Friday June 30

Up in the morning--my usual struggle--with my leg almost paralyzed; but as the morning wore on, the pain lessened and disappeared when I was sitting, and it was not so bad when I got up and walked around. I always have the hope that one day something will happen to the nerve that is being squished, and then all will be well again. I can, at least, hope.

Joan wanted very much to see an exhibition of Morisot paintings at the Dulwich Gallery. That involved a train from Victoria, so she left when the rush-hour was over, and I was on my own thru to about quarter past three. However, I have no difficulty keeping myself amused, and the time passed without me feeling at a loss for something to do. And there was some good tennis from Eastbourne.

Where was I in my life story? 

Kinny, Juliet, Daniel, and Dougal had left for Colorado. I was socializing in my apartment on 35th Street at the top of Georgetown. In that apartment building emerged the next significant chapter in my life. And here I wish to pronounce the two major life lessons that I learned from my marriages.

1. Do not get married until you are thirty....

2. Do not get married on the rebound....

It was very much on the rebound that I hitched up with my second venture into a relationship that ended in marriage: Eudoxia. 

I have to say that I was fully into the relationship and had no misgivings about it for several years When and how it started to go wrong, I just do not recollect.

Thursday June 29

 Another day with Joan participating in the conference at NATO, this time the Zoom connection is working well, and she has avoided the frustrations of yesterday. She had to make three prepared (short) presentations, which were well received.

Of course, I have been sitting around--never getting to Genius in Spelling Bee, doing Wordle, struggling but eventually succeeding  with Kenken, losing twice with Freecell (most unusual for me), doing some reading, and watching some good tennis at Eastbourne--Coco Gauff against Pegula.

All over now...and Joan, who has been stuck in her chair for most of the day, is off to take a walk, and to end up at the store for food for our evening meal.

While I...can watch some more tennis.

Not a good day for me with my back problem. I cannot walk many steps without having to stop because of the pain.

Wednesday June 28

This is proving a very distressing day for Joan -- and I suffer for her as she suffers. There is a conference at NATO about the work of Administrative Tribunals, lasting all day, and Joan was invited and had booked a train and a hotel, but later cancelled her attendance in person because of my condition. But she is participating by Zoom, and on several occasions she has lost the connection, or lost the sound, or her ability to speak to the conference, causing her great concern and frustration. Poor Joan--life (including my problem) is very difficult for her these days.

The conference goes on--at 4.15pm--and I have been confined to certain parts of the room so that I am not in the Zoom range.

After my very pleasant appointment with the physiotherapist yesterday, I am really just the same. Perhaps I can walk a little better, or a little farther before the pain cuts in, but my getting up, going to the bathroom and showering had its usual pain and difficulty. So I am not encouraged about my sciatic situation.

I have just gone out onto the street and walked up to the top of the mews to the Indian restaurant. Painful, especially coming back, but it does seem we could eat out at the restaurant sometime.

Tuesday June 27/Therapy

 Just a few lines to record the main event of the day. An Uber to Wigmore Street to visit a physiotherapist, who did a great deal of massage on my back. Whether or not I am better off, I am not sure. We will just have to wait and see. 

I do seem to be walking around a bit better. But I think the main message we got from the obviously knowledgeable  therapist was that the back and leg situation will slowly correct itself. This meant, for example, that I should take my time before I decide to go to a neurosurgeon.

I have booked another appointment for next Thursday. The therapist talks about acupuncture, but I am nor sure if I want to have all those needles stuck into me.

The therapist recommended a hot water bottle  to use around my hip and told us that the heat pad we have--the one we put in the microwave--could better be placed around my neck. I did that, and I thought it felt very good--though as to what it actually accomplished, I remain unsure.

Joan came back from Boots with the new hot water bottle, and I had a session with it. I think it was much better than the heating pad as it covered a wider area.

Well--let's see how things go...

Monday June 26

 Another computer upset for Joan this morning, scaring her stiff that her computer was broken and that she would not be able to do her work. However, after a visit to Curry's, where they have a computer help and repair desk, she returned home with the problem (her power connection) solved, and she was breathing great sighs of relief.

