nothing burger…
28 Thursday Aug 2025
Tag Archives: knees
not the hand!!!
03 Monday Feb 2025
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Fucking hell. Booked blood test appointments for both me and Peter about ten days ago, of course not knowing that on this particular day, and only for the time we’d be having to get from the house to the Health Centre, it would be totally bucketing down like fuckity. Got there totally soaked through and exhausted (had to get by with only one crutch so I could carry the umbrella) and then OF COURSE the nurse couldn’t find a vein. So eventually I got it IN THE HAND. Damn that hurts.
Walked out of the centre and it was all blue skies and I mean wtf. But whatever. Went for breakfast, came home and thought… well that’s Monday done (it was only 11.00 am). Turns out it wasn’t done, but there was no way I was going out again. One thing this one crutch plus umbrella experiment proved is that I really do need both crutches to walk outside. I mean, yes I can walk without crutches (like I do at home) and even outside with just one (like today) but the result of walking without proper support is that it fucks me up. At home I only have to get from one room to the next one, outside the streets are uneven, and I’m obviously walking for a longer stretch. And it really hurts.
Because while it also hurts at home, and I end up walking like a penguin, it only hurts from the living room to the bathroom, or wherever. Not the same as hurting for half an hour or more on a walk that should only take ten minutes. Avoiding the penguin walk also means I am able to walk correctly and upright and avoid doing even more damage to by back, hip and all those other joints. So… crutches it is. For the foreseeable…
I’m walking here!
28 Monday Oct 2024
As I become more and more mobility challenged oh boy am I developing not only a lot of extra empathy for people even more challenged than me but I am also not afraid to let stupid and selfish able-bodied assholes know just how stupid and selfish they are being. I don’t know why. Usually I avoid confrontation like it was Covid, but maybe because this is still relatively new for me I still don’t quite personally identify with being “disabled” so it feels like I’m standing up for others? Whatever. This is what has been happening.
I walk down the street, slowly and painfully hobbling along with my crutches, clearly not walking with any ease of motion. And then… PEOPLE GET IN MY WAY. By this I mean a group of people will be walking up a street and somehow expect me to move over for them… or on one of our many narrow sidewalks here where only one and half people can actually walk abreast, some of them think I’m the one who is going to step out into oncoming traffic to let them by. What the fuck is wrong with these people?? I’m hobbling. I’m using two crutches. Going very slowly. And well, since I’m kinda new at this game, it totally pisses me off because I haven’t yet got to the point of accepting this and, frankly, I don’t plan to.
So what do I do? Well, I simply stand my ground. I’m not moving out of the way for fucking anybody. And the result is, of course, they have to move. Good. They have perfectly functional limbs. I guess I’m also thinking that I am taking a stance for all of us who can’t get around so easily… to make other people aware that they should be more aware. And just basically be polite.
The other issue here is on our narrow one-way streets in the centre, many of which have signs posted saying PRIORITY PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS. For the most part cars and taxis expect people to huddle in doorways to let them pass as there is usually no sidewalk to speak of. Twice this past week this happened to me and I was like… what the fuck is wrong with you?? You’re sitting comfortably in a car, you are coming up a pedestrian prioritised street, you see someone hobbling along on crutches and YOU EXPECT THEM TO PAINFULLY CLIMB ONTO A NARROW CURB AND HUDDLE IN A DOORWAY FOR YOU?? Well fuck that shit. Both times this happened I stood my ground. The cars approached when I was already half-way down the street but they just kept coming even though there were several other people walking in the street (and diving into doorways). Not me. I stood in the middle of the street and motioned that they had to back up to the square (because they shouldn’t have entered the street in the first place if they saw pedestrians). And both times I got so much support from onlookers saying “you tell ’em”, “take your time señora”, “they are the ones in the wrong”… which was quite uplifting.
So expect me to be doing my Ratso Rizzo thing all over town for the foreseeable. I’m walking here!
got the call!
18 Friday Oct 2024
Well today took a sudden turn! I had planned to go with Peter to see Nice GP because he does better with an interpreter and also because I wanted to ask her what the heck was going on with the “priority” request she made for me to see a traumatologist (made almost a month ago). Then early this morning my phone rang. At first I wasn’t going to answer it because it was an unknown number then I picked it up… and omg I’m so glad I did. It was the Traumatology Dept calling to say I have an appointment NEXT MONDAY. Like wow.
