Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I have rather struggled for the past few days with a pain in my left arm that has made work difficult and uncomfortable.

It made me think about the nature of my work on a very practical level, about my connection to my keyboard, and the interface between my mind, my hands and my computer.

I wrote about this on Friday, and the pain has meant that I have not been able to do as much writing as I would have liked since.

Today, I am off to see my osteopath.

He is a lovely man and an extremely talented bone-mage, and I am inordinately fond of him. He is clever and funny and a bit of a polymath, and he rather reminds me of the husband.

I have been very lucky over the years to have developed good relationships with the professionals who look after me. My doctor is a wonderful man, who has acted well above and beyond the call of duty, and has seen me through some very difficult times, over the years, with patience and genuine caring. We have been together since 1993. 

My osteopath was recommended to me by another doctor after I had my second daughter in 1992, and I have been seeing him professionally ever since, not continuously, but certainly regularly; he has also become a good friend of the husband, and we see him and his wife socially from time to time. 

I realise it seems like an entirely different sort of relationship, but many of you will completely understand why it’s an important one. I first met my hairdresser in 1978 when he was an apprentice and I needed a haircut before I started at my new school. He hasn’t performed every haircut over the past 34 years, but he’s certainly cut yards and yards of my hair and given me some of my favourite styles. We’ve also chewed an awful lot of fat together, because that’s what us girls do with our hairdressers.

I’m also going to mention my dentist. I bloody love my dentist, even though she and I have only been together for a few years. I am terrified of dentists, for all sorts of reasons that are too complicated to go into, but which have nothing to do with the usual fears about pain and whatnot; ironically, I also require an awful lot of dental treatment. My dentist is endlessly patient and reassuring, and has eased my situation no end in the short time she’s been working for me. She has done more for me than all the other dentists I have had put together.

So, I’m off to see my osteopath this afternoon, and I trust that he will be able to sort out my problem, as he always does, and I’ll be back at full strength in no time. Until then, I hope you’ll forgive the slightly less regular blogging, and I promise to catch up soon, probably with a good old snark that I’m saving up for best.