Chapter 13 - Sinus problem?

Well my gardening career is over... one day after it started. I had to quit my job working as a supervisor / instructor with the teenagers as my back was unable to handle the physical work. (Mmmm... Not sure I was cut out for it anyway... as at one point, I was pulling out... what I thought were weeds... but apparently they were plants! Of course when my instructor pointed this fact out to the group and then replanted the thing, I pretended like it wasn´t me who did it and laughed along with the rest of the group, whilst shaking my head at “that person´s” stupidity!)

So anyway... I decided that I needed to see a Doctor to get my back checked out properly and was referred to get a CT scan done. So off I went to get the scans done. Once I got in the room to get the scans, I was told me to lie down with all my clothes on, shoes on and everything... and before I was lying down properly, the machine was already moving around me and the lady had left the room. I was expecting the machine to move down to my lower back area, however it stayed over my head and took scans of my head. I lay there perplexed... wondering whether the Doctor was looking for some tumour or something and had decided not to tell me.

After the initial head scan, the lady re-entered the room and I began to ask her why they were taking scans of my head. She didn´t allow me to finish my question and proceeded to tilt my head back and then told me to lie very still... and then she promptly left the room again, at which time the machine took more scans of my head.

When the lady entered the room again a few minutes later... I asked again (this time more assertively) why they were taking scans of my head... questioning what that had to do with my lower back. She said that the scans were for my sinus problem. Sinus problem?? That´s the first I knew of my sinus problem. I told her that there was nothing wrong with my sinuses and that the problem was with my lower back. A confused look grew on her face and she hastily left the room to check the paperwork. She came back very apologetic and then finally took scans of my lower back. Following the scan, another lady came out and apologised profusely for the mistake of the other person who was apparently ´only learning.´ She assured me repeatedly that the mistake would have no adverse effects on me and then gave me a 20% discount. So I take no responsibility for my actions from now on... (I would have been happy for her to take scans of four other parts of my body too, so that I could get a further 80% discount!)

So anyway... I get the results of the CT scan sometime next week – will keep you posted. So I am again on the look out for another job – something more sedentary! And in the meantime I am trying to the play the good housewife – although I don´t cook and at the moment I can´t really do many chores because of my restricted movement... so not sure that I will pull that off! Maybe I should take up knitting or something?? I walk as if I´m 70 years old anyway.

It rained twice this week... once for three days, and the other for four days. But alas... the weather seems to be improving now... It´s very mild again and we are enjoying the long days. It doesn´t get dark here at all during the nights now. Iceland is one of the few places in the world that has the ´midnight sun´ ... this is a phenomenon occurring in latitudes north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle where the sun is still visible at midnight and visible for a continuous 24 hours. Since there are no people that live south of the Antarctic Circle, the countries that experience the midnight sun are limited to the ones that cross the Arctic Circle… that is... Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Iceland.

Of course… this means too, that in the winter months, the opposite occurs and there are many more hours of darkness than light. During winter here in Iceland, the sun comes up between 10:30 and 11am, and sets around 3pm. I would imagine this could become quite unpleasant, as the average temperature is also 0°C at this time. (I wonder if anyone has done a study on birth rates… I´m sure many more babies are conceived during the winter months!)