The Aword

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Spring/Summer Update

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Well, we finally seem to be having some summer at last. There€™s nothing to gladden the heart quite like pottering around in the garden: I like to do a little genteel pruning here and there, leaving the heavy work to hubby. I guess I am the gardening brain, with my love of plants whereas he (as an engineer) loves nothing better than to let rip with his hedge trimmers : in his view, plants should be tidy!

There is no doubt my arach is easier in the warmth, but not when it€™s humid; in fact my arthritis is often worst in wet summer weather than in the winter. I don€™t have the tolerance for heat though that I used to have..I felt tempted to join our garden toad in the pond on Friday!

I hope you are aware that there is a congress in France, organised by French group AARMOR, coming up at the beginning of July: 2 days with speakers from all over the world, the first day mostly about Tarlov cysts and the second concentrating on Arachnoiditis. I see from the programme that Donlin Long (who wrote about AA in 1992) and Prof Antonio Aldrete will be there (as well as your truly) as well as a number of other experts from various disciplines. Hopefully there will be lots of fruitful discussions and networking! There are lay people coming from all over as well. I€™m doing a talk on chronic pain and one on prognosis of arachnoiditis, the transcripts of which will be available on the website after the congress.

One of my other €˜projects€™ at the moment, as part of my job, is trying to improve pain awareness in health professionals working with people who used to be €˜elderly€™ and are now €˜older adults€™. (Is it just me or does that change in terminology seem a little pointless?). You may have heard recent discussions on the radio and be aware of the National Dementia Strategy: it is high time pain was properly recognised and treated. One of my biggest bugbears is the comment, €œWell, what do you expect at your age?€: just because someone isn€™t 21 any more shouldn€™t mean they should have to be in pain!

Have a good week, until my next post,

DocSarah