Dear LPG,

We are all getting older and, now that I am in my eighth decade on this planet, my health is what I would describe as ‘complicated’, although I am more than aware that I have to count myself relatively lucky in comparison to many others in my age group.  

One day not so long ago I woke up with a new pain in my leg which appeared to have developed overnight, and not wanting it to really take hold, I decided to make an appointment to see my doctor and get it sorted strait away.

Now, I know that when it comes to making a same-day appointment with one’s GP these days, it is the same for most of us  Eight 8 o’clock is the all-important time of the morning when you need to either have your telephone at the ready or be in the queue at the surgery to have any hope of success.   I have often tried to phone but if you are a minute or two too early you get that recording telling you that the surgery is not yet open, and the minute you try again the phone is engaged, or you hold on, while listening to a continued ringing tone, for the best part of half an hour before you get the continuous tone that indicates that the call has been lost to you.

So, in spite of my hernia and bad leg I made the journey and while in the queue one of the doctors arrived for work and acknowledged a few of us as he passed along the queue with a pleasant nod. I made my appointment for later that morning and returned home for breakfast before setting out again just over an hour and three quarters later to be seen.

It happened that I saw the very same doctor who’s smile had made queuing that little bit more pleasant during my first visit and, as I entered his consultation room, his first comment was, ‘…but I saw you earlier, you must like walking.’   I did point out that it was not a matter of enjoyment, and in the light of the discomfort that walking with the hernia provoked and that it was a bad leg that had caused my need to see him in the first place, I thought the NHS was not treating me very well.  We then went on to discuss the problems I was having with my leg which he told me would be helped by resting it for a few days.

So, in order to be told that I needed to rest my bad leg, I needed to use it to make two visits to my doctor. 

I found the doctor’s observation interesting.

DP, Lee