SPRING ORCHARD FOVANT

NEWSLETTER – 41

March 2016

Gosh another month has flown by and now it’s Easter! On several mornings in the last few weeks I’ve looked out of my window to see a young deer nibbling at the grass up the bank. It’s almost worth being in work for half seven just to see the sight!!

End of an era

After 15 years of continuous service, working in all weathers, putting up with much abuse and being taken for granted, having safely driven me 6 times round the world my dear old blue Ka has finally called it a day and gone to that great scrapyard in the sky. I’ve probably got a few extra years out of the car by judicious use of the skills of the mechanics and I apologise to those of you who have been delayed in their travels as I have pootled along the A30 doing less than 50. In later days the Ka couldn’t really sustain moving at any great pace. It’s been a slow decline, first the radio went, then the air conditioning, the bodywork needed some attention, then the clutch, heaven knows how many tyres, bulbs, windscreen wiper blades over the years but more recently the handbrake stopped working, there were serious grinding noises round any left hand bend and finally several lights started flashing on the dashboard and wouldn’t go away. The man from the garage who’d nurtured the Ka for many years shook his head and agreed the time had come.

It’s a bit like my job really – however the real difference is that if I get hold of you with a problem early then the medical profession can often cure you. I can’t remember how often I’ve written about taking advantage of the various screening programmes that are available nowadays – as well as my offer of annual MOTs. Discovering potential problems early is so crucial to healthy living. Please don’t stick your head in the sand. No-one knows your body better than you – so if it doesn’t feel right – come and see me.

Diabetes

Many of you will have spotted the equipment belonging to the retinal screening department that was in the waiting room a couple of weeks ago. This is all part of the care that NHS offers every diabetic patient in the country every year to try and pick up potentially curable eye problems at the earliest opportunity. Diabetes is a common disease and especially as we get older. So with my venerable patient list – we see a lot of it here – we have nearly 100 patients with diabetes and each year we seem to pick up another 8-10. What thrills me however as a GP is to see – almost without exception – the incredibly positive response that patients have to this disease. The common form of diabetes (type 2) is one of those problems that the patient is actually much more important in controlling than the doctor. Life style changes, understanding of the disease and taking positive actions to help yourself will almost always make a massive difference. Perhaps I am becoming cynical at this stage of my career but trying to keep folk healthy is a partnership between patient and doctor. Our role within the surgery is often to signpost you to what you can do to help yourself and there is no better example of this than diabetes. I have been really impressed this year with the blood results coming back which show the excellent control that so many of you have – well done.

So what symptoms might you have with undiagnosed diabetes? Thirst, weeing more than usual, weight gain or loss, tiredness are the common ones. If any of that applies to you – please pop a urine sample into the nurses and we can check it on the spot. It is as simple as that.

Have a lovely Easter and don’t eat too much chocolate!! PS – watch out for the “new” gold Peugeot!

Andy Hall