A Roll In The Doggie Do

So it seems shit really does happen and sadly all to frequently to me at the moment! ...hopefully nobody is eating whilst reading this! ...I haven't had a good rant in while, so that is were I'm going to start!

People with dogs who don't pick up the dogs business should be taken outside and shot, in fact no that's a little too quick something a bit slower and more painful would be more suitable!.....so having said that, I'm guessing you can see where this little outburst is going!!

Cartoon by Tony Husband

On Tuesday myself and Kal (one of the other guys from my ward) were 'bussing' it into the town centre with a couple of staff as a bit of wheelchair skills and o.t. type practice and on our way out of the hospital grounds there's a nice little winding path with plenty of leaves on it at present (that's my excuse anyway!) so yep, I managed to roll through some dog crap in my chair! ...now we've all trodden in some dog crap at some stage in our lives and well it's a pretty grim experience of shuffling you feet around for a good while to try and rid yourself of it.....well take that feeling and multiply it by at least 10 (I think I'm being quite conservative there to be honest!) and you'll be getting to where I was, as having rolled over said dog turd, the impact was compounded by the fact I didn't know I had! And what do I use to power my wheels? Yep, my hands....lovely....but even then I hadn't really noticed it as I wear some gloves to help me push, SO having pushed up a bit of an incline my shoulders were a little tired so I had a quick breather and somehow managed to touch my trousers in three different places. It was at this point my misfortune dawned on me and yep there really was shit everywhere! ....all in all beyond grim really!! (p.s. apologies for the language but I feel it necessary!)
....so yep I got back and got sorted out and then at the second time of asking had a nice trip into Southport, aside from a very miserable bus driver on the way there but it's just some people's disposition it seems!

We visited M&S to buy some lunch and it is a little like being a kid in a sweet shop every time I visit a supermarket at the minute as it hasn't happened too often in five months, so deciding exactly what I want takes a while and usually culminates in me buying far too much! There was a nice role reversal too when I dropped something off my lap and I had a 70 odd year old woman bend down and pick it up for me, makes the level of ability all a little too real!

On a much more positive note I've managed to spend a couple of nights off the ward, firstly a night at the Hughes residence one weekend followed by a night at ma and pa's the following weekend. Aside from a few minor issues everything went pretty well really. I think the biggest difficulty was trying to get back off sofas! I tend to forget quite how soft they are, so what looks like being relatively level with my chair, becomes a near vertical ascent after I've sunk into it and turns into quite a workout getting off it! Thankfully with a bit of clever thinking by Jen I just about managed to escape it via a second chair en route to my wheelchair.....oh actually there was another mini drama as we had the fun and games of my first puncture to deal with! The tyre was good enough to wait until we arrived back at Jenna's rather than go while we were out, but it meant an evening of wonky sitting, with the flat side being about an inch lower, there was also a definite tendency to go round in circles too. A quick repair job the following morning had me back on track and going in straight lines thanks to Lynsey and Peter!

And lastly I had my first bash at wheelchair rugby yesterday! I wasn't allowed in the full contact bit just yet but it was pretty full on, a few people tipped out of their chairs after heavy collisions! All were fine I must add....all I did where some of the drills of passing and fitness sort of stuff which I enjoyed and was suitably knackered from, so apologies to everyone I went out to tea with for my persistent yawning!! I'll definitely be giving it another go soon and will hopefully remain in my chair!

...here's a pretty unflattering picture of me in action!.....


Thanks as ever
Love
Mark x

We Can Do This Alfie....

Cartoon by Tony Husband

So after the fantastic do the previous week, this weekend saw the Liverpool marathon come around, and just to continue with my most used words of the past five months a huge THANK YOU once again to all those who ran 'for me' so to speak!

It was an absolutely tremendous effort from you all and the fluorescent yellow jerseys looked really good too... There was also Greg who ran the marathon on a treadmill out in Afghanistan and got a wee bit of media coverage, check out the MarKathon tab to hear his radio interview (whilst running) and Echo article!

I managed to get down to Liverpool to see most people coming in and felt a bit lazy for just sitting there to be honest! I'm thinking it might be a good target to try and train for one in a few years time, when my arms are about double their current size! And it'll be good to pay back some of the amazing support I've received too!

Though something that has softened the blow and cheered me up no end recently, which I think is down to the fact we're now not that far off being on eye level, either that or the fact that Alfie sees my chair as a big new toy, but Alfie (who is my little nephew for anyone who hasn't met him!) actually seems to be starting to like me! It's only taken about 19 months and its been a slow progression from crying hysterically,  looking suspiciously and then general indifference to actually getting a big smile and a look of excitement when he saw me today! He seems to quite enjoy pushing me about in my wheelchair and he gets a lot of cooing from the nurses when they see him behind me! I'm sure you'll agree when you look at the pictures!

In spine related news!....Regulating my temperature has surfaced as yet another issue to contend with, and now the hospital has decided now that it's autumn the heating has gone on, the only problem being it seems to only have one setting, which sadly seems to be desert! so it is always roasting on the ward. This is especially bad straight after physio when I am also scorching! ....unfortunately another effect of the injury seems to be I don't sweat anymore so bringing my temperature down from scorching takes some effort! ...now it is actually getting cooler outside it does make that a little easier but on a warm day with no breeze, the fan by my bed and a bowl of water as 'synthetic sweat' is the only option! It certainly wasn't something I ever thought would be an issue! ....and sadly the opposite end of the heat spectrum is also a problem so when it's cold I need to really wrap up as my body also finds it difficult to heat me back up, which was the problem the other week when I woke up with a temperature in the hypothermic range!!

Oh and the sleep apnea study continued this week too, I had a mask fitted and had to sleep in it or a couple of nights, it felt and looked a bit weird but wasn't too bad once it was on and I seemed to sleep pretty well too. The next stage was 'randomisation' to see if I was to wear it for the foreseeable future but thankfully I was selected in the control group that meant I didn't have to wear it, as I reckon it would have started to do my head in pretty sharpish to be honest! ....thankfully I also found out my results from the initial sleep apnea assessment and I was borderline anyway so hardly affected really! One thing I can forget about now then!

Right that's about all that's happened this week really, thanks again to all the marathon runners.

Ta

mark xxx