I will not get into any detail about how the the marital situation developed  in Washington during my first few years working at the IMF. Let's just look at the end product--divorce, and Kinny, Juliet, Daniel, and Dougal departing for Colorado, leaving me on my own in Washington, where, after selling the house we had bought, I moved into an apartment at the top of Georgetown, opposite the big school for the arts. And there was quite a social life in that small apartment building. There was Francie Barnard, who claimed to have slept with Joe Biden (then a young senator) and had a present boy-friend, whom she later married, who went on to fame and fortune--Bob Woodward. And there were other interesting  people. Often we would congregate in Francie's apartment. A little weed was smoked. I smoked marihuana on two occasions. One produced euphoria...wonderful. One produced paranoia--I lay in my bed with a succession of horrible images--concentration camp pictures, a child running burning with napalm, all the horrible pictures I had ever seen kept flashing in front of me.

I was quite successful in my career...promoted to Division Chief, and in charge of the new SDR Division--Special Drawing Rights, a new form of international money. I was probably the world's greatest expert on SDRs. Much good it did me...

Sunday June 26

 A very hot day today...just now I was sweating profusely. Joan has gone out to view some art exhibition. I encourage her to get out and about.

I am continuing in my hobbled condition...not much pain, and I can walk around bit if I do not try to stand up straight, which creates a lot of pain, and I believe I am compressing a nerve down there in the base of my back. I tried to lie down flat and the pain was excruciating.

Just to go back to my career. I went to work for Ansbachers, and we bought a cottage in Great Totham, Essex. I had to commute daily into Liverpool Street station from Witham, and then just walk up the street to the bank.

The marital problems arose in Great Totham. Kinny got involved with a young man, an artist, named John Doubleday. He still lives there, though now he is Sir John Doubleday. And there were others. The marital situation was disastrous.

I saw an advertisement for a job at the IMF in Washington, I applied for it, and I was interviewed by the IMF Treasurer at Heathrow, where he had some time between flights. I was offered the job, and I accepted it--hoping that the marriage might make a new start in Washington DC. (Fat chance).

There was a sad situation with our dogs, just before we left. We had two golden retrievers, mother, and son. The mother--Tessa--had won the golden retriever class at Crufts--the huge dog show--and we had  her meet for a little canoodling with a very imposing male retriever, a coupling that produced six puppies. We sold five, kept one, which we called Dougal. Close to the time we were going to America, we went away for the weekend, leaving the dogs in the care of a neighbor. She  let them run loose, and they harassed sheep in the fields around our house. The police took custody of them and told us they had to be put down. We said we were going to the US and suggested we would take one with us and put the other one down. The police agreed, and Tessa--sadly sadly sadly--was euthanized. The vet called me in the bank to say it had been done, and I started to cry....

So Dougal came to United States.

Saturday June 24

 Joan went out for a long walk this morning and came back close to home and did some shopping. 

I spent my usual day after the prolonged agony of getting up, going to the bathroom, and having my shower. Breakfast cleared with Genius on Spelling Bee and getting Wordle on a third or fourth line.

I was happy when Joan came back--she was away a long time.

Semi-final tennis on BBC 1--Queens Club.

Then later Joan had an unfortunate total meltdown, believing she had lost all her data on her computer. Eventually, after two phone calls to our commuter consultants in Washington, she was told what  to do, she did it, and all was well. But it was a very distressing  episode, and I can understand her total panic--so much of her work was saved on her computer and its loss would have created chaos for her in dealing with her consultant work.

Peace now--pleasant music on Classic FM.

Extraordinary coincidence--there is an obituary in The Times of a woman I met a long time ago when I was working for Courtaulds in Coventry. The wife of a then Earl, who worked alongside me. He went on to become the Duke of Richmond and Gordon.

I am reading an old Iris Murdoch novel--The Black Prince--quite extraordinary.  

Friday July 23/Jobs

 After my usual crawl out of bed, coffee, and bathroom and shower, (all with considerable painful difficulty) and then my breakfast,  I had a consultation with the doctor that yielded nothing new.

Basically the news was that I would have to move on to a neurosurgeon and expect the possibility of back surgery. Great...it would have to wait until we are back home in good old DC. He did suggest some physiotherapy, and recommended a person to contact. I have an appointment on Monday at 1.00pm. Let's hope that helps.

So there we are. 

