Pratfalls..........

Today has not been a good day.

This morning I had to be at the hospital for a regular appointment with the MS nurse. These usually follow a fairly well-trodden course.........

MSN: Hello Sandra, good to see you again, come in, come in.....sit down. So how've you been.......still got MS then?
Hmmm, that's a bit of a bugger isn't it.............

Actually, although I'm slightly exaggerating for comic effect, that is pretty much the tenet of the conversation. However, to be fair, she suggests various things I might like to try for the panoply of symptoms which have cropped up since our last meeting, and I try to sort out the wheat from the chaff. We are actually incredibly lucky to have a specialist MS nurse in Hastings. Many areas of the country don't.

Anyway, this morning was rather different. On my way to the Neurology Dept, which is in the bowels of the building, I was near the top of one of the flights of stairs when I lost my footing, grabbed hold of the handrail to stop myself tumbling down the steps, and twisted round on my left leg. Aside from the shock of almost falling, the pain in my knee was sudden and breathtaking. After regaining my dignity and composure, I slowly completed my descent without further incident, but it became apparent as I was hobbling along the endless corridors that I'd probably wrenched my kneecap out of place.

The MS nurse, bless her, helped me into her consulting room and did an impromptu examination. Sitting down it didn't hurt at all, and she decided that it was unlikely anything was broken, but strongly suggested that I pop back up to A&E to spend the rest of the day waiting to have it assessed properly. I knew nothing was broken. I wouldn't have been able to walk at all if it were. As I was resistant to taking the A&E option she recommended strapping the knee, taking painkillers, and if it wasn't improved in 24hours to have it checked out.

So I entered the hospital feeling relatively OK and emerged an hour later hobbling like an old woman.

Typical! Two days before a major exhibition too......... brilliant timing Sandra!

Small Dog is sniggering behind her paw and I'm sure I heard her refer to me as 'hopalong' earlier. So much for sympathy and an offer of the 'healing paw'.

I'm off to put my feet up and perhaps imbibe some liquid pain relief *hic*