Pink ribs (Day 3629)

I was vaguely aware of my beautiful wife getting up and leaving at stupid o'clock this morning to catch the ferry south. 
By the time my alarm went off a bit later on HV was heading across the Pentland Firth. Sigyn and I went out for her first wander in annoying drizzle, and she seemed a little better after her visit to the vet yesterday - I couldn't hear her dragging her feet as much. It may have just been that I was having a bad sciatic pain day and I didn't really notice.
Back home, and after breakfast, I got the van unloaded so I could go and collect a load of pellets for the boiler. When I was in town for pellets I collected a new battery for my motorbike (the original, 20 year old battery has given up the ghost), and a few other things I needed.
Back home, and still in enough pain to affect the way I was breathing, I left the pellets in the van, and was going to call the GP to find out what is going on with my treatment but I was surprised by a phone call from the Pain Clinic in Aberdeen. I was asked if I would be available for a video conference about my pain next week. I had thought I was being referred to the local hospital, but at the moment I will say yest to anything that moves treatment closer. 
I took Sigyn for a wander around noon, still puzzled by the idea of a video conference, but relieved that my pain was beginning to ease a bit. 
Later in the afternoon, as I unloaded and reloaded the van, there was another unexpected phone call, this time from the Spinal Unit in Aberdeen. They have put me forward as a suitable candidate to be involved in a study into two methods of doing the spinal injection to see which has the best results long term. It seems that being on the study will mean I am likely to get my treatment in four to six weeks, rather than the nine months I would have to wait for treatment in Aberdeen if I was not part of the study. It is an easy choice really.