Back to jobs. I made one trip as an export salesman with a very jolly and out-going guy who wanted to take all our customers out to dinner. We went to the Lego factory, which was a very small enterprise at that time. And when he tried the 'let's go out to lunch' ploy the Lego boss replied that they ate sandwiches for lunch. When we got back it was reported that I did not have the jolly social qualities for a salesman, and I was reassigned to work for the Financial Controller of the Viscose Rayon Division. I have very little memory of what I did there. I visited the Cologne factory, and I was impressed by the fact that they had interpreters in three languages on each shift--Turkish, Portuguese, and, I think, Polish. The work was rather unpleasant, and they had difficulty in maintaining an adequate work force.

I saw an advert in a newspaper for positions in the Financial Department of the Ford Motor Company. I applied, was accepted, and we moved to Basildon, in Essex, where I bought a house. I commuted by car to Dagenham each day. Later I started sharing commuting with my neighbor, who also worked in the Financial Department. Daniel was born in the Basildon house. The snow was on the ground--it was a very bad winter--and I had to walk to the mid-wife's house in order to help her carry the gas-and-air machine to our house.

Kinny crashed the car on ice in Basildon City Center --not too seriously, tho' she was taken to hospital. She had a cast on when we went to Germany at Christmas before Daniel was born. Her father (a doctor) took it off.

At the start of my time with Ford, I was doing very time-consuming and routine work with sales and production data, and I was bored stiff. And then my boss moved me to managing the spare money that  Ford had...putting it into treasury bills and later into deposits with the American banks in London, and then with Local Authorities. This was much more interesting work, and it showed me how money markets worked in the City--the financial heart of the country. This  led to my next job...working for an investment bank--Henry Ansbacher and Company.

Thursday June 22

 Another day just like the one before, and the one before that, and the one before that. Perhaps little improvement: I have just walked quite a few paces around the apartment.

But last night, on my nightly visits to the bathroom, I was in agony, as I was first thing this morning.

I was thinking last night in bed about my various jobs. From Oxford, I went to work as a management trainee with Courtaulds--a huge textile firm. They arranged a course for me to go round and spend time at various factories--the first was in Braintree, Essex, where there was a weaving mill, and I underwent a textile familiarization course, which included designing a fabric, setting it up on a loom, and weaving it. After that I visited factories in Coventry, producing two forms of rayon (viscose rayon and cellulose acetate rayon) a weaving factory in Bradford, and a small factory in Exeter that made clothes.

After that course, I was assigned to export sales with an office in Coventry. From an early stage in this course I was married to Kinny.

We had an old Morris Minor that we drove around the country. When I went to work in Coventry, we had a very nice apartment in Leamington Spa, and Juliet was born in that apartment. Later, we bought our first house--a very modest detached house in Warwick, from where I commuted each day into Coventry.

Stay tuned for the next move....

Wednesday June 21

 The usual start to the day...drag myself out of bed, make my coffee in the microwave (success!)...bathroom and shower, breakfast (some baked beans on bread), Spelling Bee to Genius, Wordle on the fourth line, Freecell ( I am pretty good at that: I seem to have acquired the title of "Expert"--it now comes up when I bring up the game)

Now I have the TV rattling away behind me--after a long news about the submersible that has go lost and is unlikely to be recovered from the depths of the Atlantic.

 The TV program is Politics Today, and there is a lot of verbal conflict between politicians of different parties. All of it going nowhere, and no-one really trying to focus on what is wrong with the country.

I didn't mean to start a blog today, but I wanted to know when I took the Library book out, as it needs to be returned, and I was able to check that: I had recorded my last visit on my blog, when I was in agony coming home, and I thought that I would not be able to make it back to the apartment.

Well, the day has progressed slowly...great piano concert streamed from St. James's Church, Piccadilly. Joan was there in the audience. I was sure I could see the back pot her head

Tennis is on now....

Nearly 9.30pm...and I remembered that I had not posted this blog ..so here I am ready to sign off on Wednesday June 21...the longest day of the year.

Tuesday June 17th

 I sit opposite Joan, who is hard at work on her computer. This entry is just for the record, as nothing exciting or interesting has happened to prompt a post. The days have gone by slowly...I have not been able to go out of the apartment, and I have had more or less continual pain in my lower back and my leg.

So that brings things up to date. I got new prescription for the painkillers, but I am not sure that they do me any good.

Tennis is on at the Queens Club and is on TV on BBC 2, so that does provide a certain interest during the day--from1.00 pm to 6.00 pm--though one can get tired of it. So much of it is just a long back and forth until one player makes a mistake...though occasionally one sees a really super shot.

