[Nutkin]

Hi there. I promised I would let everyone know how I got on with my swim on Saturday. I was fortunate with the weather. It was warm and sunny here in the midlands of KwaZulu Natal which is where the Midmar Dam is situated. We swam at 8.15am on the Saturday, and there were people without arms and legs as well as me with my injured brain.

As the race started I tried to swim crawl, but I must have been tense or stressed, as every time I put my head under the water, I gulped in a huge mouthful of the dam. After about 100m I settled into backstroke and crawl, with an odd bit of breastroke in between.

The race is across one of the bays in the dam, and I must say, it felt like miles. I was also very cock eye and went zig zagging from buoy to buoy. I probably ended up covering about 1700m by the end of the race. When I could eventually see the finish, I really tried to make both of my arms and legs work, and I suddenly became more determined to finish.

Eventually, I was at the finish, and I stood to try and walk, did two steps and went straight down again. Talk about a speed wobble. My time was 56mins 56secs, so although very slow, I finished, and was not last by any means. For one year after getting my diffuse axonal injury, I was very leased and proud to have finished. Come on the rest of you. You CAN do these things. It's just a lot of hard work and pushing.

[poetrymom]

What a great accomplishment. Go you! These milestones are very important and stories of success are essential to helping others heal too. (My strong belief)

Maybe you can even put this post over in the stickie about hope and healing.

Keep on with the good work.

Sincerely, and trying to live more gently

poetrymom