On The Mend

Six and a half days after grading I'm definitely on the mend. I took my instructor's advice and visited a sports physio. He said to keep the thought of a fracture in the back of my mind, as he had had no opportunity to view the x-rays, but that ligament damage was the most likely cause. He told me that I need RICE - rest, ice, compression and elevation. As if I don't have enough of that in my diet already.

Had to see the doc on Thursday and his advice was to walk on it to aid the circulation. My wife was so concerned about my foot that she picked me up from work to take me to the clinic. I asked the doc if he would write my wife a note about walking on it. His reply? "I don't write notes to wives. It's too dangerous."

Interesting that he had quite an opposing view and I tend to trust the physio more as he actually treats sports injuries instead of just diagnosing them.

On the mend six and a half days later

As you can see from the photo the bruises have cleared up quite a bit. My missus was worried that I might get some form of blood poisoning and told me that in Korea the doctors will remove the blood in the bruise. I don't see the point in interfering with the natural healing of the body.

Out Of Action For A While

Thursday night saw The Boy and I mucking around in the backyard with a sword fight. Only using rolled up newspaper though. I had sandals on, which I'm not particularly fond of, and The Boy had shoes. At one stage he lunged towards me and the quick pain that I felt made me think that he had trodden on my big toe. The truth of the matter was not quite so nice. His shoe had caught underneath my big toe and caused it to split down the middle and one side had been lifted up. Ay ay ay!

I went inside and cut it back with the nail clippers as much as I dared and considered putting superglue on it but with superglue being an anhydrous product I decided against it. Looks like I'll be out of taekwondo action for a few more days. Luckily we have a public holiday on Monday and that will give me nearly a week to recover. I didn't take any photos of this so you don't need to worry.

He's A Marked Man. So Am I.

I enjoy my taekwondo. I especially like sparring against someone of a higher rank with, obviously, more skill than myself. I've always found that playing sport against better opponents, such as golf, brought out the best in myself due to my competitive nature. I'd try harder to bring myself up to their level. Taekwondo is no different. There is one particular 4th dan that I enjoy sparring against as I let him have it. With his considerable skill he shouldn't have any trouble handling me.

Monday last week I was sparring with a two-tip blue belt, 5th geup, (I'm a 9th geup so four levels below him) and he advanced towards me. I went to move backwards but he accidentally stepped on my foot. Then he unleashed a side kick into my quadricep. And I couldn't move. Talk about an immediate dead leg.

It took two days for the bruise to come out although you could certainly feel it. And it was quite black. Much like an Aunty-type bruise. There was still quite a bit of soreness associated with it so it wasn't until Friday that I returned to the scene of the crime, er, accident.

As my opponent entered the room he was heading out the back to get changed. I marked an X on his shoulder and told him that he was a marked man. Then I showed him the bruise. Funnily enough who do you think I had to spar with at the end of the class? Yeah, you probably guessed it. And didn't he run around like a scared chicken! I had no intention of hurting him but landed a few kicks to the midriff. Just so that he knew I could get through his defences. It was rather fun toying with him like that as I'd already psyched him out.

Five day old bruise. The camera takes most of the dark colour out of it.

First Blood Split For New Taekwondo Season

Today saw the return of taekwondo. My groin has been expecting the onset of this and has been giving me sympathy pains for the last couple of days, fully expecting that the pain would be forthcoming.

I'm glad that it wasn't too warm today. Only 29 degrees C. But not having exercised for a few weeks and, perhaps, having overindulged in the interim, the sweat was evident not too long after starting. I spilt almost as much blood as sweat though. Simple case of splitting one toenail and bending another on a shield. Obviously didn't do the kick correctly.

If there's no blood then you're not trying hard enough.

Bloody toes.

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On The Mend

I'm officially on the mend. The knee is finally pain free when I flex and the scab should fall off sometime this week. It's difficult to resist picking at it though.

When people at work ask me what I did to my knee I tell them that I survived the shark attack at Port Kennedy. I do get a few very surprised looks until they realise that I'm joking. Then I tell them the real story.

Knee on the mend four days after being skinned.

Don't Race A Dog At Night Time In Unfamiliar Territory On Undulating Land

We spent the afternoon with some good friends in Rockingham yesterday. Lots of time chatting, mucking about in the pool all followed by a lovely BBQ tea. Just before 9pm we took the four dogs that were in the house at the time for a walk. I had Bonnie on a leash and started to jog with her. Bonnie likes a run and took off. Well, me being the competitive idiot that I am raced her. In the dark. On an unbeknowngst undulating bit of land. As I was passing her I went to take the next step and the land wasn't there as it had dropped a bit. When me leg did touch down it was knee first on a brick paver. And so lots of skin was removed.

My skinned knee. Did a good job, eh?

After we arrived home we put Dettol on it. I was surprised that it didn't sting. And we weren't game to bandage it last night in case the bandage became part of the wound. I'm guessing that it'll be a few days before it scabs over properly and just that bit longer before I race a dog at nighttime in unfamiliar territory on undulating land.