Saturday, 27th December 2008

Well now!....dust has settled on Christmas so mebbe time for some natter....


So .... 'the arm' (I should really do that bit in capitals!)

Went to my appointment on 22nd, expecting to HAVE an MRI. How stupid was that? I arrive at the outpatients with a good 15 minutes to spare (in case you've forgotten, the appointment was for 8pm). I thought I had arrived in a ghost town! There was NO one to be seen anywhere, not even to ask for directions. ANYONE could be getting away with murder! But eventually I found the right place (he said, skimming over the bit where he was getting madder and madder by the minute). Nice little asian nurse, with the BROADEST Belfast accent you ever heard, smiled at my moans, took my details, then showed me to a cubicle. Right on the dot of 8pm, in comes the consultant. Shakes my hand, exchanges a few pleasantries, then starts grilling me on the history of 'the arm'. After that comes the prodding and poking and banging with those little rubber hammer things doctors delight in. Honest to God...within about 4 minutes from the start, he sits back and says, 'Right, I have my diagnosis - you have a nerve trapped by the 6th cervical'....(and at this stage i LOSE it.....he's asian and I am struggling to follow his accent). But hold on a minute here!!...I knew I had a trapped nerve...I'm supposed to be here for a bloody MRI !!! Doctor then goes on to lay out options, all two of them. All these TWO options, naturally, follow on from MORE tests - by which he means a REAL MRI instead of the con trick this one turned out to be :). Options are, steroid injections or an operation. Discussions will follow on results of tests. .....yeah, ok, whatever you say..... Its only BEEN a year already!


Christmas. Well what can I say? Started the day with my nose kind of out of joint because this is the first year not cooking dinner and having the family HERE.......and ended the day quite getting into this 'no work' stuff . So there I sat....on the sofa being harrassed by kidlings....and with one eye watching Simon and Claire dash around like blue-assed flies trying to get everything prepared and on time etc etc, as ya do....and naturally with a nice glass of sherry in my hand (twas a wee bit early for the brandy ). The more frantic things got in the kitchen, the more laid back I got about it all, thinking to myself, 'hey, I can live with this' . The kids were GREAT! As you would expect......all excited about what Santa had brought them, all wound up about all that was going on around them, all the company...just FUN. Did I mention they had a captive audience?....me?

There is a little aside to all this. Previously, when my Mum and Dad were alive but getting on in years, and everyone came HERE for Christmas, I would take little video's of things that were going on. Right there, in MOST of the little video's, is my Dad, sitting on the sofa, just looking round and smiling at the antics of kids. The thought suddenly struck me............I am my Dad all over again! Now thats SCARY!!

As for the meal?...well,son, if you ever get to read this...........work on your veggies . Apart from that, it was perfect! (and by the way, the dogs thought so too )

A further addendum to all this Christmas meal stuff. Later on, David, (who had obviously been mulling this over in his head) mooted the idea that next year HE should play host. Well...bring it on!!