PERHAPS NOT A POST FOR THE SQUEAMISH.

Well this is all very strange - after yesterday's mystery that was the spacing of the poems (not even Husband dearest could figure out what I'd done),today I came to do this post, clicked on 'new post' (fine so far) only to discover that the font had been changed AND the 'font option' button along with the 'colour option' button .... gone. Erm, stranger and stranger.

Never mind!

Before I bring you this post proper, I must tell you of my latest discovery. Husband dearest (aided by work colleague M) came across this wonderful Christmas song which they chose to share on a certain Mad Priest's blog as he has a series of posts called 'OH NO, NO - IT'S HO-HO-PHOBIA' in which he deals with such things. You must make time to visit though be warned it's one of those totally annoying songs that, once heard, you'll be humming it all day - for Husband dearest there is NO ESCAPE, he has me singing it at home and M singing it at work. So to hear the wonderful DOMINICK THE DONKEY, simply click HERE to visit, you won't be sorry you did.

Well, yesterday was certainly very frustrating,not one of my better days, what with the computer not doing what it was told, I hate it when things go wrong and I don't know why or how to put it right (aaggghhh) and then there was the little matter of Physiotherapy.

Yes, I started another series of therapy with the physioterrorists as I lovingly call them. Another one new to me, I had, once again, to go through all the details of why I was there, any other health problems I may (or may not) have/have had and the list of all medications I was taking before we could start anything of a practical nature.

To re-cap a little. Twenty-two years ago I fell down a hole (nothing huge you understand,it was only 4 inches or so deep)shattering my tibia and fibula (shin bone) which resulted in the insertion of an external fixator (imagine a metal bar attached with 4 metal pins to my lower leg)and several operations though I won't go into them. Anyway all of this left me unable to put my foot flat on the floor, I literally walked on my toes on my right foot which, as you can probably imagine, wasn't too comfortable but, hey, I got by .... for a while. Sad to say, the human body isn't designed to walk in such a way and all these years later I was beginning to have problems, big problems - basically my toe joints were crumbling so something had to be done.

Cue one orthopaedic surgeon who wished to replace said toe joints BUT (A) I was deemed to be too young and (B) with me still walking on my toes, any artificial joints would wear out extremely quickly. So instead he lengthened my Achilles Tendon in the hope that would help - it didn't - so onto, what was now, Plan C, an ankle fusion which basically involved the breaking of my ankle joint and the insertion of two bolts which would hold it in place. Oh what fun, that meant 3 months in plaster, not only over Christmas but also my 40th birthday but on the plus side I'd now set off shop/airport security scanners wherever I went.

Anyway,to cut an increasingly long story short, two years on I was diagnosed with Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome which in a nutshell means my brain is receiving incorrect pain messages with the slightest touch leaving me in terrible pain and so, several therapists and therapies later(I won't bore you with these), this latest therapist has decided that I should (1) consider acupuncture, (2) be referred to the hospital's pain management team in order to see if they can come up with anything and(3)have our G.P. make an appointment for me to see the 'bio-mechanic' team in order to have my walking gait analysed. Sounds like fun.

To those of you who have made it this far and are still reading - sorry to have bored you, very selfish of me I know but I had to get my thoughts down in writing.

To leave you on a, hopefully, happier note, on Monday Tina at THE CLEAN WHITE PAGE did me the honour of giving me an award, one of the conditions being I list seven things my fellow bloggers didn't know about me. So .......

1. As a child, every Christmas morning we'd go to my grandparents house and eat hotdogs for breakfast.

2. When I was little we had several hamsters, as well as our dog. One night Hammy (hardly an original name for a hamster I know) escaped and after making it up the stairs, got into my parents bedroom and terrified my mam.

3. I always wanted to be a bridesmaid but never was (sob).

4. I liked to buy Husband dearest a 'silly' Christmas present. One year it was a big jar of pickled onions (best not to ask) and then, another year, it was a black dolly which it seems he had wanted but never got as a small boy.

5. As a girl, I had every common childhood illness going apart from measles though I didn't get Mumps until I was 19.

6. Wanting to be traditional, on our wedding day I had 'SOMETHING OLD' (a bracelet given to me by my nana, the last Christmas present she ever bought me), 'SOMETHING NEW' (most of it actually. My dress, my shoes and so on), 'SOMETHING BORROWED' (my ma-in-law's pearl necklace)and 'SOMETHING BLUE' (the traditionally worn garter).

7. I literally look up to Husband dearest as at only 5 feet, 3 inches, I'm a full foot shorter than him.