Looking For Results

Surprise, surprise; I felt quite wide-awake this morning around 7.00am, a quite unusual occurrence and, after a further doze I’d managed to release myself from the enslaving duvet and, found my way into the shower, by 9.00am. The excitement never ceases in this household. A leisurely application of emollient cream to the lower limbs was followed by a little nap before venturing downstairs.

As my beloved, on her day off, was heading into town to meet Beth, my morning was spent in typical idle fashion, disrupted only by the exertion of popping a few baking potatoes into the oven. For lunch I prepared a lightly spiced combination of trout, peppers, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes, as a topping for the jacket potatoes.

The lunch was followed by a hasty departure for the District Hospital, chauffeured by ma belle amoureuse, where I had an appointment with Julie at the Chronic Fatigue Unit. The first part of the visit was spent catching up on my “progress” since the previous visit. The goals are always mutually agreed upon, to enable me with my “pacing” and the attention today turned to some concentration goals. I’d so love to be able to get back into reading so, I’ve to sort out a time or chapter scale (dependent on the book in question) for attempting to redevelop this skill. Alongside this, a side project is to get on with a little PDF publishing project, allotting specified short periods of activity to editing and re-arranging the volume from an accumulated wealth of material.

I have a little questionnaire to fill in before my next visit, the same sheets I had to complete before my first appointment; the questionnaire comprises Chalder Fatigue Scale, Rand Version SF-36 Physical Function, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

The only problem with the Chalder Fatigue Scale involves comparing how you’re feeling with “how you felt when you were last well”. As this condition goes back several years, the way I answer the questions will be rather different than if I had to compare my current problems with how I was six months ago, when I completed the first set of these questionnaires. Surely, this would provide more relevant information for the Department of Health, as they use the results to ascertain the performance of the Chronic Fatigue Service!