Dr. Don’s a good sort.
Particularly so if you hold up your end of the bargain.
I don’t think I’ve seen him happier (in a consult room) than when he read the note from my physio. His first question, “Did you pay her?” When I said not so much, he quipped, “Did you make her jewellery??” Then he got a really big grin on his face and asked question number three. “You’re competing??” When I assured him that was, in fact, the case, he was practically hopping up and down with glee.
Okay, well, maybe not exactly hopping. He’s a surgeon. They tend not to be easily excited. But definitely gleeful.
When I asked him if I was a Poster Girl, still grinning, he assured me I most certainly was. “Look how far you’ve come! You’re slim, you’re trim, you’re
training!!” The very idea that qualifying for Worlds might be a possibility made his day, and he immediately put in a request for a post card.
He remembered I had sent him a post card when I went to Alaska.
After the standard movement tests we discussed turns, Wendy = backstroke avoidance, and the fact that Coach Duane would like me to do more team practices. We are both pretty much committed to the back crawl avoidance (although double arm back is a possibility). Then he asked me an interesting question. Would I be willing to take a couple of
Motrin before I train? I decided I would be at my “home pool” but not before club practices, because I have to get home on the bus. There’s too big a chance I’d push it too hard and end up at the not able to walk stage. And we both agreed we don’t want that.
He then took me next door to an antiquated desk and wrote me a referral to the
Ottawa High Performance Centre (specifically for
athletic therapy targeting trunk range of motion, especially rotation). That would be in conjunction to the physio I am currently doing (which he doesn’t want me to stop!). He thinks it might be a few visits centred on turn dynamics. Dr. Don is not just a fine surgeon and associate prof at
Ottawa U, he’s a runner himself, and head team physician with the
Sens. So he knows something about high performance.
He then reminded me that it is important for me to eat properly, take my vitamins, and avoid stressing my immune system, in his words "all important things for athletes that we didn't think were so important when we were younger".
This last bit in deference to a comment I made about he and I growing older together. In parting he stressed that if I weren’t to meet the qualifying standards for Worlds, I should not be disappointed. Instead I should be pleased and encouraged with all I’ve managed to achieve.
He’s a good sort.
Still on the making souvenirs bent, here's a necklace design I quite like that goes with the earrings I showed yesterday. The 6 x 4 ovals are the same turquoise from the Sleeping Beauty mine in Globe, Arizona. The delicate spring ring means you can wear this as a Y necklace (shown and clickable) or as a regular tin cup style.
N.B. Images clickable, except the big screen tv. Oh, and say, 
