I AM ON THE MEND. YIPEEE!! 

A stint in hospital  Pneumonia as patient number 1444, and then banished to my bed by mum with a bucket load of antibiotics and pain killers I have finally turned a corner and am defiantly on the mend.

 
For those of you who didn´t know i am a certified Personal Trainer, Sports masseur and nutritionist.  I studied for this Diploma over two years ago in the UK, and use all my knowledge and apply it to my kiting in order to perform to the highest of my ability at all times.

So when i learned that I had an illness that potentially could affect my performance as an athlete I took an interest to look deeper into the condition, to help me understand what caused it, how to prevent it, and how to get better as quickly as possible.   In brief this is what i found out.

Pneumonia is a serious lung condition where the lungs fill up with  fluid and create severe difficulty breathing.  It is the inflammation of the lung typically caused by infection (either viral or bacterial).

Pneumonia can start as a common cold and develop into an illness that if not diagnosed can potentially kill you.

With antibiotics the infection in the lungs can be cleared although it takes longer for the liquid to drain.  Depending on the severity of the illness the lung tissue recovery time differs,  but in my case i will be 6 weeks from today. 

I was lucky that the doctors spotted it in time for it not to do too much damage to my right lung. I am the first to admit that letting it get to this stage could have been prevented had I listened to my body in the first place, and not kept on training as I really felt the pressure of the competition season fast approaching. As a result the expression "shooting yourself in the foot" applies to me !!!!!!! 

This however will not stop me from getting back to my normal life of working, training and competing, and hopefully in a few more days I will be allowed out of the "Dog House" and mum will let me go back to Tarifa.  I am under strict doctors orders to take it easy and to never ever get cold standing around in my wetsuit with dripping hair!!! - -  after the doctors "Harsh " words -  and the theory of practice what you preach, they handed me more pills and wished me good luck with the competitions............ and the lung !

Looks like i will be in my winter suit well into august!!!!