Before my recent break in Cornwall, I had almost gotten into the habit of regular exercise, with a mixture of virtual cycling and walking, culminating in my sixteen kilometre MS Walk in Birmingham.

Holiday week (week 25) I managed to sneak in a little bike ride before going south on the Tuesday. The rest of the week was taken easy with a few little walks.

Then back home and back on the bike. An unusual heat wave made the thought of going outside to walk unpalatable so did absolutely zero miles. No walking had the effect of my left knee stiffening up to the point where any walking could best be described as hobbling.

Today, I decided to try a ‘proper’ walk but as I gingerly took a few steps, I knew that this wasn’t going to be pretty. I managed just two thirds of a mile and that took me over seventeen minutes (something like 25:00 pacing). I was in agony when I got back to the front door.

A trip to the pharmacy resulted in the purchase of something a little stronger than Paracetamol, namely Co-codamol. The first dose made me feel a little woozy but it did knock the pain back.

Come bedtime, and another dose, I was able to get comfortable in bed and was off to the land of nod.

The Co-codamol is not a long term solution – hopefully my Cortisone injection on Thursday will be, or at least give me a few months of pain relief and put off what seems like the inevitable knee replacement surgery.