First thing I did was cancel Peter’s appointment. Okay, not really, I moved it to two weeks from now. Why? Well organising medical appointments has become both simpler and more difficult these days as the ease of being able to book some things online is thwarted by long waiting times. For example, the first appt Peter could get is in two weeks, which is fine because it’s nothing urgent, just getting his blood test results and checking his bp meds. And since I go with him the end of October works better for both of us as that’s when I need to ask the doc about my next blood test and also update my bp meds, so then we can do it all at once.
One less trip to the (maskless) health centre is always a good thing. Especially as Peter was already there yesterday to get his Covid-Flu booster (yay!) and I should be getting mine next week. And now I also have this new appointment on Monday. At first I was worried I might get the same awful traumatologist as before but it’s at a different health centre, so hopefully not. Last time they asked me if I wanted my appointment at Fleming or Marqués de Paradas and I chose the latter as it’s five minutes from my house. I’m starting to think that was a big mistake as both the Evil Endo and Dismissive Traumatologist appts took place there. This time I wasn’t given a choice so fuck convenience. Fleming is about a 40 minute bus ride from my place, but the bus stop is on the corner so that’s okay (the trusty 32 bus, which we may be losing to make Sevilla more TOURIST FRIENDLY).
Anyhow, I feel like I only have this one shot left to get the help I actually need. So I will be arming myself with the entire timeline of THE KNEE(S) SAGA, which began back in May 2023 (though I’d been having knee issues for years, this was the first time it affected my ability to walk).
May 2023 – sudden acute pain in left knee which continued to get worse
July 2023 – X-ray both knees
July 2023 – GP request for MRI (had to plead, wasn’t taken seriously)
Sept 2023 – MRI on left knee (though by this time right knee pain was much more severe)
Oct 2023 – Emergency hospital visit for severe right knee pain, was told that as there is osteoarthritis in left knee then obviously it’s in the right one too (ER doctor looked at previous x-ray not MRI), said I did not have a Bakers cyst, refused to do any further testing – was sent home with a prescription for Nolatil, a drug banned in 20 countries.
Oct 2023 – Started using a cane, could no longer walk without it
April 2024 – Appt with Traumatologist who admits I have Bakers cysts behind both knees but won’t recommend physiotherapy and refuses my request for an MRI on the right knee, tells me to ride a bike, lose weight and prescribes more drugs
June 2024 – GP (a new one) requests an MRI on right knee
August 2024 – Unable to walk anymore without using crutches, pain unbearable, at best I can shuffle-walk
Sept 2024 – MRI on right knee
Sept 2024 – GP requests appt with Traumatologist (again)
Oct 2024 – I guess we’ll find out
Meanwhile I have not been able to work since July and, aside from the physical and emotional stress (I miss my life!), I am also under a lot of financial stress wondering how I am going to make ends meet. Especially as this doesn’t look like there’s a quick solution, even if I start getting proper treatment asap.
Anyhow! One step at a time, so to speak. At the moment it all hangs on the Monday appointment and whether I get a sympathetic and not-too-overworked doctor who actually wants to help me. Let’s hope so. I’m a bit annoyed with myself for not being a better patient advocate for myself all this time but sometimes it’s really hard to stand up for yourself when you’re in pain and being told nothing is really wrong and it’s all because you’re old and fat and otherwise being dismissed as not worth their time. But now I’m angry as fuck. And I really need Monday to work. Wish me luck.
sled was right!
24 Tuesday Sep 2024
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Back in mid-August when I suddenly couldn’t walk anymore without using crutches Kate @sledpress said it sounded like a torn meniscus and… guess what? She was right. Well, there are a few other things thrown into the mess, but this seems to be the biggie. And it was the reason that yesterday my GP pushed for another traumatologist appt ASAP. Of course I’m happy that this is finally being taken seriously, but it’s kind of a year late as my right knee was clearly the one with serious issues as far back as summer 2023. Instead I got the first MRI done on the left knee Sept 2023 (booked the previous June) and – until now – have been told that the right knee pain was because I am old and fat. Remember when I went to emergency last October and then had that disastrous appointment with the dismissive traumatologist? Anyhow, now I wait again. Meanwhile, can’t work, can’t walk… though I’m still getting out for a daily hobble and I’m also keeping up with my chair workouts.
If any of you understand DOCTOR here is the translated report of last week’s MRI…
casa azahar 