Interesting appointment

I had an interesting week last week, following my visit to the GP a couple of weeks ago. He referred me back to Neurology because the hypersensitivity and muscular jerking have become worse over the past year or two. Although there is some jerking on the left, it is much worse on the right, which is where the hypersensitivity seems to be confined to.

Last time I saw the Neurologist was a couple of years ago, when I had MRI scans and was referred to a Speech Therapist. As nothing significant showed up in any of the tests that were done, things were left there, which is exactly what should have happened. There were two relatively minor things that showed up tests. The first was elevated levels on the ESR test. This is a non-specific indicator of inflammation, that has been consistently high for the past eleven years at least. It is a lot lower than it was back then, which I count as a good thing. The second was a minor blip in the right-hand cerebral cortex. Nothing particularly significant at all. I have had blips show up in CT and/or MRI scans in the past that have later vanished. I did get to see what my brain looks like on an MRI scan though, something which I found fascinating.




Given that things have gotten worse, the neurologist wants to double-check things and see whether there is anything obvious going on. I was meant to have an MRI scan on Monday, but due to a voice-stealing cold I wasn't well enough to go, so have an appointment on Friday instead. He also mentioned nerve conductivity tests on all limbs, which I am not keen on as a lot of the time even the lightest touch on my skin is painful. He's suggested a couple of other tests and asked me if I wanted to try some physio, but was cautious because of my pain levels.

I figure that I am confident enough to tell a physio if they try to push too hard, so I told my neurologist that I was gobby enough to deal with an over-enthusiastic physio and that I would try anything that may help. With any luck the next twelve months will see an improvement.

Is this the world's strangest motivation to exercise?

This is going to sound a little odd, so bare with me, I promise I will explain myself. As anyone who has known me for a while can testify, I am terrified of spiders. I don't mean that I shriek like a baby and squash the poor little arachnid, I mean I scream loud enough to wake the dead. Since I am fairly certain that none of us want zombies walking the earth, I would like to request that all spiders remain outside and do not enter my home.

Unfortunately at 4:00 am this morning, one particular spider decided that it did not want to stick with this restriction. My husband and I were sitting in the living room on the sofa, as lying down was - and is - causing quite a lot of pain around my rib cage. I glanced down at the floor, impersonated a boiling kettle and attempted to exit the room vertically, via the ceiling. It would appear that although me shoving the pouffe across the floor as I attempted to move my legs did cause the invader to pause momentarily, but it soon resumed the attack.

I promise that I am not exaggerating; it was the size of the palm of my hand. I am including the legs in that size estimation as, to me, they are the worst part of the spider. There is a strong possibility that the spiders do have a 'terrify her to death' contract out on me. There have been times in the past when it should not have been possible for any spider to confront me, but... Some eighteen years ago I was walking across a car park in West Bromwich with my mom after checking out a wedding dress shop - in the days before I got my wheels.The rain was torrential; I mean it was so strong that it was bouncing a good three inches off the floor when it hit. We were around a third of the way across the car park when something made me look down; a huge spider was sitting on the car park, in this terrible rain, giving me the evil eye. It is no exaggeration to say that I was both petrified and astounded to see this hairy-legged critter there.

Believe it or not, I am actually a lot better than I used to be. I once missed college because I couldn't get up the stairs to get showered or dressed, I have called friends round to dispose of them and once refused to sleep in my bedroom for several weeks because my dad had squashed a spider on the ceiling. To be fair that had left a spider-gut stain that I just couldn't cope with. I slept in one of the spare bedrooms until dad had disinfected and re-painted the ceiling. Yes, I am full-on phobic rather than a wee bit unnerved by them.

Yet there is something I am more afraid of than spiders; daddy long-legs (crane flies). Those things have lead to some far more dramatic room exits than the spiders. I once ran out of a meeting with senior managers at the DWP, back when I worked there, because a crane fly was dangly-legging its way round the room. Someone did eventually take pity and remove it, but not before everyone had laughed themselves silly.

Oddly this does have something to do with exercise and mobility. As you have probably guessed, it is a little difficult to scream like a siren and run out of the room when you can barely move. Add to that, I am certainly not sitting in my wheelchair all day, as my butt tends to go numb after a while. So, seeing that huge, monstrous beastie has given me motivation to carry on with my physio exercises in the hope that mobility will improve somewhat. 

I am continuing to be very careful about what I do and making sure that I don't go overboard with the physio. I will be honest and confess that I haven't yet started my yoga as I can't find the DVD. Yes, I know, bit of a lame excuse really as there are, no doubt, hundreds of low impact yoga videos on the internet. I do want to be careful though, hence the desire to stick with the DVD that JJ - the physio at my GP practice - recommended.

I hope that you are getting on with whatever challenges have cropped up in your life lately - and more than that - I hope that you are coping better with your fears than I am with my arachnophobia.