I sent an e-mail to the doctor today to get his reaction to the fact that my position is much the same as it was before the injections. So far, no reply...

Yesterday, we had a very nice FaceTime with little Julian. There is an eight hour time difference between here and California, and he and John were heading out to the beach in the early morning. I remember we went there once--you need a pass to get thru the gate and then you go down a long flight of steps to the beach. John signed off as he had difficulty getting a signal.

We have been watching on BBC I-Player the long series Wolf Hall--adapted from the Hillary Mantel novels. Anne Boleyn has just had her head chopped off by the very skillful French swordsman, an executioner who usually did an excellent job--not like axemen, who  often botched things---and he was brought over from France by Henry so as to make things easier for Anne...what kindness and consideration!

There is a tennis match going on featuring the new super star, the Spanish boy of nineteen, Alcatraz, who is or was Number One. He is doing badly when I was last watching, and my guess is that he is going to lose. Let's check. He won the second set, but is behind in the third.

Saturday June 17th

 I was very happy with my bed experience last night. Yes, a couple of visits to the bathroom, but easier to walk there and, afterwards, to get my usual mouthful of Diet Tonic. And I had no problem finding a sleeping position that was devoid of pain.

Today--Saturday--I am not so sure. Walking around in a more upright position is possible, but pain arrives in my leg fairly quickly. I will get up and try now.

I have just walked 50 paces around the apartment, and it wasn't too bad. Funnily enough, while I had been sitting without pain before I walked, I am now experiencing pain in lower left buttock that I did not have before. Oh well...we will have to see. I think I could probably walk from a taxi to the United check-in desk. (Since I typed the rest of this entry my sitting position has reverted to painless.)

I have spent the whole morning from 10.00am watching the Trooping the Colour with one eye and slowly absorbing the Times newspaper with the other--The Saturday edition has God knows how many sections, including one on luxury watches.

The morning TV went on and on, with squad after squad of Guards in their busbies marching up and down, marching band after marching band, and shots of the Royals, in carriages, or in Charles' case--on his horse. And finally on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, to watch a flypast of aircraft of all shapes and sizes. The three grandchildren look like three peas from a pod--three faces exactly the same.

What a parade for a country that seems to be in the middle of crisis in all sorts of ways--lacking a government that knows what to do, lacking an opposition party that knows what to do. Inflation rampant. NHS falling apart, junior doctors, railwaymen, on strike. Strikes threatened at Heathrow.

Joan is away with Robin, down in Greenwich. I am happy that she is getting out and about. She has had to sacrifice so much as a result of my back and leg problems. In my present condition, I think we might stay here into July as planned. I think I can cope with the two days she has to go to Brussels.

I am puzzled as to what follow-up we are going to get from the doctor. Surely he ought to call me and ask how things are going...

Friday June 16

 Well, a major day in my life. The doctor reviewed the results of the MRI--showed us the pictures, and explained all the various things that were wrong. He described the different injections he proposed to perform. He was cautiously  optimistic that things might get better.

That session finished at about 11.15 am, and we then had to Uber to another location, where I was scheduled to 'go under the needles' at 2.00 pm. Well they put me in a first class room, dressed me in a hospital robe, fancy underpants, support stockings, and those rubbery socks that prevent you from falling.

And then...I had to find ways to wile away the time until the doctor reappeared and I was wheeled off to the operating room..a drip in my wrist, and then I woke up back in my bed. And I was served an excellent lunch.

We left the hospital at about 6.00pm. As I sit here typing I feel no pain

There is a certain amount of pain as I walk around--but nowhere near what I have suffered in the last few days.

We'll have to wait and see

Thursday June 15..1.00pm

 Once again, on my own..it's a somewhat lonely life, as I encourage Joan to go out--I know she loves walking around London, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, the Serpentine--or Holland Park, closer to home.

Took these new whopping red painkillers this morning--perhaps they had some effect on dulling the pain. Joan had a zoom call at 10 am, and I spent an hour lying on the bed, never really able to settle in a position that afforded some comfort.

Now I have just discovered that I have a painting app on this computer, but it is very difficult to find my way around in it. I have been sending daily doodles to John and Dan. I do them on my I-pad, and the program is not very sophisticated. I would like to do one using the program on my Mac, but I have a lot of difficulty controlling things in the program. perhaps I will try again later.

