It is always nice to get a thank you card, especially so when it comes from someone at the tail end of an overbooked clinic who had waited patiently well past their appointed slot. Such was the case when I opened an envelope recently to find a sepia print of a forlorn-looking basset hound next to the words ‘old dogs’. Inside it continued ‘and new tricks’, with a neatly folded voucher for a three-month gym trial membership.
The kindly sender was in her seventies and remarkably sprightly despite having AMD. She noted that I spent a lot of time sitting down as I wheeled myself on the stool from desk to slit-lamp to computer screen. She had a great sense of humour and a regular exercise schedule. As she was leaving her advice was to work standing up to avoid a bad back. Having spent a lifetime sitting down, as you do in clinic and theatre, plus assiduously avoiding enforced exercise, grinding treadmills and sweaty spandex, I was not about go full Jane Fonda any time soon. However, the card was a kind gesture, and I liked the picture of the basset looking back at me, rheumy yet wise blood-shot eyes with a hint of lower lid laxity. I popped the card on my desk in my clinic card collection amidst assorted desk debris. The card’s message was not lost on me; maybe for this dog, new tricks were beyond reach.
There is nothing whatsoever ‘old dog’ about this Easter special of Eye News, quite the opposite. It is full of vim, vigour and vitality as befits our ever-green bimonthly. We have it all, from AI to Top Gun, IVT real world data to real-life patient reflections from authors young and less young. BSV, IgG4, LinkedIn and game show freaks all making an appearance alongside tributes to the long serving and thoughts from those just tasting the start of their careers. The takeaway from this issue is that our articles nudge us to think a little differently, see patients or ourselves through a slightly altered prism, and this shift, however subtle, should be embraced.
Old habits die hard, and we all fall into a routine that can be hard to break, which is why your Eye News team have decided to venture into the world of podcasts. It might be unchartered territory, but should appeal to readers who have withdrawn their aural support from Radio 2 following the loss of both Steve Wright and then Ken Bruce from the Beeb’s airwaves. This leaves a late AM, early PM vacuum for those with earphones, internet access and a non-clinical session, to turn on and tune in. So, check out Eye Views and, if I get my way, we will soon be adding a playlist of jazz, soul and blues, providing we get the listeners.
Having wrestled internally with the old dogs, new tricks card conundrum, I decided to prove my inner sceptic wrong, and if nothing else get the last laugh. I decided to pop down to the gym. On arrival, I was surprised to see there were age-arranged groupings. Closest to the door were older folk with sticks and Zimmer frames arranged against the wall who were confronting their rehab with gusto, bouncing on balls, and rolling on mats. In stark contrast, the cross trainers and treadmills commandeered by adolescents and students occupied the middle section. At the far end by the barbells and weights were tattooed, red-faced Popeye lookalikes pumping iron next to their big bottles of protein shakes.
The scene was like a modern version of Shakespeare’s seven ages of man, whittled down to three in the gym journey of life. It was difficult to know where I’d fit in, so I went with the first available bit of kit which turned out to be a rowing machine and got straight into Steve Redgrave mode. I lasted five minutes. I went back a second time and lasted 10 minutes, then a third outing 15 minutes. Now I am hooked. Paradoxically I feel rather tired if I have not worked up a hot sweat three or four times a week. Old dogs and new tricks, eh?
Baljean Dhillon
CLICK BELOW FOR THE APRIL/MAY 2023 ARTICLES
