My health situation took a backwards step or two this week, unexpected and incredibly frustrating. I undertook another walk on Monday, followed by some household chores. I was initially okay, but by the time Sandra came home, I was starting to flag. My energy levels sank and eating was a chore. I ended up going to bed by 20:30 and slept through. Tuesday morning was not great, but I perked up somewhat throughout the day. The tingling sensation was more notable too and as a result, I decided to chase up the orthopaedic surgeon referral with my GP surgery. Attempts to get an appointment failed, then I went down the e-consult route, which was scheduled for Thursday. I undertook a second walk on Wednesday, with Alanna and that repeated the above pattern, only quicker and to a greater degree. On the return leg of the walk, I could feel the tingling / numbness at the whole base of my back. Within half an hour of getting back to the house, I was beginning to feel tired and uncomfortable. I moved from the table to the sofa, but by 14:30, I felt the need to sleep. Alanna remained with me until Sandra came home and I dozed on and off for the rest of the afternoon / evening. Another early night to bed and I awoke still very tired on Thursday morning. I did get up, but initially dozed some more on the sofa. The tingling sensation was prevalent and in the midst of this, the GP appointment was cancelled.
Working through utter frustration at the state of our health service, just trying to get the name of the surgeon, so I could book a private (quicker) appointment, Sandra and I made the decision to go to our local walk-in health centre. That visit resulted in nothing, as they only handle acute issues, not long-term treatment, such as mine. They advised me to return to the GP to seek the name, which I did. That resultant conversation with the receptionist, was useless and only added to the frustration.; “make an appointment” - “tried that”, “have you tried an e-consult”, “yes, that’s what you cancelled today!”, “the GP is off ill, so you will need to make another appointment”. This fun merry go round is something that countless people in the UK undergo daily and it is a national disgrace. I phoned the chiropractor and have made an appointment for Monday, with a view to discussing this overall development with him and try to determine if his recent vigorous session has affected some nerves, or the like; will see what Monday brings. To round off the week of health changes, I undertook my alternate day exercise routine on Saturday and the tingling instantly returned and everything appears to be focused on the lower part of my back. This is pushing our thought process further down the chiro session route, but again, will not know until Monday. I had a call on Friday from the cancer unit, which was a follow up to my request to discuss the supplements dosage. The outcome of that (dealing with that unit in Canterbury is a world away from the day to day NHS dealings and they always get things moving, quick!), is that they will write to the GP and instruct them to prescribe chewable vitamin D sweets, which will sort the correct dosage. In that letter, they will also instruct the GP to organise the outstanding referral to the ortho surgeon; we’ll see what comes from that!
These developments dictated the week, regarding everything else. I did carry on with book elements, around the tiredness and lethargy, with progress being made. I had meetups arranged with Howard and Matt, but I cancelled that on Thursday morning, as I was feeling very tired in the morning (Sandra also cancelled her planned meet up with one of her friends for the same night). Sandra took Thursday off, as she was concerned about how I was and my lethargy was all-evident. I arranged for Alanna to work at ours on Friday, so that Sandra could go back to work, and thankfully, Friday was a much more normal day and Sandra, Alanna and Jameson went ahead with their evening out to an Irish dancing show at an event venue where we live, but only after I had to impact Dan and he came to me, with Keeley, to stay with me until the show was over. I do not like that aspect of having to impact others and their lives / plans, but I am grateful that it can be done, so those around me can conduct some degree of normality. We managed a few hours out on Saturday, around the tingling. We had another meet up with Kim and Andy scheduled for Saturday night, but they cancelled, due to illness. Two reschedules to sort in the coming weeks, although some may not be until post-Xmas now.
Overall, a frustrating week, following the elation of recent good diagnostic results. I am keen to understand what is driving this tingling and ‘new’ connected tiredness, when doing light exercises - bearing in mind I have been doing them for weeks now, without major issue. Identifying the issues and finding resolutions, hopefully, is where our focus is, around being reliant on the medical profession to do their part.
Until next week……..your continued interest in my unfolding health and life situation, is very much appreciated.
Regards, Peter