h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

G'night!

Ha ha, ha haaaah ... letter dated last Tuesday reads:

"An appointment slot has been made available for you to attend for an assessment prior to physiotherapy treatment. If you still require treatment, please ring the department to book (an apt).

If we have not heard from you within three weeks of the date of this letter we will assume that you no longer require treatment and you will be discharged from our waiting list.

Yours sincerely

(no signature)"

So I'll review on Monday 13 September, and see whether I need any help other than that which I've been grateful to find on the internet and YouTube.

Not* wishing to further cast nasturtiums, but I see that the doctor who cut the rugby player's lip is also an A&E consultant at this splendid institution




* The cake is a lie

Hmm, maybe the second opinion would be useful in any case?

Well, yes and no - that's why I said I'd review just before the deadline, at the latest.

On the one hand, I would like someone to check that I'm doing the best exercises to mobilise, and that I'm doing them properly. I'm doing them conscientiously because I hope to make as near a perfect recovery as I can.

OTOH, I know from previous experience that they are the far side of useless, and that's been borne out by my recent (non-)dealings (plural) with them as well. My guess is that it will be a complete and utter waste of my time because everything will be fine and possibly because there was never really a problem (which is not the same as saying that you couldn't tell there ever had been a problem); and this will be the case, regardless of the state of my rehab. In fact, there's even a chance that they won't want to check what I have been doing ...

Knowing that I don't gamble, I'll lay you a fiver on this one: that it will be a waste of time. That's a far higher stake than the 5p I wagered - and lost, and how! - some time back. What say you?

The other letter that came today was also from the hospital btw. It was sent 1st Class yesterday, and it's the orthoptics apt requested by East Grinstead. However, now that there's no more concussion, the double vision and blurring have ceased although there are still floaters from time to time. The apt (sigh) is right in the middle of the week when my Hungarian friend is back here to sort out family problems.

Yes, but....

Go on ...

...oh, you know, there is a chance, given that they do it for a living, that the actual practitioners know what they're talking about, even if the admin staff could beneficially be replaced by trained monkeys.

clink

Fair comment.

But my previous, 2003 experience was with a physiotherapist; that was when I was a service user, for one time only. After I'd had some treatment and learned how to do the exercises having attended the private wing at St Mary's in Paddington, I relocated and the physio said I must get my new GP to arrange 'essential' follow-up treatment and care. My London GP agreed - she'd been frantic to get the tendonitis treated, as I'd previously had RSIs on both wrists and tennis elbow on both elbows as well, and she knew I'd wait forever for an NHS physio. GP here did an immediate referral. Hospital physio, when I finally got an apt, said there was nothing wrong with and there was nothing to suggest that there ever had been.

Cortisone injections, splint, exercises twice a day: all a waste of time and effort? Pain, debility: what of that? Shrug of the shoulders.

Anyhoo, I've been read the riot act by Hungarian friend who thinks I must go along and get my technique checked etc ect ... I got glowered at down the phone, I could feel the strength of her opinion and it made my ear cringe

Well, I'm more of the 'softly softly...' persuasion than your Hungarian friend.

...although if that doesn't work, I can get tough.

I think you ought to book an apt at the earliest opportunity.

clink

S'ok, I realised, when she became uncharacteristically stern, that I was outnumbered. I'd pretty much decided to phone next week ... I may need, ahem, 'softly softly' pushing into making the call though

You've got a use for this fiver, haven't you?

Don't you be so sure of winning it, even if I am rarely right where saving money is concerned ...

Hmm, let's just see how you get on /trying/ to get tough with me :-|

G'nite!





PS You'll be needing this ->

Yes, well by 'tough' I of course meant 'almost imperceptibly attempting to be more persuasive'.

G'night!

So when/if I go, then it'll be because of such subtle pressure that I didn't even notice the application of said pressure. But if I don't go, then it's because I'm too crass to be sensitive to a light touch. Is that it?

You're right, overt pressure is the best way of getting me to dig my heels in, innit



Watching the Rodgers and Hammerstein Prom with subtitles on - getting a good bang on the head has done wonders for my tinnitis - after the first duet, I read:

"RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE

Sierra and oven oven oven."

Voice recognition software still has some way to go

Yes, no flying cars either. We're in the future and it's nothing like it said in my annuals when I was a boy, no flying cars or robot servants. Not even voice recognition.

" ... no flying cars either."

Hardly, as we've not embraced the implementation of 'patient transport' yet

" ... it's nothing like it said in my annuals ... "

Girls' annuals didn't have adventures set in the future. IIRC it was all ballet schools and ponies, or like the Famous Five but without the boys. When I have located the two or three Girls Own annuals that are somewhere round these parts, I'll report back on the content.

Stand by for extreme surprise if artificial voice recognition is mentioned anywhere.



PS Forgive the handwriting, blame it on the surrey with the fringe on top

Don't worry, I can just about read it.

Silly me! It was Boy's Own, and Girl - presumably because boys own stuff, and girls are expected to share (and later, grown up boys will own grown up girls).

Aargh, I'd forgotten all the nurses, the confidential secretaries, the embroidery, the flower arranging ... the sole contribution to future technology (sci fi didn't get a look in) was a feature on a woman called Jerri Cobb, who hoped to be the first female astronaut:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerrie_Cobb

The irony is that if you'd mentioned Jerri Cobb to me, I'd have said 'Who? Never heard of her' (and now I'll have to find the book again to see whether I've forgotten the spelling of her first name), and she deserves to be remembered - not least for her under-achievement due to the glass ceiling (which must be a kind of rigid /veil/).

And tennis, forgot to mention tennis.

G'nite!

In Cornwall