In the meantime I will send John a birthday greeting. It's his birthday today. Don't remember much about his birth. I think it was in Georgetown Hospital, but I am not sure.

....4.00 pm, and the day has been eked out with some television. Lovely day, but very hot, and we have nothing in this apartment to cool things down. Perhaps I will go back and try again with this painting program on my Mac.

Wednesday June 14

 Well, not sure what to write today. Just continuing with a fair amount of pain in my lower left back and right down my leg. Difficult to get around, even in the gorilla position--let me try how many steps I can take...not bad, quite a few turns around the room.

Parliament on the TV...seems like a crowd of children shouting at each other..is this the way to govern the country?

Later on...bored stiff and lonely. I encouraged Joan to go out, as I do not want her to be shut in with me when she  could be out, enjoying a walk or a run, or meeting with one of her friends.

You see--this is what I always feared, that I--in my old age--would become a burden for her. That her life would have to be focussed on dealing an aging partner, perhaps a partner with dementia or Parkinson's, or some other debilitating health problem that would make her life difficult over a long period.

Here I am with this problem. How it is to be sorted , heaven knows. If surgery is recommended, we probably have to go back to Washington, and how we manage to get me on and off an airplane--well, we will just have to see how we can do it. Wheelchairs will probably be needed.

Lucky Thirteen

 PART ONE:

Well, let's hope we get some news today from the MRI, after my appointment at 1300--although I suppose there will be some delay and the report will probably be sent to Dr. Gilkes. We have established the exact address, and the concierge will be able to provide a wheel chair, so we hope our arrival and reception will go smoothly. Joan is starting to check an Uber trip. So, looks like the second part of todays post will be the interesting part...the trip, the MRI, and just some possibility of an idea of what is causing the problem...

PART TWO 

Transport by Uber worked well, both going and coming back.

In the hospital, there was a lot of waiting around, and at one stage it almost seemed we would have to come back another day as the person dealing with the pacemaker was not available. But--thank goodness--that problem was solved, and the procedures commenced. First, a technician spent a long time, working from wires stuck into suction caps around my chest and belly. Apparently she was putting my pacemaker in a mode that would not be adversely affected by the MRI. When she was finished, I had to lie down, ready to go into the machine. They put plugs in my ears and then big headphones over them. Even so, the sounds were very loud at various stages of the procedures. I was about 30 minutes inside the machine, lying down, keeping still, mostly with noise of some sort in my earphones...often repetitive hammer blows.

When I was finished and dressed, the young woman who had supervised the MRI seemed to suggest that there was some clear reason why I was suffering: she talked about age, and 'things' wearing out. So God knows what form of treatment will be called for.

We see the doctor on Friday, and he will have the pictures from the MRI and the radiologist's interpretation of them.

And in the meantime, I will still have to struggle on with the problems of pain and mobility.

Monday June 12

 When I look at Saturday's blog I see that it describes my time having a shower, getting my breakfast, and settling down for the rest of the day. This morning has been much the same, though I had to sit tight for a while when Joan had a telephone call about a sexual harassment case.

The morning passed...Genius at Spelling Bee, Wordle in a few lines, a KenKen 6x6 hard, Freecell--I lost the first game but won the second.

Fifteen minutes lying on the floor doing my exercises, which don't do me a bit of good...at least I don't think so.

Television...news, political discussion...one call-in person said that Boris was the best prime minster we had ever had. This reminded me very much of Trump supporters who never cease supporting him no matter what he does. I do not know not understand the psychology of people like that.

Joan is 'busting her ass', as she says, to finish a report, so I am going to finish this and get right out of her way.

She is dressed up very nicely to go the the ballet tonight.

Saturday June 10.

 It is now nearly midday, and I have just finished the usual routine for my morning. First, the struggle to get up from bed, find my way to the kitchen and have a coffee--sometimes I make myself from instant, sometimes Joan is there to give me the coffee she has brewed. Then begins the difficult struggle to pay my usual visit to the bathroom and the further struggle again to take a shower. I say 'struggle' as it is difficult and painful to get myself into and out of the bath-tub. I take it very carefully for fear of falling. After I emerge from the bathroom, I put together my standard breakfast--bran flakes, a chopped-up apple, a few blueberries, and, of course, milk. A slice of bread, butter, and Marmite. Pistachios. Then at the table, I bring up Spelling Bee on my I-Pad, and from then on eating is combined with guessing words. And, when I give up, as I usually do, it's into Wordle, which I got on the second line today--triumph.

