The rough-handed, strong spirited man
He limped as he walked into my office. His body looked frail for a man his age. In his 40 odd years he has been places, I thought.
“What is troubling you?” My eyes met his brilliant blue eyes. There was a slight hesitance in how he met my gaze, looking down to his workman’s hands resting in his lap.
“Jis, man, I find it so hard to walk. My knees are packing up. I’m telling you, I’m over the hill. You should see me limping home at night. Jis, john, my kids are just teasing me when I moan and groan, hey. They say ‘ Hey Pa, you’re sounding worse than an old ballie, man!’ You know, the doctor has been giving me injections for the pain, but he told me I cannot keep on having them. I need to be on my feet for my work, hey.” He rubbed his rough hands through his slightly greying hair in a frustrated gesture.
“Tell me where you feel the pain”, I asked in a gentle tone.
“Jong, it is worse behind my knees. Strange, hey. Wow, why would the pain be behind my knees? I mean, you would think that my knee caps would be sore from all the kneeling and squatting when I work. Not so! Look, I can move my knees around; I can even push hard on them with no pain. Just let me try to walk, man, then the pain is something else. Do you think I have arthritis? You know, my other has bad arthritis. I send her money regularly in the old age home to buy ointments and stuff for her knees. Shame.” His voice trailed into a worry, concerned downturn. His affection for his other was very touching. “Jis, she doesn’t deserve to suffer like this in her old age. We were a few children and the old man liked his dop. She worked dam hard to keep us all together”. He was talking more to himself than telling me. His blue eyes, now a little sad, came back to rest on his folded rough workman’s hands.
“Let’s have a look at the iris” I said as I got up to look into his eyes with my magnifying glass. The iris diagnosis clearly indicated a very acidic system, but also problems relating to his urine-genital tract. Do you have to get up at night to pass urine?” I wanted to know.