To Lutterworth

Sunday morning I left my house at 6am to make the journey to Lutterworth, a small town in Leicestershire.  Earlier on in the year, when the prospect of a 200 mile journey in heavy wind and rain seemed  nothing more than a faint possibility I had been contacted by the organiser of Continuous Professional Development for a regional group of Podiatrists and asked to give an hour’s presentation to her colleagues.  And that’s why I endured some of the worst weather in years and set off for the Golf Club where the event was being held.  I managed to cut my finger on the forecourt of a filling station and, as I told the meeting, not for the first time had Welsh blood stained the fields of Leicester….

It was a very interesting and interested group.  As I’ve said before, Podiatrists are first line health professionals who are constantly being urged to be aware of ‘diabetic foot’.  Well anyway my take on this was to point out that B12 Deficiency is widespread (in my latest book I calculate that around 6 million people in the UK are deficient) and that left untreated B12 Deficiency leads to peripheral neuropathy – numbness in feet which is a symptom of diabetes – see what I’m doing?  Raising awareness which is, after all, all that I can do.  Anyway I went down a storm, and I received some very kind and praiseworthy comments.  There was even the token patient with diagnosed Pernicious Anaemia who told the gathering that she had recently had her injections stopped altogether by her GP but had managed to get them re-instated; a little story that added credibility to what could be seen as my incredulous narrative.

I happened casually to mention that I had recently had a new book published and one of the audience asked if I had brought any with me.  I remembered at that point that I did indeed have a few copies with me.  The lady asked if she could buy one from me and if I would sign it.  I thought hard about this but after some deliberation I agreed to sell her a copy and I would indeed sign it.  So many others also wanted to buy a signed copy that I had to bring the box of twenty copies from my car and into the room where I set up a desk to perform the signing.  I ran out of books and now have 8 names and addresses of attendees who paid for the book and trusted me to sign and post them their copy.  Already one person who bought the book yesterday (Sunday) has left a very positive review on Amazon so she must have read it cover to cover after the training event.

Now – one of the most important developments of the day was when a Consultant Podiatrist approached me afterwards and asked me to write a piece for their professional magazine and if I would be available to give a presentation at a National Conference in the spring of next year.  Naturally I agreed and then he asked if perhaps I would be interesting in co-authoring a paper to be published in their professional journal.  Again I agreed.  “There’s so much that you have said that resonates not only with me but with all of us” he said.  “And I’ve just decided that if I find people who have the symptoms you speak of I will prescribe parental B12 (injectable B12).  I was surprised to learn that Podiatrists who have received appropriate professional training are qualified to prescribe a number of drugs including the harmless vitamin.  Could this then be the beginning of the end of B12 Deficiency in Leicestershire?  Fingers (and toes perhaps) crossed.