Since my last post I have managed to gently persuade and encourage my wife to take up karate not only for the health benefits but all so we have a shared interest and have something we can do together. She began training about 4 months ago and has successfully attained a yellow belt. We took our grading together which was nice and though I struggled with my own grading I managed to get through it and get my purple belt though I suspect I was very close to not passing the grading as I struggled to remember the kata. Julie on the other hand was fantastic and flew through Tokyoko and Pinan Nidan.
We have also been on holiday and went to Cuba for two weeks which was absolutely amazing and by far the most beautiful country I have visited. It was even nicer than the Dominican Republic which we visited last year. The people in cuba are so terribly humble, friendly and bend over backwards to make you feel welcome. We stayed at the hotel Playa Pesquero, a huge complex with its own beach in the Holguin province. The food and drink was fantastic with plenty of variety in the form of both freshly cooked while you wait to buffet style and every cocktail you could expect from a carrbean country was on offer. Also due to Cuban law the hotel also had its own 24 hour doctor and pharmacy which we found useful at the end of our holiday.
We partook in two excursions. The first been a trip on a catamaran to some pristine coral reefs to snorkel for an hour or so before heading back. the coral whilst nice was not really worth the trip or expense as we had seen coral reefs just as nice without need to sail out.
Our second trip out was and excursions called Holguins green trail. this excursion was fundamentally intended to allow visitors to visit local villages, plantations and factories to see how real Cubans lived. This trip was fantastic and made me realise not just how much we take for granted but also how much capitalism and relentless need for the next hot gadget has ruined our society and morals.
If anybody reading this ever gets chance to visit Cuba, do so but do it in the next five years because once America gets its foot in the door this country will not be the same.
Our holiday took a horrible turn on the second to last day when Joseph began complaining of his knee hurting. Naturally we believed he must have hurt is while messing about in the pool so gave him Ibuprofen. however that evening he woke up in bed in agony, more Ibuprofen and painkillers were given and the next day we went to the doctors. The doctor however was out on call and we were told to go back in he afternoon. Joseph seemed better and was limping slightly. He wanted to go to the pool as he had met a girl and thinking that been in water would take pressure off his leg we decided to let him go. He had seemed fine until he told us he wanted to go back to the apartment because he was feeling hot. he got out of the pool barely able to walk and I had to support most of his weight. Whilst walking back to the apartment he said he felt weird and collapsed in my arms.
He had passed out, It was terribly frightening. our first thoughts was he had sun stroke so we got him back as quickly as we could and tried to cool him down and phoned for the doctor.
We noticed his knee had swollen up and the doctor said he had an infection and gave us antibiotics and paracetamol to give him. We were due to to fly back the next day and had to get a safe to fly certificate from the doctor the following morning which we got.
When we landed in the UK we went straight to our local hospital where Joseph spent 4 days and nights and was diagnosed with reactive Arthritis possibly brought on by a throat infection before we went on on holiday. Joseph still has this form of arthritis which can last up to 6 months, he has good day, bad days and days when he is so fed up of the pain and not been able to walk properly that he burst into tears. I am however incredibly proud of how he has handled his illness and the bravery he showed in hospital. I am incredibly grateful to the doctor in Cuba who put our minds at ease and enabled Joseph to be fit enough to fly home.
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