Clear away and wash the few breakfast dishes, and then sit down to write this, with the time at 11.55am. So I have nearly dealt with the morning.

Just a word about how I get around. We have come to call it 'the gorilla walk.' I bend over from the waist, which bends my legs at the knee, and I let my arms dangle down to about knee level.

I will now adopt the 'gorilla walk' position and see how many steps I can take around the apartment.

Seventy four--but over the last ten steps my left leg became increasingly painful, and it is still very painful now I have sat down. So the 'gorilla walk' does not seem to give me any possibility of going out into the outside world.

Now to the newspaper--The Guardian on Saturday, a big thick bundle of reading, and as usual a focus in part on the LBGT community.

Friday June 9

 As I sit here, trying to type, I have pain in my left buttock. In various positions, I have acute pain, even here moving my position a bit on the chair. The painkillers I am taking do not seem to have any effect in reducing the pain--maybe they do, and, if I did not take them, the pain would be much worse. 

Joan had a Zoom call this morning, and I retired to the bedroom, but I could not find any way to lie down on the bed without creating unbearable pain. The only way I can walk around is by doubling over, which makes me a strange sight.

I am in despair, how the future is going to work out. I cannot see how I could get into an plane to fly back to Washington. I suppose we can summon up a wheel chair, and Joan can roll both our cases, piling other things on my lap...

Thursday June 8

 Joan off again early to Canary Wharf. I went back to bed at about 7.30 and dragged myself out again at about 8.30 to begin the difficult struggle of making my coffee, going to the bathroom and showering, dressing, and having my breakfast. All at a very slow and difficult pace as I coped with the pain. The slowness and difficulty in movement meant that it took until about 10.45 or longer before I could settle down. 

I got Wordle and Genius on Spelling Bee, but on the latter, I  cheated  to get the pangram, which was so obvious I could have kicked myself for failing to see it.

The doctor sent me a web-site for piriformis exercises: excellent video, which prompted me to get down on the floor and try them. No indication whatsoever that that they had a beneficial effect.

It occurs to me that if I am still like this when I fly home, I will have to have a wheelchair at the airport....

4.50pm. The day proceeded like yesterday--some reading, some television, some tries at walking around the apartment...

Joan just come in after doing the shopping...going to quit.

Wednesday June 7th

 Joan is off on a get-together of the EBRD tribunal in Canary Wharf: she left sometime before 8.00am. We have been messaging a bit--some of it about the business of getting an MRI appointment. 

I sent e-mails to the doctor's office, and then a short time ago I received an e-mail from a hospital in St. John's Wood offering me an appointment on June 13 at 13-00. I called and accepted the appointment.

Apart from these e-mail exchanges, I have had to fill my time with the usual assortment of puzzles--Genius in Spelling Bee: failure in Wordle--sessions of reading ( the book is called 'The Human Mind-A Brief Tour of Everything We Know'), a bit of TV, Guardian crosswords on-line, and the occasional attempt to walk around, which I cannot do without quite a bit of pain, unless I half double over, leaning forward at the waist.

I know I look ridiculous in that posture, and I would not appear like that in public. Any straightforward walking soon has to stop as the pain increases.

4.10pm--been watching some anodyne TV....

(Good word 'anodyne'...my OED says 'not likely to cause a offense or disagreement and somewhat dull" Yes, that does describe them..though 'dull' is a bit more critical than the programs deserve. Merriam Webster cannot make up its mind: 'serving to alleviate pain', 'not likely to offend or arouse tensions--innocuous' But then it sees it as a noun--but 'an anodyne' sounds wrong--"something that soothes, calms, or comforts')

You can see that I will do all sorts of silly things to fill in my lonely time.

I have also tried to do a set of exercises that I found on the Web that are supposed to relieve sciatica. Great struggle on the floor. Not sure they helped in any way... 

On through the evening, with my meal already prepared by Joan.  Lots of television.

Joan arrived back at about 9.30pm..now she is beside me at her computer on the kitchen counter, sorting out some work that has to be done...

The day nears its end.

