most of it, ithink he wanted to remeber it all so ipass it onto my kids
and the story passed on,

[Welly]

Sorry you're still struggling steve I hope you get better sharpish mate

[steve_earwig]

Cheers mate, sadly it'll take months apparently. I'm not feeling too bad to be honest, it's still niggling me but I can get in and out of the car. Tomorrow I plan to just "do a bit" up at my house (I must remember to look up the number for an ambulance again...)

And today I started my latest course of physio. I have a new therapy to add to the others now - I have to lie for 20 minutes face down inside what looks suspiciously like a Degaussing loop

[Doggy]

I have to lie for 20 minutes face down inside what looks suspiciously like a Degaussing loop

Is that the latest techno-therapy to even out any colour variation in the posterior?

You have my sympathy - I've had a few bad days at a time with my back, but nothing like you've been describing.

Hope it helps sort you out soon.

[steve_earwig]

Cheers bud, me too!

This is what they're doing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrotherapy

I get one pad each side of my spine and current passed between them for 10 minutes (it tingles!) then one pad on my spine and on on the bottom of my right foot and a lighter current passed between them for 10 minutes (I can't really feel anything). This degauss thing is a new one, it's a loop about 2'6" in diameter, 2' long and about 1" thick and it slides along the bench/bed thing. I guess it's passing a weak magnetic field through me but then again perhaps it's just an empty tube and the control box timer thing is just for show. I can't hear any buzzing or owt.

Why do I keep thinking about that bit in Black Adder where he goes to the doctor about the problem with his "manservant" and is prescribed "a course of leeches"? - "I'd rather be a quack than a ducky".

Ah well, there are no exercises that I can do for this so it gets me out the house.