No really, this is GOOD news.
Spent the weekend in a good old-fashioned slough of despond with extra misery, unable to leave the flat and weeping at intervals at my inability to walk or hold down a job. Today, inexplicably, I felt much, much better, and I spent the morning tracking down details of a potential temporary job in Wales and the afternoon at Ikea, failing to buy a door curtain, but managing to buy gravad lax, perry and assorted biscuits.
Then I had a doctor's appointment. I've been having a lot of trouble with my left hip for over a year now, stiffness and considerable pain, especially when standing up after sitting down, depending on the exact chair I'd been using. It comes and goes, and eases a good deal when I walk, so I became convinced that it was some sort of sciatica, rather than arthritis. After term ended, I decided to get to grips properly with it, saw my GP and had it X-rayed. This was just covering myself, as I was convinced that the X-ray would show nothing. The next step was to have been an appointment with an osteopath/acupuncturist I'd found locally. However, when I saw my GP this evening, he told me there were "very severe degenerative changes" in my left hip joint, to the extent that the head of the femur had been worn almost flat. So now I am to see an orthopaedic surgeon, and (fingers crossed) will be put on the list for a hip replacement.
I was told some time ago that they can't replace my knee joints, because I am too young, and the replacements would wear out by the time I was seventy. Artificial hip joints, however, can be re-surfaced almost indefinitely, so theoretically I could have one tomorrow. Yay! They have the technology, and they can rebuild me! The hip has been causing me a lot more trouble than the knees for months now, and it would be so lovely to have it fixed.
Then I had a doctor's appointment. I've been having a lot of trouble with my left hip for over a year now, stiffness and considerable pain, especially when standing up after sitting down, depending on the exact chair I'd been using. It comes and goes, and eases a good deal when I walk, so I became convinced that it was some sort of sciatica, rather than arthritis. After term ended, I decided to get to grips properly with it, saw my GP and had it X-rayed. This was just covering myself, as I was convinced that the X-ray would show nothing. The next step was to have been an appointment with an osteopath/acupuncturist I'd found locally. However, when I saw my GP this evening, he told me there were "very severe degenerative changes" in my left hip joint, to the extent that the head of the femur had been worn almost flat. So now I am to see an orthopaedic surgeon, and (fingers crossed) will be put on the list for a hip replacement.
I was told some time ago that they can't replace my knee joints, because I am too young, and the replacements would wear out by the time I was seventy. Artificial hip joints, however, can be re-surfaced almost indefinitely, so theoretically I could have one tomorrow. Yay! They have the technology, and they can rebuild me! The hip has been causing me a lot more trouble than the knees for months now, and it would be so lovely to have it fixed.