Bad News
Before I start this blog I am going to apologise up front for the slightly depressing nature of this one as unfortunately, it hasn’t been a great few weeks for me.
Two and half months ago I posted that I was seeing Gordon Ellis of InfoPhysio fame. During my visits to Gordon, he advised me to see my GP and ask for X Rays of my hips as he strongly suspected that there was something untoward going on that wasn’t just muscle related.
I must admit that fear kept me from doing this for some time as I was quite happy being ignorant of the true extent of my problem and quite happy to believe that a few regular exercises and stretches would be the magic elixir that would cure me. After all I have been able to touch my toes lately.
I eventually went to my GP who arranged x-rays as well as blood tests for some of the more sinister things that you don’t even want to think about. When I sat down with my GP two weeks later to discuss my results he, first of all, announced that I had slightly high blood sugar. Bugger! But what about my hips I asked. “We’ll get to that later as there is quite a bit to talk about,” he said. Double bugger!
Once he had discussed my potential Type 2 Diabetes, poor diet, lack of exercise and me being overweight (only slightly) I was really in a positive mood to discuss the real reason why I had gone to the docs in the first place – not.
Well, it turns out that my hips are officially knackered. My blood was thankfully clear of nasties (except the sugar) but the official line was “moderate/severe degeneration of both hip joints far exceeding that expected of somebody my age.” Basically, I have got osteoarthritis at 47 and have probably had it for quite while considering how long I have had problems.
I don’t know about you, but to me, there is a big gap between moderate and severe, whatever it is you are comparing. Drawing comparisons with my well-thumbed Indian takeaway menu, moderate arthritis would be like a Balti curry, mild discomfort which can occasionally give you a nasty surprise (especially in the morning). Severe arthritis would be a Phal! – constant, major discomfort and crippling pain in the morning. There are a lot of curries in between so I am slightly confused as to how bad I really am; however, I do know that keeping a toilet roll in the fridge isn’t going to help me this time.
Hopefully, the Consultant will give me a better idea and at least I now know what I am dealing with.
I have to admit that I did get quite emotional a few days after receiving the news and struggled to come to terms with it as I feel that I am getting old way before my time. I do however realise that people get far, far worse news than I have just received so I need to man up and get on with it.
Reading about arthritis it is obvious that I do have a lot of control over how much it is going to affect me. I can either feel sorry for myself, do nothing and slowly get worse until the only option is surgery or a mobility scooter. Or, I can fight it and take the advice of the professionals and do all the right things to keep my hips as mobile as possible for as long as possible.
I have stopped going to Jill’s Friday night Ninja Pilates as I was really struggling with some of the moves and it wasn’t fair on the other clients when Jill was spending time giving me alternative moves while they were all holding that advanced move for a little (or a lot) longer than they should be. Sorry, however, I will be back!!
I have an appointment with the consultant next week, so will report back then, in the meantime I’m keeping with the exercises Gordon has given me, as I can feel the benefits.
