Last Thursday I had an appointment with a consultant rheumatologist. It was a good appointment in so far as she spent time with me, listened to me and explained things to me. She was only allotted 30 minutes for the appointment but I came out after about 45-50 minutes.
I'm a bit more defective than I thought I was but certainly not in comparison to some real bendies she has seen. It would seem I do have hypermobility in my larger joints (knees) where I didn't think I had. The slackness of my collagen has made my foot arches drop (again I hadn't realised) this has affected the angle of my knees and then my hips. My lower back is more curved than normal (again without studying multiple persons naked backs I was not aware my own curve was not the norm). My hips, as I did know, are very stretchy.
She was far from offended at my voicing my lack of faith in the NHS, which I think prompted the longer appointment.
I have been booked in for physio which I'm told will make me feel a lot worse before it starts to help and I'm not to expect it to help at any speed. My body has been failing me gradually for my whole life, it's not going to be fixed in a few weeks.
I'm also to be booked in for some relaxation sessions in an attempt to help my poor sleeping pattern.
For those people following me on twitter, you may well have seen me use the phrase "spoonie". This is in relation to an analogy created by Christine Miserandino to explain how it feels to live with any life debilitating illness. It is regularly used by people living with a variety of disorders as an open letter to family and friends in relation to how hard some days are.
I'm doing ok.
Below is the spoon theory explaining just how bad some days can be - though for me, not all days.
The Spoon Theory
Wow. That article made me feel really sad. It made me think about how much time I waste sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing it.
I hope you'll feel better soon. X
Rebecca, thank you so much for sharing this article. I find it very easy to sympathise with people, maybe this will help me to empathise too.
ReplyDeleteHugs, girl.
I've done physical therapy twice myself, and while in the short term is does aggravate what you're trying to fix in the long run it helps wonders. I wish you luck in everything!
ReplyDeleteThank you Misha.
ReplyDeleteSarah- It's not easy for people who don't live this way, to understand, but saying that, we all live with something.
Jenny - Thank you. I received the letter from them today telling me to call for an appointment. It looks as though it's about to start!