‘Hello, Mr Hendricks, take a seat.’
Fletcher plonked himself down heavily and looked straight at her.
‘It’s like this, lass, me whole body bloody aches,’ he told her somewhat submissively.
‘Any particular area?’ she asked.
‘Mainly me back, but me arms and legs aren’t that great either.’
‘I see, let’s take a look.’ She got up from her chair and knelt in front of him. ‘Can you extend your legs?’
Fletcher tried as best he could to pull them out and straighten, but with great difficulty and pain.
‘And the same for your arms please.’ She watched carefully, noting how stiff his joints were. ‘Are you on any kind of medication?’
‘Nah, never needed ’owt,’ he dismissed.
‘Hmm, I can see you’re in a lot of discomfort, Mr Hendricks,’ her forehead furrowed with concern.
‘You can say that again, lass.’
‘Then why haven’t you come to the surgery before?’
Fletcher stalled. ‘I… I thought I’d cope.’ He swallowed and looked away.
The doctor’s tone turned softer. ‘But you’ve suffered, unnecessarily. Your arthritis looks quite bad, and judging by your posture, your backwillgive you a great deal of pain.’
‘You could say that,’ snorted Fletcher.
‘I could have eased this months ago,’ she gently chided.
‘I know,’ he weakly agreed, refusing to give her eye contact.
‘Right, well, we’ll start with painkillers, that’ll ease the discomfort straight away.’
‘Good.’
‘Then, let’s get you a physiotherapist. They can create a structured exercise plan.’
‘Eh?’ Fletcher looked blankly at her.
‘Gentle exercise, Mr Hendricks, it’s the way forward,’ she replied with a half-laugh.
‘Oh, I see.’ Clearly, he didn’t.
‘And a good diet. Let’s lose some weight, shall we?’ She smiled encouragingly.
‘Really?’
‘Yes, a healthy weight will improve your carriage.’
‘My what?’
‘The way you move. If you’re lighter on your feet, it’ll ease all your joints, which will relieve any stress and therefore ease symptoms.’
‘Right,’ he replied faintly. He pictured his full cooked breakfasts being replaced with a bowl of muesli and his heart sank. Then a full tumbler of whisky made its way into his mind. ‘What about drink?’ he asked hopefully.
‘The odd tipple won’t do any harm.’
