Our darling Doris is terrified of fireworks we recently found out. Really terrified, she has worryingly long panic attacks as I mentioned recently. Having seen her panic, I knew I didn’t want to just “wait and see” if she’d be alright. So we have been using Adaptil stress relief tablets for dogs.
About a fortnight ago I got a nasty shock, we were all sat on the sofa watching TV one evening and six fireworks went off. They weren’t massive but they utterly terrified Doris. We didn’t know she was afraid of fireworks as we only adopted her in January, after Bonfire night and New Years midnight fireworks. It was very worrying for us seeing her, she was shaking and crying so much she started to struggle breathing, followed by a fluctuating heartbeat. Every little movement or noise got her all worked up again. It was heartbreaking to watch her struggling, there really wasn’t much we could do except stroke her and tell her she was safe. Her panic attack lasted around 2 hours, as an owner with PTSD who has panic attacks I understood her fear.
Well guess what? At the weekend I skydived again with team #MMskydive but there was a big difference. I was still very much afraid but this time I didn’t hate it. When you arrive at a skydiving centre for a tandem jump you will have to sign waivers and the like, the small print of this can be frightening enough. You might be asked to sign medical forms and you will be asked about next of kin. Some centres will also ask you to step on the scales, despite how nosey this might feel it is a wise thing to know, planes are often loaded up to make the weight as even as possible. Also if you are deceptively heavy for your appearance (as I allegedly am) you need to be with a tandem partner who will cope with a person your size just in case there is an issue. […]
Right now I am in my garage. It’s nearly midnight but I am training for the weekend. A bit late perhaps, but I need my knee to move freely by Sunday morning. You see skydiving doesn’t require much physical fitness, except you need to raise your legs out high and straight whilst your instincts and gravity itself is fighting you. It doesn’t sound hard does it, to raise your own legs out in front of you whilst falling in a parachute harness but it really is. Up in freefall I can barely breathe, so right now I’m pedaling my exercise bike so fast I’m breathing funny. I really am terrified of heights, but because I have skydived twice before no one believes me. I’ll tell you something, that twenty minutes or so from when I walk towards a plane, to when I’m stood back on solid ground is hell. It […]
