An Introduction

I am inspired. That is to say, after reading Dr Crippens Blog, I am enthused and feel full of inspiration for the noble art of Blogging and for my Profession (and for those of you wondering about the validity of my choice of words, may I add that my enthusiasm has been fuelled by a couple of bottles of Fullers Golden Pride; 8.5%, £2.05 a bottle from your local supermarket).

Lets state write from the start that I disagree with Dr Crippen's feelings towards Allied Health Professionals and his comments about "dumbing down" and quacktitioners. I have personally met several GP's who I feel deserve a 9 in a dark alley somewhere. For example, Dr T---- who I met in 1989. He suggested I had broken my wife's ribs when she actually had double pneumonia - she ended up on a drip in ER. Properly trained, and aware of ones limitations, a podiatrist (or whatever) can be better qualified to treat a patient than a GP. And that includes prescribing medication such as antibiotics.

So, who am I? By profession, I am a Podiatrist (a Chiropodist with knobs on). A baby one, I hasten to add, having graduated less than 12 months ago; prior to that (in reverse chronological order) I was something in IT for 14 years; a single dad and jack of all trades for about six years (teaching assistant, charity worker, security guard, firework display engineer, security glazing salesman, Scuba diving and Emergency First Response instructor, 'lollipop man', and many others but mostly unemployed); robotics engineer; and I served in the Royal Air Force and Army for 14 years (with some paramedic, fire-fighting [remember the fireman strike of '76?) and special forces stuff thrown in - I can admit to that here because no-one knows who I really am).

How I came to be a Podiatrist is perhaps better left for another day; suffice it to say that I had high (naive?) hopes of making a difference to peoples lives whilst making a living for myself. Alas, it seems that neither is to be the case. I work privately one day a week and am waiting to start with the NHS; I should have started several weeks ago, but it seems that many of the HR functions have been outsourced, and ATOS (the company who have the Occy Health contract) have been rather complacent in sorting the paperwork out. This leaves private practice... It's rather expensive to set up privately, especially when you have no money. When I say 'no money', I mean, not enough money to buy bread or milk during the week. This week, in the clinic I work in one day a week, I expected to see five patients; however, one couldn't get in, two had cancelled, and one couldn't be bothered to turn up. By the time my last (only) patient turned up for his 7:00pm appointment I had almost lost the will to live. It was a difficult case, and... now how can I put it... well, the 'aroma' from certain organisms that frequent the foot has the effect of making me want to vomit; thankfully I was able to avoid this during the consultation, but the patient will require several weeks follow up - now there's something to look forward to. I got home and spent an hour or so the web - was I up-to-date with the current treatment modalities? Yes, as it turns out.


Let's take stock of this weeks achievements: How many people have I made a difference to? One. How much have I earned (commission) (gross)? £16.00.
I don't feel quite so inspired now. Maybe next week will be better. [shrug] Well, what else can I say?



ps - for everyone who has ever said, "well, when you left the Army, why didn't you do what you were best at?"; what I did best was kill people (last time I tried, I could still hit a beer can at 1000 metres) and there isn't much call for that (legally) in the UK. I know you'll never know I said that but it still makes me feel better, having said it. No doubt I could earn decent money doing so, but by the time I left in '89 my values had changed somewhat and I don't consider that a serious option any more. Hmmmm... Hang on... This week I earned £16.00.... I think I should have bought THREE bottles of Golden Pride.