A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR
I was up bright and early this morning as I had an appointment with the doctor to establish the cause of certain pain in my lower back (read bum). After much poking and prodding, the doctor said "Can you PLEASE stop playing with my medical equipment and lie down on the bed?" In my own defence, I argued that I had once entertained dreams of becoming a medical practitioner and so had a professional right to examine the various devices which were lying about. The doctor, a stern-looking woman who would not have been out of place in a high security prison ward, was not amused. She proceeded to examine me by pulling and pushing my body into various positions which I was sure left me qualified to apply to a circus as a contortionist. Finally, she informed me that I have sciatica, pain affecting the back, hip, and outer side of the leg, caused by compression of a spinal nerve root in the lower back, often owing to degeneration of an intervertebral disk...