The past few months have been dominated by medical issues. Not traumatic ones, but life changing ones. My hips stopped working properly back in Feb. I thought it was just more of my life long back problems so kept trying to do Pilates and sort it out. But I couldn't actually walk to Pilates classes.
After a few weeks I went to the doctor. It was a locum who didn't really listen to anything I said. Quite literally. When I was trying to tell him a bit of my 30+ years of dealing with back problems, he actually put his hand up and told me to start listening instead of talking, it was his turn to tell me what was wrong. Groin injury. Sprain. Buy a back brace. Take Ibuprofin. Rest.
I went home and rested. It got better. It got worse. It seemed to get better. Then it would be bad. I always overdid it on a good day. So I tried resting some more. Eventually I went back to the doctor who sent me for an X-ray. This was June 4th, after about 4.5 months of being mostly unable to walk the 50 yards to the shops.
A week later I got a phone call from a different doctor who said, "You have osteo-arthritis. Wear and tear. Lose weight. Go to Physio." That was it. When I said (quite impressively I might add) that I thought I was probably in shock at the news and that I would eventually have some questions, and who could I contact to talk about things, she told me to Google it.
In the mean time, I have given up eating wheat. I actually did that to kick start the weight loss. But two days later I could walk. The immediate pain went away. I could sleep better as my back pain was lessened significantly as well. I cannot believe the difference that giving up wheat has made!
But I am now waiting for appointments with the Physio and trying to get used to my new reality. Actually my lower back and right hip are still very problematic. I cannot use them properly. I cannot walk too far. I have bad days. I have good days. But I am still figuring all of this out, and I reckon it will take months, if not years.
Simultaneously, The Meister was having a hard time. She has been rushed off to A and E in an ambulance 3 times this year. She has been blacking out, and not remembering anything. A couple of these have been absolutely terrifying as she has been missing and I have been on the phone to the police reporting her as missing when I get a call on the other phone that the police have found her in a park that she doesn't know and they are worried she has been drugged because she is incoherent. It has all been pretty horrible. I won't go into too many details. We have seen the neurologist who thinks (as I do) that these are stress related episodes. CT scan didn't show anything. We don't think it is epilepsy, although I did for a while.
Adding to all of the stress is the fact that the Meister wasn't allowed out on her own in case she had an episode, but I couldn't walk, and we don't have a car, so I couldn't take her places. I am lucky that I have so many people who have been helping her get to activities. Thanks to some lovely people she has been able to get to drama and Guides, and to take part in the Manchester Day Parade, and perform at the Stockport Teenage Market. But day to day has been quite boring and we have been spending a lot of time in front of screens, not really talking.
So we are now making attempts to communicate better. Well, I am. :-) And going to see the homeopath. And getting ready to have a holiday that we can't afford. Thanks to my mother lending me some money to hire a van. But it is nice having something to look forward to.
The Meister has been to the homeopath first. It has already done her good as she is letting out a lot of pent up feelings. It is really hard being the 4th child. It is really hard having clever or talented siblings. It is really hard having an exhausted mother. It is really hard being displaced by a younger sister after 10 years. And it is really hard when money is tight and your mother spends her whole life saying no to everything you want.
And even though I had wanted to take her to the homeopath for ages, we didn't have the money. So I asked our lovely homeopath if I could knit her something in exchange for seeing Maggie. She said yes and is now the proud owner of a lovely pair of socks made with Hand dyed yarn from Ripples crafts and using a pattern from Violet Green.
Life goes on. Either at home or the allotment. We don't stray far but are really looking forward to HESFES 2013! Now I just have to pack crutches and lots of knitting and crochet.
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