There’s always something…
Be prepared – Medical
I have been planning my pilot training for some months now, way before I started this blog. One of the first things recommended to all new starters is to get your medical done early. Before you blow a large chunk of money on training, find out you can pass it, without it you will never fly solo !
The plan was to use the saved up pot of cash in the dedicated account to pay for my kit and medical before anything else. With the starter kit, headgear etc. already purchased, all seemed to be going fine until I decided to pay a visit to my GP.
Toughen up, be a man
Around October last year I hurt my left shoulder, I pulled and strained it whilst gardening. Being the big man, I ignored it and put with the pain for a few weeks whilst it sorted itself out and eventually it eased. Over the Christmas period it started to hurt again, and thinking I had just annoyed it, I took some pain killers and got on with life. It never got any better, in fact it got worse, affecting my sleeping and waking me during the night.
Enough was enough, I decided to visit my GP to see what was going on. I came out very unhappy indeed ! He had diagnosed ‘Frozen Shoulder’, quite common in men of my age he said quite nonchalantly. Treatable with some physiotherapy, but can be quite painful (tell me something I don’t know doc!). He continued to inform me that there are 3 stages of frozen shoulder.
- The first where the shoulder is painful and starts to seize and limits movement.
- The second phase the pain eases but the movement stays limited.
- In the third stage the pain returns but movement starts to return.
Oh.. and the affliction can last up to 18 months, and some people never get over it, even after surgery! This was not good news at all, my shoulder was getting worse. I could not even put on a shirt with both arms, this means I was still in stage 1 !
The news just gets better !
Now when it comes to obtaining a medical for you private pilots licence, you cannot just go to any old doc and ask for one. You have to attend a UK CAA approved Aeromedical Examiner, or AME for short. I had already been in touch with my nearest AME to discuss costs and possible appointment dates etc. It was time to get in touch again.
Will this frozen shoulder issue affect the planned medical ???
‘Paul, if you cannot show full and free movement, you will not pass the medical I’m affraid..’ came the response. My worst fears were realised.
Oh well, I will just have to press on with the lessons before the medical. I will have to hope this frozen shoulder issue rectifies itself enough for a medical exam so I can fly solo. That being approximately 10-15 hours in and obviously when your Flight Instructor feels you are ready. With my planned sequence of lessons being 3 each month starting in April, that gives me till sometime in July to get this thing sorted!