Tales of a Mermaid Gone Over the Deep End

We all have stories to share, and the true ones are always the best.

Welcome to the December 16th stop on the blog tour for Tales of a Mermaid Gone Over the Deep End by Teresa Fischtner with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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About the Book

Tales of a Mermaid Gone Over The Deep End
by Teresa Fischtner

Published 7 October 2021
Tellwell Talent

Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography
Page Count: 184
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

This is a feel-good book of true short stories about me, my family, friends, and my aquafit business, Over the Deep End. We all have stories to share, and the true ones are always the best. I’m sharing some of my most vulnerable moments, some of my greatest moments, and some of my saddest. Hopefully, in one story or another, you find something way better than me—you might find you. We all have a story and a different way to tell it. I hope telling my stories helps you tell some of your own.

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Advance praise (payback) for Teresa Fischtner:

“Well, this is a little embarrassing. I didn’t actually read the WHOLE book, but it’s probably pretty good. I’m not sure what she said about me, but you should know—SHE shot me in the back on my 19th birthday!”

– Ronny Fischtner (author’s son)

“I love my mom and I love MOST of this book. It should be noted that my bowling has improved, I’ve given up hockey, accounting is for nerds, pancakes is food for super heroes and no one needs to count how many boyfriends I’ve had.”

– Malyn Fischtner (author’s daughter)

“I’m pleased to be the source of so much humour for my wife. I just wish she didn’t feel the need to publish it.”

– Ron Fischtner (author’s husband)

“It was the last class of the evening that I was teaching, and we were doing our stretches, and at the surface of the water I noticed a single floating nipple happily bobbing away on its own. Unsure if its owner was still in the water, I quietly asked the nearest lady, “Excuse me, could you just pass me that nipple over your right shoulder?

“There I held a lovely C-cup breast that went rogue. I made posters for the lost breast (seriously, I made missing boob posters). No one claimed her. I introduced her to all the instructors, but no one recognized her (honestly, they all look the same after a few years at the pool). No one ever claimed Betty (yes, we gave her a name). Betty stayed on the teachers’ table in our special little box for a long time. Eventually, like all good boobs, she wrinkled up, lost her bounce, and sagged lower and lower in the box until we all forgot how much fun she was when we first found her.”

Excerpt

When I started aqua fit, I took almost every course that CALA had to offer. These courses and conferences got me excited about the healing properties of water, and I was caught hook, line, and sinker (no pun intended). There is scientific evidence that while hydrotherapy will not cure any disease, it is an effective treatment for almost every disease. It is a preferred exercise for anyone with MS that struggles with heat, balance, and flexibility. Water exercise increases range of motion, and that creates synovial fluid to ease arthritis. For heart patients, hydrostatic pressure allows the heart to work more efficiently than it can on land. Buoyancy allows patients with joint replacements to exercise while not bearing weight. I could go on and on (and probably will in later chapters) but suffice to say, water does the body good.

Cindy started coming to my guinea pig classes. She had MS, and her husband Bert suffered from Lyme disease. I was armed and dangerous with all my CALA courses, and confident water could help them both. We arranged for them to come for a private swim on Friday mornings when I didn’t have any other classes booked.

Bert had been misdiagnosed for years, which is common with Lyme, and by the time we met, the disease had taken root in his body. He had trouble walking. All his muscles had tightened and severely restricted his movement in both upper and lower body. His mind was cluttered with a cocktail of medications, his memory was scrambled, and his mood was bleak. A nurse had to come to remove his pick line every time he came to the pool and then put it back in again after. His pain was intense, impossible to predict, and travelled all over his body.

I believe some people have diseases, and some diseases have people; the difference is hope. If you have hope to live your life despite the disease, you have a disease. If you’ve lost all hope, the disease has you. I didn’t know if Bert had Lyme or if Lyme disease had Bert. What I did know was that Bert had Cindy and Cindy had hope.

Bert and Cindy used the pool every Friday morning for an hour. Most days, Bert wouldn’t even talk to me. He couldn’t, or he wouldn’t. The bad days were horrific, and the good days were still awful. His pain, both physical and mental, had a pulse of its own. Cindy never lost patience. My admiration for her grew every week. I was in over my head (pun totally intended) and at a complete loss of how to help Bert. I started dreading Fridays. It was heartbreaking. There was no way I could have known then that Bert and Cindy were going to teach me about water therapy, sickness, love, loyalty and hope, but that’s exactly what happened.

About the Author

Teresa Fischtner is an “aqua entrepreneur.” After 25 years working in accounting, she changed careers and started teaching aquafit at her family pool. Customers come to “Over the Deep End” for full body workouts in deep water and they leave with a sense of community and friendship that Teresa has created, and all her mermaids and mermen continue to nurture.

This is Teresa’s first book; she writes from her heart with honesty and humour. Comments and kindness always welcome at teresa@overthedeepend.ca.

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Giveaway Alert!

Teresa Fischtner will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.