All-round fitness

As mentioned in the post on my knee injury, I do try to keep fit. In my younger days lots of sports, then distance running and more recently cycling.

Almost as a joke, I've referred to my body shape as 'legs like tree trunks, arms like spaghetti'; however, the knee injury and follow-up exercises plus pilates classes has made me realise that just doing a single type of aerobic exercise may not be enough, and pilates has shown just how imbalanced I am.

More recently, I've just completed a really interesting course with the excellent Futurelearn (free online courses, via the Open University https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ ) on the Musculoskeletal system. Really interesting and informative, identifies potential problems with ageing and offers advice (including exercise, diet, weight management) on how to potentially reduce the impact of the ageing process.

Coincidentally my wife and I treated ourselves to a spa break a few weeks ago and, at the excellent exercise classes, learnt various strength training activities using weights and resistance bands.

As a further motivator, I've had foot pain problems recently and had an initial appointment with a podiatrist - more strength and balance exercises recommended.

As a result, I'm allocating more time to strength and flexibility and less to 'just putting in the cycling miles'. First impressions are positive. Less aches and pain and definitely feeling more flexible and able to do more physical work (diy, gardening, for example). A couple of minor aches due, I suspect, to underused muscles being coaxed into use but these reduce quickly.

Makes me think that the NHS could usefully put more effort into preventative advice. It's expensive to just fix problems; preventative advice, which often already exists (see here for example) could be made more widely available via leaflets, emails to patients and even in public health messages on television and websites such as the BBC.

I've created a very simple 'home gym', using fairly light (3 and 5 kg) weights, exercise bands, hand grip exercisers and a Bosu Ball, in addition, of course, to my bikes (including one on a power-measuring turbo trainer, in the garage) for more aerobic exercise.

So far, motivation is good!

A&E - not me this time though.

The situation - My wife was taken ill at a theatre event passed out and bumped her head. This was around 7:20pm on a Friday, with the event due to start at 7:30.

She was semi-concious and vomiting very severely; an ambulance was called. The theatre staff were brilliant and delayed the event whilst she recovered sufficiently to be carried out of the auditorium into a screened-off area.

It took over an hour for the ambulance to arrive; the staff were professional and very pleasant. They did some checks and advised a visit to A&E; I followed in my car and parked in the hospital multi-storey.

We arrived a little after 9pm, I think. 

The staff were, without exception, pleasant, professional and communicated well. Basic checks, blood tests, CAT scan to check for any head problems, diagnosis food poisoning. She was discharged a little after 1:15am on the Saturday.

A few things that I have suggested to the hospital that they should perhaps address:

- Car park. 

The ground floor (where I was parked) ticket machine was out of order and the only other one, on the second floor, did not take credit cards. 

The exit was difficult to find (a tiny sign) and to get to A&E to pick up my wife was more than difficult - I ended up reversing the wrong way down a one-way road from the car park exit to get to the entrance. 

- Cleanliness.

In the A&E cubicles (we were in two during the stay) there was a thick layer of dust, almost fluff, on horizontal surfaces such as gas valves, electrical sockets surrounds etc. These could not have been cleaned for days. The floor was similarly dusty (I could peel off a layer of fluff on the bed/trolley wheels with my shoe) and various bits of paper, tear-offs from electrodes and more were on the floor. 
- Equipment
The first ECG machine didn't work properly. The nurse operating it said that it had been faulty for ages but not repaired or replaced. She had to go and find another one - there was a time-wasting delay for all concerned as none were immediately available.

Nonetheless, the care provided was excellent and was much appreciated.