Simon says...

Simon Irwin is my osteopath. He is about 28 I think, ex-rugby player, great bloke to talk to while he's cracking your spine and pulling you back into shape.

He also does sports physio stuff and, amazingly, has done a course on Lymphoedema. So I was looking forward to a good chat with him on my visit last Wednesday. Here's a rough guide to his advice as I remember it (I was very reassured I am on the right track):

• Keep the arm raised whenever you can
• Being in the cast is good in that you can't swell any more than that
• Cut down a sleeve and keep it on the upper arm down to where it meets the cast. (I did this as soon as I could stand the pain - about a week after the accident, and tend to keep it on day and night)
• Do your lymphoedema exercises and stretch as much as possible (this is a gradual process, but I was back at full stretch I think about the end of week 2)
• Move the fingers as much and as often as possible. Massage them gently with moisturiser
• Jogging is fine. Do what you can, but don't push the limits, just be sensible

And when the cast comes off, he reckons it will take twice as long as normal to get back to where I was. I think that's conservative where I'm concerned, but only because I want to do some diving end of December so will be pushing to get back to fighting fit. Simon's main suggstions were...

• Swim as much as possible, its great all-round exercise and will get the arm working well
• Build the weights back up gradually (I do half my lymphoedema exercises with 2kg weights) - get a lighter set of weights to start with, if necessary. (I think I will just gradually increase the proportion of exercises I do with the weights, which is how I started with them in the first place)
• Accept that, even though the muscles were strong before the accident, they will have lost a lot and will need to be built back up gently and consistently. And it will take longer than for someone without lymphoedema

So there we have it. Obviously Simon is not a specialist, but I have a feeling Eunice would not disagree with much. And it was so great to have the reassurance!