How lucky am I?
Since returning from Ireland I have been struck down with an acute case of gout, an ailment often associated with Henry VIII but increasingly common, apparently, among ordinary mortals like me.
I suspected gout was the cause of the severe pain in the big toe of my left foot but I thought I’d better check with my GP, and I was right.
Inspecting the red and swollen digit after I limped into his surgery, he commented, rather too cheerfully, “Ah, yes, the classic symptoms.”
“What could have caused it?” I asked. “Luck,” he replied.
I imagine there’s a bit more to it than that but because I’m reluctant to cut down on red meat and booze - the traditional explanation for gout - I’ll take the good doctor’s word for it.
As it happens, I think this is probably my second attack. Two years ago, within days of starting a course of statins, I experienced a similar stabbing pain in my foot and put it down to that because I had been warned that statins could result in swollen ankles.
I stopped taking the statins and after a week or so the swelling - and the pain - gradually ebbed away but that may have been coincidence.
This time the pain was so severe that when I woke up on Sunday I struggled to walk the short distance from bedroom to bathroom.
Anyway, my GP has prescribed an anti-inflammatory drug that is so strong it is guaranteed, apparently, to reduce the pain and swelling within days.
The downside is that it could leave me light-headed and/or cause stomach ‘problems’. I’m not sure I like the sound of that but I’ll give it a go.
Anyway, I genuinely think I have been lucky because, having spent the past few weeks travelling to Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands for meetings and such-like, I could not have gone anywhere had this happened a few weeks ago.
It’s not all good news, though. My present incapacity caused me to miss two events last night - the first drinks party of the season and the Cigar Smoker of the Year Awards at Boisdale.
For the record, the latter was won by Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren. I bet he’s never suffered from gout.