Just went to the doctors to pick up a letter the doc said he’d write so that I could send it to the train company in the hopes they’ll refund the tickets for a trip to Wales I had planned, but had to cancel because of the state of my knee. ‘Pick it up early next week’ he said. So I thought well, I’ll leave it until Wednesday to make sure it’s done.
Went in this evening – explained to the receptionist. She looked in the file. ‘I’m sorry, it’s not here.’
‘He did say I should pick it up early in the week.’
‘Well it’s only Wednesday now love.’
‘Well to my mind early in the week means Monday or Tuesday, and I left it until today just to make sure it was done.’
‘Well it depends how you look at it really, doesn’t it love? Early in the week could mean Wednesday too.’
‘No, not really. I’d call that midweek.’
‘Oh well, nothing I can do I’m afraid – it’s not here.’
‘Well could you at least check my notes to see if he’s made a note to do it?’
‘Well … I don’t know if …’ Sees the steam coming out of my ears, ‘Well, I’ll have a look … Oh, well it says here it was done yesterday. Thing is the secretaries have all gone home now and perhaps they haven’t typed it yet. The only thing I can suggest is that you call and ask for Dr Dashes secretary, Debbie, tomorrow, and she’ll be able to tell you exactly what’s happened to it.’
So off I go, fuming and steaming, not to mention limping, only to get home and find a letter on the mat addressed to me. Open it and what do you think is inside? The letter from the doctor.
Soooo thoughtful of the secretary to realise that she’s writing a letter about someone with a very swollen and painful knee, and wouldn’t it be a kindness to post it? Such a pity the doctor wasn’t equally thoughtful … as he’d told me to pick it up.
There, feel better for the rant!
More importantly my knee is also finally on the mend – I think the steroid injection, however painful it was at the time, has really done the trick.
Pollyanna Penguin's RA Blog 
Hey, PP. Ran across your blog. Have been recently diagnosed with RA and started on Methotrexate about a month ago. (My blog http://carlascorner.wordpress.com.) Am having hip replacement surgery in about 10 days. Thanks for sharing your experiences with the rest of us. I live in Dallas, Texas, but my husband and I visit London a couple of times a year. As much as I love the trips, I’m wondering if I’ll be able to make them for much longer. London is definitely a walking city and all the steps and stairs will be very challenging for me.
Good luck with everything. I’ll check in on you occasionally to see how things are going.