Update

Well it's been a while since I've updated and a lot has happened. I'll start from the start. Well my hand problem continued to haunt me after the holiday season and after a lot of MRI's and other exams Portuguese doctors concluded that I had a compression in my artery up by my shoulder which was halting the blood flow. So in the end after much deliberation I decided I wanted to go back to Australia and get it all sorted out and have an operation there in order to be ready for selection for the Olympic Qualification Tour starting May 3rd.

Then I had problems getting tickets home, unfortunatelly the travel agent had booked a fairly non-flexible ticket, so after a lot of organising through the help of the Aus team manager we had to upgrade the ticket to an extra level of economy (extra $300 for me) to get me home without waiting another month. Finally this was worked out and gave me 1 more week before I went home. So I decided to head out of Portugal to change scenery and went up to Sweden to visit Greg, Thorpey, Will and Johnny up in the cold north. Spent 4 full days there hanging with the boys, Will's sis Jen and there various friends. Was a great time culminating in an Australia day party where we belted out the national anthem in great patriotic style, much to the ammusement of onlooking Swedes.

So soon it was over and I was on the plane home, I found it very dissapointing to leave a contract early. Our team seemed to finally be gathering a little momentum and I felt that I could of helped a lot if I was fit, especially with playoffs around the corner. In the end Castelo finished 7th, played the 2nd place team and lost 15-12 in the 5th in the first match. From what the boys told me they had the opposition on the ropes but couldn't land the killer blow. I'll always wonder what difference I coulda made!!! The lost the 2nd match 3-1, it was pretty close in a few sets but obviously we werent quite good enough.

So back to Australia, spent 4 days at home which was aweseome. Absolutelly loving the warm weather, even though i'm still extremely white! For the last 3 weeks I've been in Canberra, great to see al the boys again and made friends with a lot of the new faces around here. I'm also impressed with the improvement of a lot of the young boys over here.

So the hand, well after a few weeks off, with the hotter climate and physio I'm actually able to train fully now, quite amazing. However I'm still needing surgery cause my hand is far from good. The doctors diagnosis here is however completely different to that in Portugal. Apparently some nerver is spasming a lot and therefore affecting the blood flow to my hand. I had an injection to dull that nerve for a few hrs to see if it made a difference. BINGO, my hand went warm and pink again, so now I'm having surgery tomorrow to have the nerve destroyed, probably gonna be pretty painful but i'm sure it'll all work out for the best. Recovery time should be about 4-6 weeks. I'll be sure to let everyone know how the surgery went!

Oh and when you go to the beach in Australia make sure who ever put sunscreen on your back put's it on all of your back!!!!