A LITTLE HELP FROM YOU FRIENDS
For this week’s article, readers will have to indulge me a little, as I did not believe I could punch out the keys on the laptop, not just because I have had no marine experiences to describe for nearly two weeks, but mainly due to struggling to manage the pain associated with a recent operation on my right shoulder. I thought I was quite efficient keyboarding with the four fingers on my right hand, but using one finger on my left hand has been somewhat more `time consuming and frustrating.
I am amazed at how many people you meet, who have had a similar injury, once they see you with an arm in a sling. The guy at the doctor’s surgery advising me how lucky I would be to have Viv assisting with day to day tasks, the ex RST client with his recommendation to purchase every different shaped pillow invented to help with sleeping and then there was Bernie Abbott’s warts and all description of his shattered collarbone following a mountain bike stack. For every pillow I showed Bernie, he had tried it already, for every medication I displayed, he had a more potent one and for every description of the associated pain involved, the wince on his face, coupled with the F word, said it all. So it seemed almost everyone has had a busted up shoulder at some time or other and I had not been invited to the party. Please don’t invite me to the next one. Anyone who has experienced acute post operation pain can relate to the phases you pass through. I assume it is a bit like childbirth, in that you cannot really relate to the event until you experience it. And interesting how we try to become medical experts overnight, casually throwing around words like diclofenac sodium and tapentadol, perhaps in a futile attempt to mask the intimate relationship we have with these drugs, in the dead of night, when seeking solice.
With the need to adapt to my changed circumstances, the Sea Soaring Marine training room has now been converted to a makeshift Men’s Shed, come rehabilitation centre, complete with lounges, reclining camp chairs, beds, DVD player ( hadn’t watched one for over year and now watched ten in a week ) and a large whiteboard calendar where I cross off the days leading up to the discarding of my permanent fixture for six weeks, which is sarcastically patented, the ‘Donjoy Ultrasling’. Brendan Symes even turned up one day after tweeking his back and Arthur Armstrong happened to be there at the same time. One could not help but laugh as 90+ year old Arthur seemed to be running past us two infirms around the garden. Another of these ‘mates’, Brian, sympthasised with me over the phone, or so I thought, as he was now fully recovered also from a mountain bike accident ( remind me never to buy one of them ). He asked me how work was going during this time, so when I informed him I was unable to run boating courses for 6-8 weeks, he suggested I change the business name to Sea Sore Marine. Yes, nothing like a good mate to vent with now and again and bring you back to earth. Finally, huge thank you to local GP and friend Graham Velterop for fast tracking this process in his usual professional way.
