This Is Spinal Tap

I have just discovered quite how uninteresting ceilings can be, courtesy of a lumbar puncture this week. If you don’t know what it is, I’d say you’re probably better off not knowing. Let’s just say it’s a deeply uncomfortable medical procedure that requires you to lay flat for hours afterwards, allegedly to avoid the onset of a post-LP headache. I say ‘allegedly’ advisedly, given that I’ve been flat on my back for days now because every time I get up I get another headache and every time I lie down it goes away. Try writing without lifting your head – it’s a skill! I have a new admiration for those who are bed-ridden for years. It’s only been a few days and I’m already stir crazy.

Given that the procedure itself is not the most fun you can have with your clothes on, I’d been dreading it for some time. Luckily, though, I was accompanied by my very good friends Liberté and Egalité (names changed to protect the not-so-innocent) who managed to turn a particularly horrid hospital visit into quite a magical mystery tour – no mean feat! There is nothing more entertaining than being regaled with the finer details of other people’s dating exploits, right down to the good, the bad and the ugly. I’d have laughed more if it didn’t hurt so much to do it. A huge thank you to both of them for making that the most fun I’ve ever had – and possibly ever expect to have – in a hospital gown.

Perhaps even more comical was leaving the hospital with no real after-care instructions and perhaps even more tragically no decent drugs. If someone is going to dig a rather large needle into your spine and tap you for a bit of spinal fluid, the very least they can do is provide adequate pain-control for the after-effects. Honestly, some people have no idea of basic courtesy! I’m all for alternatives until it comes down to serious pain. Then I’m the first person with my hand in the medicine jar. I make no apologies for that. C’est la vie.

I always figure that what you need to look most is whatever’s right in front of your face. In this instance, being made immobile gave me an opportunity for a bit of a rethink about the way my life is headed, particularly my work. I’m brewing up a few new ideas, courtesy of this enforced rest. It’s always better not to fight these things, but to take advantage of what they have to offer. If you’re stuck indoors with only a blank ceiling to stare at, then that’s what you have to make the best of – fighting it, feeling miserable about it or wishing you were elsewhere is just a waste of energy.

What’s staring you in the face this week? What’s the wall you just can’t get around, whether you like it or not? Can you just accept it and use the opportunity to think differently? Can you take a stumbling block and see what advantages might be hidden within it? What if you let go of the struggle and just let it be OK? What might a recurring issue be trying to tell you? Is there a pattern you’ve not noticed before? Take a few moments to stop and check that the direction you’re headed is actually one you want to go in.

For the Coach Fabulous archives, go to www.coachfabulous.blogspot.com and for the I Am Fabulous archives, go to www.fabcentral.blogspot.com. You can email me at coachfabulous@iamfabulous.co.uk. All material ©2008 Alison Porter. No article may be reproduced in full or in part without the express permission of the author. (Originally posted 19 May 08)