the week it was...

Sometimes life throws things at you. No reason to explain it but asks you to deal with it the best way humanly possible.How are you going to get over this bump in the road?  Leading into Hamburg I was feeling unwell and took it pretty easy. I had three days where I felt revitalised and thought maybe I would be going into WTS Hamburg feeling refreshed.  Unfortunately, my body felt otherwise. Two days before the race, I was throwing up and the thought of food made me feel even sicker.  I lined up on Saturday afternoon, put my game face on and wanted to do the best race I could under the circumstances. I dove into the water and my body felt so weak. Coming out of the water 40 seconds back, doesn’t reflect at all how I have been swimming over the past few weeks. My arms had nothing to give and neither did my legs when I wanted to accelerate out of the saddle. I hate to DNF but on Saturday, my body had nothing to give and at the world stage, you cannot be off your game because you are just going to get swallowed up.

I headed back to Vitoria and wanted to get everything sorted out with my health so I could start training properly again. I went to the hospital with the hope I would get some antibiotics and I could go home. I had some tests done that showed some inflammation in my pancreas and the enzymes levels were a lot higher than normal. The pancreas is an organ in the body that is responsible for the digestion of food especially the digestion of protein . It also is responsible for making the hormone insulin which helps control blood sugar levels in the body.  After blood tests, x ray , ultrasound,  they wanted to make sure, it wasn’t a ulcer in my stomach causing the problem. This meant I had to go on a drip and stay in hospital to keep monitored.

Wednesday night I had an endoscopy where they knocked me out and inserted a thin tube down my throat into my stomach to see if there was any problems. All I remember was the nurse telling me I would feel an inch in my arm from the anaesthesia  and a hour later I wake up to Shania Twain playing on the radio. They found nothing in my stomach which was a positive and it was back to sorting out my pancreas. With all these tests for my stomach and pancreas, I have not been allowed to eat or drink at all or starved for 12 hour periods which have nearly killed me! I had to let my pancreas calm down, without the process of digesting food, this was also a reason why I wasn’t allowed to eat. After my endoscopy, I was put on a liquid diet. Dinner was a bowl of chicken stock, breakfast was a cup of tea and juice and I couldn’t wait for some proper food.  I have been soaking up the food I have been allowed like soup and tea. I felt terrible setting off the massive alarm, with the nurse running in just to ask for a tea.

 

 

 

I get a little bored in here but I have decided to call it my palace. My room is quiet big and I have a big window I can open up and soak up the fresh air from outside whilst I read or just listen to music. I do some glute exercises and have my daily stretch , just to move out of my bed. We had a crazy storm the first night so I had prime position to watch from my window. The same guy comes in and wheels me around in a wheel chair or moves my bed to different rooms. There is only so much Masterchef I can watch especially being on verge of starvation but I always had company, when the young nurse also enjoyed my choice of shows. The English of the staff is very good but goggle translator has helped us out this week in getting the important things communicated.  We have been having trouble all week with the blood pressure machine. My heart rate is too low that the machine couldn’t pick up anything under 40. We finally got a special machine in and found out my heart rate was 35 sitting up in a chair. I would love to know what it is when I am fully relaxed! To everyone that has visited me so far this week in hospital and brought me gifts, I appreciate it so much and the chats! It has been the best part of my days so far and I love the company to make my days go alittle faster.

I was allowed to go home on Friday with some special doctor’s orders to help me get better and maintain my health. I walked straight out the door, looked up at the sky and soaked in the fresh air. It felt so good to walk outside. I rode myself to the hospital on Tuesday and it was actually nice to ride myself back home.  I was straight onto our dietician Greg Cox, to help me choose the right diet to help the inflammation stay down and get me back to working order.  Thanks Iñigo Mujika for helping me get the treatment I need so quick here in Vitoria. Now to get better and stronger for the remaindered of the season!