Wednesday 29 August 2012

Like a Duck to Water

Yet another long overdue blog but hey ho, sometimes life gets a bit hectic. I’m really quite excited at the moment as, yes you’ve guessed it, I’ve started swimming again. It’s a long story so please bear with me, as I want to start from the beginning. All my life Mum and I were told that I would never be able to go swimming because of the chlorine in the water and my Ichthyosis. We were advised that it would cause more harm than good so to speak. I went through school longing to just join in with my friends in the swimming lessons in PE classes, but I was the one who had to sit and watch everyone else have fun, and every time I sat down on the chair to watch from behind the glass my eyes would well up with emotion because I wanted to join in so badly. Somehow I managed to hold back the tears, although I don’t know how. And then I’d get on with the rest of the school day as if nothing had happened (so to speak). And that was that. In the mid 2000’s I became friends with another family who were affected by the same type of Ichthyosis Rebecca and I have. Since school swimming has always been on my mind, thinking of all the what ifs etc, it even became an ambition if you like to get in a pool and learn to swim. So by chance I found out that the Father of this family had always gone swimming and took his children and it posed no problems for them. So I thought, right, I’m going for it I have to at least try. So when I went on holiday later that year with my sister, her husband and their little boy there was a swimming pool on the complex and I decided to give it a go. And I really did take to it like a duck to water. I walked into that pool as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I wasn’t scared in the slightest and best of all the chlorine didn’t sting my skin. I was in my element. It was the best feeling in the world. When I got back from that holiday, I made enquiries about having lessons, and found a local pool and got stuck in. I loved every minute of it. However, at the time I was having lessons, the leisure centre where I had my lessons were having refurbishment work done, so in order to get to their new temporary changing rooms I had to walk past the main door which was an automatic door and so was open most of the time, it was freezing cold. I ended up getting one cold after another and it was getting me down. So I stopped going. Since having my 2 beautiful children, I didn’t want either of them to miss out on anything, moreso Rebecca. Now that I know that it doesn’t affect my skin, I certainly don’t want her to feel left out. When I was little my Mum was just following Doctor’s orders which any mother would do, myself included. So there is absolutely no blame whatsoever, she just wanted what was best for me and I completely respect that. But times have since changed and knowing what I know now compared to back then, I know she won’t miss out and I have to say I’m delighted. We all started going to our local pool as a family a few weeks ago now. For our first visit Vince and his Dad took Daniel in the pool while me and Rebecca watched, as I wanted to take it one step at a time with us. Next time, I went to the disabled session on my own to see how I got on before we took Rebecca as regards my skin. I loved it, it was amazing and everyone there was fine and really nice. Everytime I go, it’s hard to explain, but I only need to smell the chlorine and it takes me back to when I was at school longing to just get in and swim. I get overwhelmed with emotion all over again. Mixed with excitement that I’m actually going swimming now. I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me. Sounds silly I know as it’s something so trivial and ‘normal’ to go swimming for most people. But imagine being told all your life that you can’t do something, only to find out years later, actually you can. It’s an amazing feeling and I feel such a sense of achievement from it. The first time we took Rebecca in the pool with us I was a bit nervous, but I needn’t have been. She too took to the water so well. She loves having a bath which helps with the pool. She absolutely loves it and it has had no ill effect on her skin so far. I am so proud of her, and Daniel too of course. Daniel is doing so well. I’m hoping to sign up for regular lessons again soon and I can’t wait. Yes I was wary of people staring because of the way my skin looks wet or dry - for those who don't know, those with Ichthyosis, the skin isn’t waterproof due to a lack of a certain protein, therefore the skin just turns white in colour and goes ‘soggy’ as I call it. It takes a long time to dry too. But I’ve adapted a new routine for Rebecca and I for after we’ve come out of the pool. Rebecca has a swimsuit with sleeves and legs in them so she is covered, and I wrap a large towel around us both when we get out. I however, have a regular swimming costume and am past caring what people think. If they want to stare, let them they might learn something from it. The only thing that really bothers me is if the staff say something. But so far so good (touch wood). By discriminating against me they are in my mind discriminating against my daughter too and I won’t tolerate it. My ultimate goal as regards swimming, is to complete a sponsored swim for Ichthyosis and EB (Friends of Ichthyosis and Debra in particular), so if you would like to show your support for this event (will be a while before I do it yet obviously, need to get those lesssons in lol) then please comment here or post on my face book page. I’ll need all the support I can get. Thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it. Can’t believe I’m one step closer to realising one of my dreams (yes I said one of... Got many more where they came from).