My weekend angst

Last Thursday I discovered that I had a mild case of cellulitis in my right leg. It was a bit pink and warm to the touch. I had had a high fever on Tuesday night, and a lower one on Wednesday. I thought it was the flu. The Foot Clinic prescribed an intramuscular injection of antibiotics for two weeks. They gave me the first one, in the butt cheek, and arranged with the District Nurses to come and continue this for two weeks.

However, HWMBO and I had planned for a month a day trip on Saturday to Liverpool, and since I had to wait for the District Nurse, I couldn't go. I was gutted.

On Saturday the nurse finally arrived at 2 pm, and I told him my tale of woe. He asked me, "Why didn't they show you how to do the injection yourself?" I was flabbergasted. I hadn't been aware that patients could do this. So I could have gone to Liverpool yesterday after all.

This afternoon he came by around 12:30, and taught me how to clean up beforehand, mix the antibiotic, draw it into the syringe, change the needle, and administer the injection. As the antibiotic is mixed with lignocaine, an anesthetic, I felt nothing, although I was aware of the antibiotic entering my thigh muscle. It was also interesting that I could tell when I was going through fat and when I hit the muscle solely by the way the needle felt as it was going in.

On reflection, I should have known that this was possible, as I have friends who are female-to-male transmen, and when they are on testosterone (or "T"), they do an intramuscular injection once a week, and are taught how to do that by their endocrinologist or the endocrinologist's nurse.

So tomorrow one of the District Nurses will come by to watch me do it and deliver smaller needles for the injections. Then I'll be left to do it myself. I shall have a quiet word with the Foot Clinic. Maybe it will help.

Tom Daley wins bronze in the 10 metre platform diving

Now those of you who know me well will know that I am mostly not interested in sport. However, I have been captivated by Tom Daley's performances this last week. He is young, fabulously talented, gorgeous, and someone who obviously loves what he does, gives it everything he's got, and is absolutely overjoyed when he wins.

Diving has been monopolised by two countries in the past: the United States and the People's Republic of China. The event yesterday is summarised in this article, but what I want to concentrate on is the medal ceremony and celebrations.

The American was tight-lipped but smiling as he ascended the podium. Tom Daley, after jumping with his entire coaching and support team into the pool, all of them fully clothed except Tom, ascended the podium and when his name was announced, broke into a broad grin and jumped up and down for what seemed the longest time. He was absolutely thrilled and overcome with joy, and it makes my eyes a bit moist just to remember it.

The Chinese teenager, Qiu Bo, when he came in second, wept at the warming pool. And by the time he got to the podium, he was as unsmiling as those ubiquitous portraits of Chairman Mao in Beijing. He managed a weak smile once or twice while the three winners were doing their victory lap, and a bit of a smile when posing for a group shot with the other winners, but otherwise he was emotionless and expressionless, as inscrutable as the Chinese are often said to be but really are not.

There's a lesson here: Not everyone can come in first, but if you are close enough to be second, third, or even last, you have succeeded. And taking joy in life, wherever you finish, is a prerequisite for happiness throughout life.

Tom has also had his schoolwork to do, and this year he got four A grades in his A-levels (final exams before university), even though he has been training for the longest time. The Chinese divers are separated out early in life, only given rudimentary education, and pushed relentlessly to train and work out for their events.

I hope that Tom, who has had his share of heartbreak in life this year (his dad died young of a brain tumour earlier this year, and he and his diving partner came in fourth in the synchronised 10 m platform diving), continues to be able to take as much joy out of his life as he showed last night. He is a model for us all, and I am overjoyed that such a man is succeeding.