Tuesday June 6

 Yesterday we went to see a doctor about my back/leg condition. He was slightly encouraging--these things usually correct themselves, but he did say I needed a scan--an MRI--to check that none of my discs were in bad shape. He also prescribed two drugs--one of which--an anti--inflammatory--I took this morning, the other has to be picked up from the pharmacy after 4.00pm.

The one I took this morning seems to have done nothing to alleviate the pain. I have just done a short test walk outside, and within thirty yards I was in acute discomfort and needed to bend down and tie my lace..or pretend to.

I am awaiting a call from the doctor's office to tell me about my appointment for the scan...there may be some problem with my pacemaker. We have just sent the office a photo of my pacemaker card, which has some information about MRIs.

Monday June 5

It is nearly 3.00pm.  I am sitting in front of my Mac at the round table in the flat and Joan is sitting opposite me, working on her laptop. 

Today I had pain from the get-go, not so much as I walked around the flat; but, when I set out to walk to the Library, the pain increased in my back and down my leg, and at times I thought I would not be able to get there...but I did, with a couple of times bending down and pretending to be tying my shoelaces, which seems to allow me to walk another 50 yards, before the shoe-tying needs to be repeated.

I went to the Library because Joan had a zoom call scheduled for about an hour from 10.00am

So nice in the Kensington Library...found an interesting book, a comfortable chair,  and I read on and off for an hour or so. The Library is a huge, high-ceilinged hall with a maze of book-shelves, and a main walkway down through the middle. At the far end, there is a place where little children gather and play and sing: and, as I sat there reading, there was a constant procession of women pushing little kids past me in strollers, or sometimes the toddlers were walking. Occasionally the pusher of the stroller looked like the mother of the child, but much more often it was middle-aged nanny, or a younger au-pair girl. Obviously lots of working mothers in this area.

The return from the Library was agonizing, and at one time I thought I couldn't make it--except perhaps by crawling--but I did, and as soon as I got in we set in motion a contact for an appointment at an orthopaedic clinic, and we were able to get one today at 7.30 this evening. Joan went across the street and cancelled the appointment with the physiotherapist that I had made for Wednesday afternoon.

I have to get this sorted out....

Sunday June 3--Osterley House

 Hoping my back and leg problem would allow it, we set out this morning to visit Osterley House, a National Trust property. It is, as the cliche has it,  a 'Stately Home,' built in the second half of the seventeenth century, and its interior, to quote the guidebook, 'is one of the finest and most complete by Robert Adams still in existence.'

It was AMAZING--incredible, extraordinary. Cannot begin to describe it. Google it and look at the pictures.

We needed two buses to get there, changing in Hammersmith. After the buses, we had quite a long and--for me--a taxing walk to Osterley Park. For the final stretch to the house we were able to take a small electric shuttle bus. After the house tour, Joan went through the gardens while I sat in the cafe area to reduce the amount of walking I did. To get back, we took the shuttle bus again, followed by a long stretch of walking--in the wrong direction. 

We were expecting to get to the Tube station, and when we seemed to be nowhere near it we asked someone the way: he told us we should turn back. He explained the route we needed, and in fifteen minutes we were on the platform at the station when we heard an announcement that the Circle line, to which we wanted to transfer after a couple of stations, was not running, and we would have to get a shuttle bus from Acton to get us to Hammersmith. So, after three stops on the Piccadilly line, we were jammed in the shuttle bus for about twenty minutes, scarcely able to move. 

From Hammersmith, we took the usual 9 bus to get us back to Kensington High Street. 

My left leg and lower back varied from uncomfortable to painful, and sometimes--for short stretches--the discomfort eased. Occasionally, I had to stop and spend a little time bending over and touching my left foot, which seems to ease the discomfort. (I try to make it look as if I am tying my shoelace.)

Back home, I used the heating pad and followed it with a cold compress, and things seemed to calm down a bit. So much so that I thought we could take a short walk after our meal. We did--and after a brief, pain-free stretch--the leg and back pain returned, and the short distance we went (to try to get a gelato--but the line was far too long) proved quite difficult for me. 

But Osterley House was magnificent, and I do not regret the discomfort I endured to go there.

My worry is that I am not getting any better. The hot compresses and the exercises do not seem to be achieving anything. 

I see the physiotherapist again on Wednesday. I fear she will say that I need a spinal scan....