Not the best day today!

It started with Karen waking up and being virtually unable to walk because of pain in her left buttock and groin.

She took some morphine (10mg) and 2 codeine. Her walking was very laboured and quite saddening to watch.

We went for some breakfast but things didn’t improve. Karen was very keen for it not to spoil the day. She was keen to use the day practising her snorkelling. Before the accident, Karen was very comfortable in the water but now she is completely the opposite.

So, taking advantage of the glorious weather, we oiled up and headed to the beach. I went in first and without a wet suit it felt cool at first and I instantly thought kp wouldn’t even make it upto her knees. I had a refreshing snorkel and saw some cornetfish and some parrotfish and thought she’d love it.

So, I went back to pick the limping Karen up and led her to the beach. It all started great and she made it upto chest height in the water-all was good.

So we kitted her up with the snorkel and mask, took a photo and it was time to get her prone. Now, the Red Sea is very salty and when prone face down with a snorkel, you remain totally on the surface, totally buoyant.

And we got her prone no problem and she stayed there for about 10 seconds, but then she vice-gripped my arm, a sure sign she wanted to get upright, which I helped her achieve.

She was very unnerved that she couldn’t right herself but wanted to continue. So she got prone again and I led her by swimming and pulling her to where the cornetfush were hanging out.

But after about 20 seconds, she panicked again but this time we were too deep for me to stand up. So, I had to pull her onto her back and drag her back by pulling her head and swimming at the same time until I could stand up.

Once we were both able to stand up, Karen felt calm again, but didn’t want to try again understandably. We think her new pain made things worse and her inability to get from prone to vertical herself made her very nervous/anxious.

So, no tears yet. We had a bit more time on the beach before heading back for a cup of tea. Once back, the tears started…… She was very disillusioned with how the attempt went, thinking that if she can’t do it from the beach, what chance does she have off a boat. I tried to explain that it would be very different with a lifejacket on and with fins. So , we’re going to leave it for day or so and reassess how her pain is and how she feels about it.

We spent most of the afternoon enjoying the sun by the pool. Karen’s pain is still there, so we’re going to get a KFC in the room in the hope that resting will improve her body.

Upto now she has taken 4x codeine and 5x10mg morphine and the pain is still there. Fingers crossed she’s feeling better tomorrow.

KFC time …..