WELL, IT GOT MY STEPS UP!

I had an appointment booked for today at 9.30 a.m. at the Lower Limb Assessment Clinic  at our local hospital, so although we only live about 5 minutes away, we got there in plenty of time and it was a good job we did.  When I walked in to what I thought would be the reception area, it was completely empty and a nurse told me that the department had moved - but the signage hadn’t yet been updated!  A good job I was early then.  

I then had to walk the length and almost the breadth of the hospital - and for those of you with a knowledge of hospital corridors, you will know they are like rabbit warrens!  Having got to the right department, I was then told I should have been rung to say I had to have an x-ray before I saw the Physiotherapist.  This entailed another long walk back through the various rabbit warrens, but this time I got hopelessly lost.  A man came through one of the doors off this long corridor, so I asked him if he knew his way around - I noticed later he had a lanyard round his neck, so obviously was someone from the hospital - and for all I knew, he could have been a surgeon on the way to an operation!!  However, he was very obliging and eventually got me to where I needed to be.  By this time it was 9.40, and thankfully, I only had to wait 45 minutes before my x-ray was completed - but did have a lovely conversation with a Mum and her son whilst I was waiting.   Then it was back to the Physiotherapy Department - a few hundred more steps - and now up to 3,559 - not much for some of you, but a lot for me in just a couple of hours.

I saw T. the physio friend I saw about my neck a few months ago, so that was good and she told me that my knee x-rays were not good and that she would recommend a knee replacement.  Apparently, the knee is just “bone on bone” which is obviously why it’s so painful, so best to have it done now, I think.  Our local hospital waiting time is 18 months, but there are several other places where it could be done within 4 months, so I have “plumped” for one of those.  Speaking of which, I asked T if it would help if I lot weight and she said it probably would - so better finish off some of those chocolates this weekend - any excuse!  

I decided to do my Blip now because very soon we are going to another Service of Thanksgiving for the man who used to be the Minister at our Church - and Mr. HCB and I are I/C of the refreshments - who said that being retired was boring?  There is always something to do and I’m sure that even after the op I will still be able to go to the Community Fridge because I could sit and weigh the various items that our customers take.  There is always a way round if you want to find it!

Having taken a shot of the door into the x-ray room, I took a shot of the artwork above the reception desk in the main entrance to the hospital, and then, just as I was taking the third photograph in my collage, someone tapped me on the shoulder and said I should take the one with the quote by Aneurin Bevan - so I quote it below:

“No society can legitimately call itself civilised 
     if a sick person is denied medical aid 
          because of lack of  means.”
Aneurin Bevan 1897-1960
Minister of Health - Responsible for establishing 
the National Health Service in the UK