I dont propose to mention all the doctors and dentists I have encountered during my 68 years on earth – only the more memorable ones. I have enjoyed a largely life, but there have been occasions when a doctor or dentist to the rescue and made a impression, not just on my body but on my memory too.
As a primary schoolboy, I was sick most years with either bronchitis or pleurisy. I would be laid low for a week or two, looked after by Mum. In those days – the 1950s - it was normal for a family doctor to visit the patient at home, so Dr Gledhill and Dr Walford, whose practice was in Denmark Road, a walk from our house, would visit me in my bedroom.
As I got older, I grew healthier and no longer had time off school for illness. However, there was one ailment I could not shake off: the mysterious pains that afflicted both my hips.
My parents called these ‘growing pains, but the pains persisted well into my thirties. I visited a number of doctors in different places, but they were unable to pinpoint the
The pain reached a crescendo in Stourbridge circa 1984. It had now travelled down to my knees, and the specialist I was seeing, Dr Mangat, told me I had bursitis. I was unable to sleep properly at night and was taking On one occasion, I received a injection in each hip at the local hospital, causing me to scream out loud. Still no doctor was able to tell me the cause of my pains.
In between bouts of hip and knee pain, I was perfectly healthy and enjoyed playing tennis, table tennis and squash. Then the pains would return, and I would suffer in silence and wait for them to disappear. This was the rhythm of my life from primary school until I was 35.
In the summer of 1987, when I was 35, I went to Kashmir and did some trekking in the Himalayas. During the second very arduous trek, my ‘growing pains came back with a vengeance, but I was out in the wilderness and had no choice but to soldier on.
in too much pain to return to my job in Cairo. In desperation I visited a Reading chiropractor, Mrs Jackson, an old woman who lived in Redlands Road, not far from our house. She looked at my and intoned the words that would change my life: Kevin, I think I know what is causing your bursitis. She has spotted something in the that no other doctor had seen: a slight abnormality in one of my vertebrae. She told me that, from now on, I had to change my sleeping position. All my life I had slept on my front which, she explained, was curving my spine the wrong way, thus irritating my dodgy vertebra. All I had to do now was sleep on my back or in the foetal position. After a lifetime of sleeping on my front, this was difficult, but soon it became the norm, and the pain began to ebb. I returned to Cairo shortly afterwards - not but in good enough shape to resume my teaching duties. It took a few years before my hip pains To this day I sleep on my back or side and am - all
because of Mrs Jackson, a chiropractor, not a recognized doctor, who prescribed no drugs but told me to sleep in a new position. But for her, I would still be in pain. It is no exaggeration to say that she has been the most important doctor in my life.
While at primary school and suffering from ‘growing pains, I was also ruining my teeth. I ate far too many sweets and, from an early age, was always going to the dentist to have fillings done or teeth extracted. My dentist was Mr Wells, who had a posh surgery in Alexandra Road. He had a distinguished air and was On one occasion he gave me gas and, while unconscious in the chair, I had a bad dream.
At secondary school, I no longer had time off for bronchitis or pleurisy – childhood diseases that Id grown out of. However, during my O levels year I developed a bilious disorder that stayed with me for about 12 months. In the region of my gall bladder, I would, from time to time, get a sharp pain which gradually evaporated.
