Water Can Kill You - Approach with Caution

There was some discussion around whether or not she would rescue me from drowning, but ultimately the thought of having to explain a dead body to the police was the deciding factor.

My S.O. is away on business for a couple of weeks, so I gladly accepted an invitation to a cottage for a couple of days. We're in the middle of 30C+ heat and lovely July humidity, so being out of the city is something to look forward to. 

Physio guy spent lots of time working with me on walking on uneven terrain (read: walking on the grass) so I could cope with the brief walk from car to cottage and from cottage to dock.  Fortunately a huge, solid dock so the risk of falling into the lake is pretty slim.  Thanks to physio's help and preparation, I have been able to successfully navigate the grass and very small hill.

But it's hot, and I am a strong swimmer.  Nothing Olympic worthy or record breaking, but I can hold my own in the water.  Every physio person has told me that swimming would be an excellent addition to my rehab, but (so far) pool decks are much too slippery for me .... not so much with a lake.

After some discussion around how to get in and out, exactly (and the resulting teasing of whether or not to haul me out or let me drown), I decided to go for it.  My initial instinct was to just jump off the dock ... how hard can it be to get in the water?  It's getting out that needs the effort.  I made several attempts to get in the water: there was some standing on the ladder before I decided that that wasn't going to work and there was more deliberation about just jumping in. Finally I took a floaty, wore my sandals, took my canes, and wobbled in from the shore.

You would think by now that nothing would surprise me.  I was shocked.  My legs were not behaving, and not only were they not behaving, they were almost dead weight.  Jumping in off the end of the dock would have been disastrous. A very high risk of panic, and things don't go well when you panic.  By "walking" in, I was able to float around for a few minutes and make a few feeble attempts at kicking my feet, but the experience was not even close to what I was expecting.

Fortunately I didn't come close to drowning and Lucy didn't have any 'splainin to do.