ALL I HAVE TO DO NOW IS WAIT...

... and hope that I’m not pregnant!!  All joking aside, all went well today at the Circle Clinic at Reading and we even had an unexpected Blipmeet with our lovely friend, Heidi, whom we hadn’t seen since last October!  We have been in touch, but not actually seen one another, so when she knew that we would be at The Circle today, she suggested we met up as it’s quite near to where she lives.

We had a long and leisurely lunch at The Hilton, which is just across the road and by the time we left, we were the only ones left in the restaurant, but we did have a lot to catch up on!  I took the beautiful floral display and the lemons in The Hilton.

As we had parked our car at The Hilton and walked over to the Clinic, Mr. HCB didn’t have his distinctive Tilley hat on and there is a shadow on his face in the selfie I took, but there always has to be a selfie when you have a Blipmeet, so this was the best I could do.

When we went into the clinic, I was prepared to be asked to wear a mask, but wasn’t asked to, which was good - but I did test negative this morning when I did my Covid test, so that was a relief.  

I then had to go for an x-ray and it was a good job I only had to walk a few feet from the cubicle to the x-ray room - as I obviously put the gown on with the opening at the back, but couldn’t do it up - so having had to take my jeans off, it would not have been a good sight for any passers-by!  Then - and if you are of a nervous disposition, look away and don’t read any more - I had to tuck the gown into the leg of  my knickers, so that it didn’t trail on the floor or get in the way when the x-rays were taken!!  Mmmm - great fun - and even better or worse when I had to turn round on the sort of high step without falling off!  

I thought it would make a fun shot to take the one with the poster about being pregnant, but don’t think that will be my main worry for a while.  

Mr. HCB was allowed to come into the consultation with me, and the young doctor named Dan - who didn’t give his second name - was very thorough and explained everything after showing us the x-ray, which even he admitted didn’t look good.  However, he said that hopefully, if I decided to have a knee replacement, and he didn’t think a steroid injection would help in my case, then once the initial settling down period was over after the operation, I should be out of pain as there was quite a lot of arthritis in the knee, so I opted for that route.  

Dan then asked me to remove my trousers so he could look at my knee, but there was no gown to wear so I just had to “get on with it” and oik myself up onto the couch, trouserless and shoeless!  At this point, I did wonder why I hadn’t worn a skirt, I must admit.  However, after examining my knee, he seemed satisfied that a knee replacement would “do the job” - so now I just have to wait for 3, 4 or 5 months.  I was hoping it might just be 3 months, but told him I was happy to go in if there was a cancellation.

When we got back out to the waiting area, Heidi and Mr. HCB had a cup of coffee and a chat while I filled in lots of forms.  Heidi did ask whether the “young” doctor had taken his “A” levels, which made me laugh, but as I said to her, one of the signs of getting old was when the teachers, policeman and doctors looked very young - she added pilots to that as she works as a Flight Attendant!  

We all laughed at one of the questions which was “Can you bend your neck back to look up at the ceiling?”  Of course, I had to physically do it to see if I could, which made a young lady sitting near us laugh too.  

So, a good day all round and we got to see our special friend, Heidi - who has promised to visit me when I go in for my operation, to save Mr. HCB driving up the motorway.

Continuing with words that are no longer used in the English language, I found this wonderful one;  I’m not sure that it could be said of me when I walked into the x-ray room but it certainly brings new  meaning to the expression "Does my b*m look big in this?"

CALLIPYGIAN - this word is something the likes of J-Lo and Beyoncé own. While it was used in the 1640s, it means to have a beautifully shaped buttocks.