I have discovered that my physiotherapist Dave Sheppard is not actually a physiotherapist at all – he is an ancient wizard. I woke up today lugging a big case of the blues. My foot hurt so much it actually woke me at about 5am. I just lay there. Very demotivated and couldn’t go for my Monday swim. It was a beautiful, sunny Manly day and the surf was flat. Due to the pain, as I hobbled about getting dressed for work, I almost conceded that I wouldn’t be going to the NT. Still you never achieve anything if you give up hope. I wish it wasn’t so important to me to go up to Katherine and get this thing done. I could do the smart thing. Stay in Sydney and take it easy. As they said in The Wire, “You can’t lose if you don’t play.”  But then again you can’t win either if you don’t play . I think I’d rather play for the win.

I was trying to work out how to tell Barry. Marg Carney kindly offered to drive me into the city. She is a gem. I hobbled about all day seeing clients, reviewing reports and answering the phone.  Caught the ferry back to Manly for a prearranged meeting with Dave Sheppard at MGS Physiotherapy at 6pm. Help Dave….. I want to go on this trip! I thought that I would cop a blast from him. The MGS staff couldn’t believe it when I came in on crutches. A month previously I had steamed in under my own power bragging about how well I was going and telling them I was on the way to a full recovery.

Dave couldn’t believe it either when he saw me and my trusty aluminium Canadians. I explained what happened in the gym. He tested my foot confirming no stress fractures –  that nothing is broken. He said I’ve strained the plantar ligament in my foot. It runs from the heel across the top of the instep and attaches to the toes. By rocking forward on my toes in the squat, then standing up, it copped too much pressure and just gave up. To my surprise he didn’t can the trip. He did a massage, some ultrasound and then did an amazing strapping job which took away all the pain.

“Don’t cancel those plane tickets yet. I want to see you on Thursday and bring your hiking boots, “he said,

Amen to that. If he asked me to crawl naked down the Corso I’d do it if it helped me get on this trip. The strapping made all the pain go away and that’s when I realised that if there had been a role for a wizard – physiotherapist in the Harry Potter movies, Dave would have got the gig. I’m still lost in the trackless wilderness of complications from tibial plateau surgery but for a day that started so badly I at least have some hope as I go to bed. And I’m blessed in the help I’ve been able to get.

Still playing for the win.