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The ravages of old age kicking in

I'm getting on... 73 next month!

So far I've had a pretty good run with the only real medical issue I face being the effects of Parkinsons but I've come up with pretty adequate mitigations for most of those, so far.

However, yesterday I was feeling pretty sorry for myself for quite a while.

Imagine having what amounts to a desk-job but not being able to sit comfortably for any length of time.

No it wasn't a problem with my man-parts or the tail-end of my digestive system, it is sciatica, a really painful and annoying affliction that has, in the past, been simply an annoyance from time to time.

Yesterday however, I was not a happy camper at all.

When the sciatic nerve gets trapped or compromised in some way the result is really bad referred pain, in my case -- all the way from my right buttock to my lower calf.

This makes even the simplest task involving bending or sitting an excruciating experience.

Fortunately, perhaps because I rarely use them, painkillers such as Paracetamol do a good job of taking the edge off the pain but it still nags and is ever-present while such attacks are in effect.

However, going for a good walk tends to do the trick so there I was, taking a 5Km walk at 3am yesterday morning. Clearly this is not normal behaviour because the police drove past me twice within a period of a few minutes and were probably tossing up whether to stop and search me.

After a few Kms, as if by magic, the pain disappears and I'm right as rain again -- able to run, bend over, stretch and do whatever, without the slightest twinge.

Unfortunately, during the night, while I sleep, something happens inside and by morning the pain is back.

Clearly I need to learn to sleep while standing up.

As if this wasn't enough to remind me that I'm getting past by best-by date, I had to do some soldering the other day, for the first time in quite a while.

What a disaster that turned out to be.

Generally, I no longer do stuff that requires fine motor control -- because I've been robbed of that ability but on this occasion I had no alternative but to solder three fine wires together.

A job that would once have taken me but a few seconds took ages -- because I realised, once I started, that my hands really do shake a lot these days. In the end I had to rig up some supports against which I could rest my hands, while securing the wires in close proximity with some Blutak.

This all came as a bit of a shock... after a week or so of effortless long walks in the blazing summer heat had me thinking that old-age was just a myth.

Ah well, never mind... no matter how bad life is it's still better than the alternative, at least from where I'm sitting (owch) right now :-)

Days like the past few remind me why I close each column with this little reminder...

Carpe Diem folks!

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