Healthy or Not?

My leg is much better but it is still a bit discoloured however there is no sign of infection so that is good. The antibiotics leave a dreadful taste in my mouth so I will be happy to take the last of them on Friday.

I did something to my shoulder a few months ago – it is fine most of the time but if I move suddenly in the wrong direction, it hurts. My GP gave me a note to go to physio. The last time I went, a few years ago for osteoarthritis in my knee, I never really felt they did anything for me. After several weeks of visits, my knee was no better but no worse. Anyway, this time I got busy and hadn’t made an appointment.

Both Steve and James have been suggesting I see their chiropractor. Neither of my parents believed in chiropractors so I did not hold them in high esteem. On the basis that my shoulder was not getting better with me being careful to rest it and not wanting to go to physio again, I thought I would take a chance.

I went in on Monday and he did an exam and a set of ex-rays. While running his hands over my neck and back I got a few “oh, dear”, one “Oh Man” and a “WOW”. I assumed that was not a good sign. Sure enough, when I went back on Tuesday for a follow-up, Dr. Sandy doesn’t seem to think that I had any neck or spine areas that are working as they should. He showed me my ex-rays and even to my untrained eye, they did not look like the nice pictures on the wall!

He has used an interesting machine on my back and neck. It feels like a very gentle pneumatic drill – very strange but not uncomfortable. Apparently it vibrates at 12 revolutions per second because, Dr. Sandy says, 12 is the “magic” number.

With luck, after the proposed treatment plan, I won’t have shoulder pain and the muscles in my neck won’t be as tight. As this will all take 2-3 months, I guess I will just have to be patient and wait.

I don't like spiders

On Thursday afternoon, my leg was really itchy. I thought I had a bad mosquito bite although it had a black head rather than the regular red top. I was pretty sure I hadn’t scratched enough to make it bleed but it was possible.

Friday morning, at work, I realized that the itchy spot, rather than being the size of a loonie like Thursday evening, was now about 4” by 6”. I was showing a co-worker and she suggested that it might be a spider bite so we Googled it and it did look somewhat similar.

I called my GP but he is away for a few days so I decided to go to the walk-in clinic. The doctor there said that it did look like a spider bite but apparently they usually take about 48 hours to show up. Because I take Willow for a walk each morning up our back field, I probably got it there.

Anyway, the doctor couldn’t decide if I had an infection or an allergic reaction so I am on antibiotics as well as antihistamines. Now that I have 2 days of antibiotics and about 6 doses of Benadryl cream on me, I feel much better - my leg is not as itchy, it doesn’t feel as hot and it is not as swollen as it was but it does still look awful.