HI, I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas. I can't believe it's over for another year.

I don't want to bore you with all the details, but if I explain a little bit about what's going on with me, it might become clearer. As well as having back problems, I also have Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy which is a chronic pain condition. This developed after elbow surgery, and now affects my left arm/hand. Part of the RSD is swelling, temperature changes, intense pain etc. I've lost a bit of feeling in my fingers so I have to be careful when I pick things up. I've dropped many a kettle, or hot dishes from the oven, so now I get someone else to do it for me. Too many burns is not good! The RSD has recently spread to my legs and I'm struggling right now with walking etc. I've had the disc problems for over a year now.

The surgery hasn't relieved much, if any, of my leg pain brought about by the crumbled disc, so I'm starting Physiotherapy in a few weeks to see if they can make any difference. I see surgeon after that and then who knows?! Anyway, enough of the boring stuff!

I can't believe the hospital "misplaced" you - how could they? You're 6'5 and someone that height isn't easy to miss. It's not good to forget about your patients.

You're right, I don't have to worry about prescription costs,
which is just as well, or I'd be skint by now. Although our healthcare system sometimes gets a bad press (which is justified at times), by and large the treatment and care is good. I find the older the Surgeon/Consultant is, the more like God they think they are. There's no denying they know their stuff, but I've come across 2 or 3 who are sadly lacking in the bedside manner.

I'm sorry you're in so much pain - is there nothing else they can give you if you don't want morphine (apart from Bacardi). It's not healthy to have such little sleep, but I do know how you feel. I call it the "nightshift feeling" - I used to work nightshift and hardly slept. After 2 or 3 days of that, your head feels like cotton wool and the sick feeling is horrible. If surgery isn't on the cards, surely they could do something else for you?

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit here. Loch Ness and that part of the country in general is lovely. I visited there a few years ago, but sadly Nessie was unavailable that day. Sometimes the accent is a bit hard to understand - you have to "tune in" to that wavelength. Would you come here again?

Anyway, I've written a book and your eyes are probably rolling in your head by now. Talk to you soon. Take care.