Another week gone by...nearly Christmas again!

Gross exaggeration of course, but somebody told me they saw a Christmas tree in one of the department stores today - now that IS gross. The retail trade gets worse every year...as soon as Easter is over and done with, they seem to start working on Christmas. Grrr....don't get me started...

Do you ever find that as you get older, you get more like your parents in some ways? I often have a laugh with my friends at the number of times our conversations turn to our aches and pains. "Gosh I sound just like Mum used to", I'll say in a horrified voice! I visited our local clinic on Thursday to ask a doctor about the continuing pain in my right hip. There are a dozen doctors at this clinic, and some of them tend to specialise in particular areas. My usual doctor is a lady who knows more about blood pressure and kidney disease than most GPs, so I go to her for my regular check-up. But this time I asked one of the girls at the front desk, who was the best person to consult about bones and joints. She told me, and I made an appointment to see him. When I entered his office, I told him why I had asked to see him in particular, and he laughed and said "Whenever people ask me to find out why they are aching, I tell them it's just part of getting old - happens to all of us!" Well, that is not what I wanted to hear. My problem was diagnosed as Bursitis about three years ago, and after rejecting painkiller tablets as an option, I chose to have acupuncture, and that was great, but worked out too expensive over a long period of time. A friend gave me a magnet mat to put under my hip in bed, and that worked a small miracle for the next year or so, but it seems to have lost its properties, as my pain has got worse in recent months. Can magnets be re-magnetised?

Doc. listened to all this, and got me to lie down while he lifted and stretched my legs in various directions. Then he pressed his fingers on a few points around my hips and when I said OUCH! he nodded knowingly. "The good news is that you don't have any arthritis in your hips. They are in excellent shape. But you've got bursitis" he said. "We don't know what causes it, and there is no cure. It usually goes away of its own accord". "Well, mine has come back of its own accord, and is so bad at night I'm having trouble sleeping", I said. He explained the options to deal with it: anti-inflamm. drugs, acupuncture, or massage. As I have remedial massage fortnightly, he suggested that I ask the person looking after me to concentrate on the region of the bursa, and said that it may help.

At least my suffering is confined to night time. I'm thankful for this when I see my elderly home care clients, struggling to get around on walking frames and sticks. I took one of them shopping on Wednesday. She is 97 years old and has a sister who is 99!! They live alone in separate houses, but occasionally take a taxi to visit each other for a few hours. I parked my car in the disabled car park area and we spent the next two hours in the small shopping arcade in our suburb. The first half hour was in the supermarket where my client made her way slowly up and down the aisles having a good look, as she hadn't been in a supermarket for about a year. Then we visited some of the other shops, or if she couldn't get into them with her walking frame, she waited outside while I dived in and bought what she wanted. We finally sat down for a cup of coffee, and she said that although she was now exhausted, she had thoroughly enjoyed her outing. I often wonder what life will be like for me if I get to her age. The people who lived through two world wars and the great depression have suffered far more than the Baby Boomers and younger generations could possibly imagine. I am sure that those years must have had an adverse effect on their long term health. Is my generation's preoccupation with health going to make any discernible difference to our old age? Time alone will tell.