South (Day 3601)

First on the list today was a trip to the merchants to pick up some stuff, then along to the GP for a medication review. She agreed that my meds need to stay more or less the same given my continuing symptoms. She then asked if I had been scanned yet. I explained to her the saga of my MRI scan and that I haven't heard anything about it, and I feel like I have dropped through the cracks in the system. She managed to find the scan report somewhere in the computer records and gave me a copy, and read through the results with me. I have some degenerative changes in the lower lumbar region. When she read that she looked me up and down and waved her hands at me in a "well you are a 50 odd year old plumber this is to be expected" sort of way. At the L4/L5 level there is some indication of the possibility of nerve irritation of the left side never roots. I'm not generally bothered by pain on my left side, but it looks like I might be. At the L5/S1 level there is a disc herniation which is compressing the right S1 nerve root. That is fairly uncomfortable most of the time.
It is good to know what is wrong with my back and what is causing me pain. The doc said she would rattle some cages to see why I have heard nothing since the scan.
Once out of the Doc's I made my way about as far south as it is possible to get in Orkney to do a bit more work on a house renovation. Squeezing into the cupboard below a Belfast sink so I could connect the tap behind the sink probably wasn't the best thing to be doing this morning, but needs must. Annoyingly after fitting the tap I found that the second hand sink is leaking and needs the waste replaced. It isn't something I keep in the van, so I will need to go back again. I got the loo fitted, and despite being second hand everything worked as it should. I first fixed pipework for the basin ahead of the joiner finishing off the plasterboarding of the wall behind the sink, then cleared up and headed north. On the way home I popped in to do a little job that has been on the list for a while.
Sigyn was delighted to have me home this afternoon. She always seems to greet me more enthusiastically when she knows my beautiful wife is away on another top secret mission...