Testing Times

When I went to the practice nurse at our surgery a two and a half of weeks ago simply to ask if I should keep the cut on my leg covered or let some air get to it the nurse opted for sticking a dressing over it. I had cleaned it up well and put a dressing on and secured it with a crepe bandage. Whilst she had me there captive, she booked me in for a few tests, since it had been a while since I had attended. The dressing she put on my shin did not agree with me and later I took it off and went back to the more gentle dressings I had at home. A couple of days later it was a swim day and Steve had bought some waterproof plasters one of which he put on. That was no good and we decided that I would have to stay out of the water for a while until it dried up.

Yesterday I complained to Steve that if I didn’t get back in the water soon, my gills would dry out and I might die. My concern was that in a few weeks we have to go to France for a while because Steve has work to do there for an American client and where we are staying, the swimming facilities are not good and the opening hours, at an unsuitable pool, are useless for swim training; ok if you just want to troll up and down slowly without getting your hair wet or splashing your spectacles. So if I can’t swim now and there is no swimming whilst we are away, that would mean that I would arrive at the Eton Sprints on May 21^st with next to no swim training for a month. It is a qualifier for the Sprint event in Rotterdam in September which is ‘Worlds’. I would not be happy with that and so I have spent time this morning searching for and finding a pool that has a tri club with sessions that we can join in not too far away from where we are based.

So this morning Steve put on a base waterproof plaster, then suck that down with seven more plasters for insurance which may sound like overkill but he did not want me to get it wet because it does seemed to have stopped weeping at last. The mass of plasters on my leg seem to have done the trick and the gash was still looking dry and on the way to not being a pain in the neck any more, (even though the gash is on the shin). Such a relief to be swimming again though. 

It was wonderful to be back in the pool and Bekka and I had a good swim set and a great chat about the theatre in the shower and changing room. She had been up to town to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Her brother in law David Haig is one of the stars. Steve and I along with a few others are going to the ‘Live From the West End’ evening showing in cinemas everywhere tomorrow. I love Tom Stoppard’s plays and would like to have gone to the theatre to see this play but it does cost an arm and a leg to go to London and we were only there ten days ago and I have only this week booked tickets for something totally unmissable next January!

Anyway after going home first, to do a little urgent office stuff for Steve I went to my appointment with the nurse. It was a different nurse this time. On my notes the other nurse had wanted me to suffer a twenty four hour blood pressure test. This nurse talked to me as if I was a little old lady which is something not many people dare to do. She did not have a clue as to how much sport I do when I mentioned that it might be a bit bulky if I went out on my bike. She told me that the device is set to go off every twenty minutes during the day and then after 11pm down to every hour during the night. Oh Feathers!

So far, since I have been home, which is four hours, it has gone off five or six times per hour with three or four pump ups each time. It is obviously not set correctly or it has broken down in fright. I have taken it off now and will return it to the surgery soon. I have another test booked for tomorrow that I am going to have to postpone. 

Over the years I have been the subject of umpteen medical tests including the most impressive and extensive set of tests that were with Lab-Man in Hawaii and they took all day in very impressive facilities where they tested everything one could imagine and then did a check after the race as well. Then Lord knows how many others in this country for the sake of sports research, several in London and others closer to home.