“So,” the doctor said, reading from her computer screen, “it says here you’re allergic to penicillin.” She looked at me thoughtfully. “Now, when it says allergic…?” “Red spots from the nave to the chaps,” I said, “human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!” “Ah.” The doctor consulted her screen again. “Well, luckily there’s another medication that will deal with the problem, so let’s just see… Ah. This one’s also got a red flag next to your name, and a note.” “What’s it say?” I asked, though I had a pretty good idea. She smiled encouragingly: “Extreme nausea.”
Fog drifts at the harbour
Which goes some way to explaining why I’m writing this on my phone, flat on my back, with a small bucket discreetly positioned under my bed. For some weeks now I’ve been aware that my left elbow was sore when I leaned on it – is ‘Zoom elbow’ a recognised medical condition yet? – but on Thursday last week matters escalated. It swelled up and became puffy and inflamed, so that it now looks like the elbow is encased in a large, distinctly overripe plum, and rather sore. The infection, for infection it is, seems to have spread several inches down my forearm, and up towards what I optimistically call my bicep, even if it more closely resembles a lump of soft cheese being strained through a muslin cloth.
Croaking Raven
The doctor very considerately prescribed a side dish of anti-nausea pills to go with the main course – the name of which escapes me, but it’s something like dioxyacetylene – and so far the bucket under the bed has thankfully remained dry. Though I’ve had some mauvais quarts d’heure lying on my back breathing slowly, or hunched over the sink trying to think happy thoughts. It’s too early for the swelling to’ve gone down yet, but despite all the surface wooziness I think I actually feel better underneath than I have in a while; as if the antibiotics are killing off more than just an elbow infection. Of course, I could be imagining it; but I can’t help thinking this is what a pint of milk must feel like when it gets pasteurised.
The Gorse at Helmsdale
I’ve not done a lot of knitting this last week, for obvious reasons, but it was still enough to finish another project. These days I tend to have two ganseys on the go at any one time, a main one which I blog about, and another, usually of a contrasting pattern, for light relief. Both this one and its predecessor are for two of the ladies who volunteer with me at Wick Museum, and they chose them from the selection of my ganseys on display there: I hope to hand them over this coming Saturday. It’s the classic Matt Cammish pattern from Gladys Thompson’s book in Frangipani pewter, one of the all-time great patterns, just a perfect combination, and the Frangipani yarn really shows it up nicely. And now it’s on to the next project, or it will be once I get through the next few days. (You think all this is bad? It’s actually worse: you see, I’ve realised that you can sing, “I’m dreaming of a dry bucket” to the tune of White Christmas, and now I can’t get the damn thing out of my head…)
That really is a lovely gansey. I hope you feel better soon and that the bucket stays dry!
Thanks Kate, I think I’m on the mend, touch wood!
Wow, these gorgeous ganseys rolling off your needles in tandem now! Hope it’s not the knitting that’s making your elbow all cross, hot and bothered. Get well soon.
Hi Mollie, no, the doctor says it seems to be an infection rather than repetitive stress injury. For which I’m extremely grateful, else, as I’ve joked elsewhere, I’d have to find a new doctor… 😀
Boy, oh boy, do you have my sympathy! You are in my every thought.
Thanks Melissa, it hardly seems fair that I get ill so often, and then find I’m allergic to the cure!
Dear Gordon I hope you feel better soon..is there such a condition as knitters elbow?you may make history .
As far as the bucket..my mistmost awful thing is to be sick and my safety method is mind over matter
Imagine yourself lying naked in a cool mountain stream..cool clear water running over you continuously.. focus on that..and refuse any thought of being sick to enter your thoughts…
Xx
Thanks Meg – though honestly compels me to confess that the thought of me lying naked in a stream is likely to make other people ill, let alone me! 😀
I should have guessed you would have two ganseys on the go; I knew I wouldn’t be the only one; Buster Long in Falmouth Navy and my own design for Sheringham Museum in Denim, to show the pattern better. I have ‘tablet elbow’ which improves enough to continue knitting after a glass of wine and an aspirin. Hope your bucket stays dry and your elbow pain free.
Hi Rita, thank you – we hardcore knitters know how it is, don’t we? Best of luck with your own projects, Falmouth navy is just a touch too dark for me these days, at least in winter. Oh, and as “tablet” is a sort of brittle Scottish fudge, having “tablet elbow” seems like a price worth paying!
I had a sore forearm for a while. I switched to laying the arm on the desk, with the pressure on the side of the bicep. This of course meant that I was leaning to the side rather noticeably, but it did relieve the forearm pressure.
Glad to hear you are doing better, anyway. That slate blue gansey is perfect.
Hi Tamar, I probably have my head in my hands in too many online calls! But I’m going to use a sort of padded cushion in future, if I can find one, or make one. The Yorkshire patterns are still the best overall, for me – just perfect.
Get Well Soon!
Thanks Betsy – I’m already on the mend, at least the swelling’s going down. It used to look like my elbow was encased in a tennis ball, now it’s more of a golf ball. Still hurts, though, alas.
Gansey knitters of the world unite! And send healing vibes to Gordon. Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery and will be able to use the bucket to hold yarn.
Thank you, Lois. The bucket’s not been needed yet, and I’m about to experiment by stopping the anti-nausea pills to see if I’ve adjusted. Though I almost trod in it today, in which case I could’ve issued a bulletin to say I’d kicked the bucket!
Let’s hope that the golf ball is now a marble and soon to become a pea. Seriously though I do hope that you are now more of less okay. Nothing worse than nausea. Ginger tea is my remedy for queasiness and inflammation.
Thanks Jane! I delighted to say that after the first few days I didn’t even need the anti-nausea pills – though, yes, ginger tea has featured quite heavily this week!