21 August 2006

Today has been a mixed day. I went to see the rheumatologist. On the one hand, it has been the first step in sorting out what on earth is wrong. On the other hand, Dr Cheung didn’t have an opinion on what is wrong. So, it’s swings and roundabouts I guess.

He had me squat down/stand up. After about 4 or 5 I was really feeling it. He checked out the reflexes in my legs, which all seemed fine and also the basic strength – pushing against his hands, laying flat lifting legs up, laying flat lifting up against his hand pressing down. That was all fine, other than as I got my legs up to about 45 degrees I had cramp developing in my thighs.

He sent me for a couple of blood tests, including lactic acid – I mentioned to him (though he may have been thinking about it anyway) that I had heard that build up of lactic acid in muscles can harm physical performance.

He’s also sending me for an EMG test. At the moment I have no clue as to what it is. It’ll be an Electro something or other, and I have to go to Kings to have it done, so I guess that suggests it’s fairly specialised.

He mentioned that it’s possible they may never find a cause (Great. Cheers.), but I’m hopeful that’s not going to be the case.

If these tests show nothing, then a muscle biopsy is another possibility, but he wants to rule out more simple things before invasive procedures. Not sure what sort of things a muscle biopsy might show, but I’m guessing that biopsies are usually for some form of cancer, but then having had no real contact with that sort of thing in the past, I’m definitely getting ahead of myself in thinking down those lines.

It was nice having dad come with me. I didn’t really need my hand holding (well, I’m 44 ffs!) but it was nice to have someone to talk to. And in terms of sitting chewing the fat, killing time whilst waiting to see the doctor, spending time with my dad takes some beating.