Swimming is hazardous to your health?

This morning I received a surprise phone call from the Head of Hydro at C.'s school.

It came just fifteen minutes before she was scheduled to be in the pool for her session. And five minutes before I was set to leave the house with her. She said C.'s aide had informed her that C. has her period and that girls are not allowed to get their hydro sessions while menstruating.

C. has had her periods irregularly for a few years now but I have never been told of this rule. It seemed baffling, given that she wears Huggies Little Swimmers, designed to catch every other sort of emission. Why is menstrual blood different, I asked.

Head of Hydro explained that it wasn't the pool's cleanliness that concerned her (the nappies are fine) but rather C.'s health. Swimming in the warm therapy pool was dangerous to health.

Say what??

She patiently explained to clueless-me that the warm water increases the blood flow. As proof she added that C.'s aide had told her the flow was heavy when she showered her after yesterday's swim.

I pointed out that C.'s blood flow had been very light all last evening and this morning. Perhaps, I ventured, the heaviness yesterday was unrelated to the pool?

So Head of Hydro switched arguments. Swimming during her period, she averred, is like swimming after childbirth - inadvisable and liable to cause infections. She is afraid to run that risk.

Like childbirth??

This was sounding "curiouser and curiouser". In answer to my inquiry, she said that all this information emanated from a doctor.

But I was doubtful about that.

I asked her whether a note from my doctor permitting C. to swim during her period would sway her and she said it would.

Well, to cut a long and messy story short, a couple of hours later C. did have her hydro session.

It seems that every week these precious therapies run the risk of cancellation for any of myriad excuses. It's a constant, draining battle to ensure that C. receives everything she is entitled to. And I'm afraid it doesn't earn me any brownie points from the staff.

I even tried to appease Head of Hydro by assuring her that I wouldn't have gone to such lengths for any other therapy. I did it because her therapy has been so worthwhile for C. Not sure how appeased it left her.