tubercula ...
You're a stranger in a strange land and you can't quite resist reading the letter written to your doctor, the one you're meant to deliver with the results of your x-rays and ultrasound on your knee and tendon.
Tubercula, if read in a particular way (ie: a fragile state of mind) looks a lot like tuberculosis, and if your great aunt walked with a peculiar gait due to 'tb ankle' well ... the skies could be the limit in a creative mind.
Gert came home all those weeks ago and kind of laughed at me. He went online, looked up what the letter said and explained.
In true Di Style, I headed off to Rome a couple of days later, leaving the results packet on my desk, to be delivered after my return ... maybe.
My sinuses filled up with gunk a couple of days ago, coinciding with the doctor asking Jessie if her mum might be coming to see her soon. Our doctor is an angel, it has to be said.
So today, after 2 failed attempts at phoning for an appointment, I did it.
The doctor thanked me for coming.
We laughed a lot really.
Well actually, she may have laughed more than me but I was amusing ... sigh.
It turns out that, in true kiwi style, I had wandered off on a knee full of fluid and a lower leg with tendonitis, walking through that pain and feeling rather proud of myself however ... it seems, if ignored one runs the risk of the tendon snapping or tearing.
The cure?
Well, she would quite like to have some steroid injections applied to the site.
I asked if I might not begin with a little physiotherapy.
She said there are really only 2 cures ... injections or a plaster cast and complete rest.
She has given me some physio treatments though, so lets see how that goes.
It's amusing at one level but I only recently realised that wanderers do get ill if they don't take care of themselves. I had had this unexamined idea that if I stayed out there and doing, I would be just fine.
So I took my limpy leg into the doctor.
I have a nose-spray for my sinuses. She was going to give me 2, then saw my sad face and said 'Okay then, just one but please use it 4 times a day.'
I do like her.
oh boy! get better amiga
ReplyDeleteOh there is much smirking and smiling here. I'm glad your doctor understands the kiwi mentality. ("If one wanders far enough, one leaves medical problems behind," and "Even though medicine relieves symptoms and may CURE the problem, it is TO BE AVOIDED.")
ReplyDeleteDo take care of the knee. Don't fear the fluid removal and steroids. Bad knees are bad for everyone, but ESPECIALLY bad for wandering women and photogs.
Okay Van, I will. Anything to avoid injections and plaster casts.
ReplyDeleteOh Veronica, I almost wrote you and ML into this post as you were the chorus of 2 working on getting me there ... :)
I must hook you two up, she's traveling your way in the months ahead sometime and I've told her she'll just adore you, and vice versa I'm sure.
Quote from the Sunscreen Song by Baz Luhrmann:
ReplyDelete"Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone."
;-)
Keep Well Di!
ReplyDeleteOh Peter, I wish someone had sung me that song when I was younger ...
ReplyDeleteI will try, Harvey. Thank you.
(do you know, if I drink wine with this sinus thing, I get an instant headache ...)