As time goes by
- 11 Feb 08, 1:09 PM
Interestingly I didn’t get an envelope. I got a phone call. I’ve been summoned. I thought that I’d be stressed out about the whole thing but actually I’m strangely calm. I’m a good few years older than the last time I went for a DWP medical examination and a lot more confident in myself. I know why I can’t work; I just need to explain it clearly to the appointed Doc. What’s got me most frustrated is that I’ve got to take the time to go and do it! Ridiculous I know. In all likelihood it will only take a couple of hours in total. But in reality it takes up a whole day.
I never have enough time. My M.E. (I’m never sure whether to refer to it as ‘my’ or ‘the’. I’m going with ‘my’. I think it helps to indicate that every sufferer experience different symptoms and restrictions) means that I’m pretty much limited to one activity each day. Whether it’s a trip to the shops; a hair-cut; or an hour of volunteering somewhere, I usually have to abide by that rule. The rate at which an average week fills up is absurd, especially when you take into account that I need a couple of rest days in there somewhere.
Time becomes a strange entity with this type of disability. Rarely does it pass at a normal speed. It’s either flying by with disconcerting speed, leaving me unable to fit in everything that I want to do. Or it’s passing at the pace of a particularly wearisome snail. At which times I’m usually pretty ill and want nothing more than to fast forward through the next fortnight. I read in the paper last week that scientists think that they may be getting closer to time travel! A time machine could definitely be a useful little gadget but I’d still prefer a teleporting device. Just picture it. No more transport nightmares or long, exhausting journeys. If all these brains can’t come up with a cure for this illness, then the least they can do is build me a Star Trek-esque ‘beam me up’ machine!
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Comments
Brilliantly hilarious as usual. And your ME is yours. Like all DisAbled people, you are stuck with your DisAbility. All you can do is learnm to love it, and accept it for being it's wonderful, terrible, unfair, heart-breaking, life-changing, chance-stealing self... That's a long process, but when you finally get there, you'll see that it's totally worth it!