Staying Off the Booze....for a bit!

It's been a busy week indeed and I'm feeling a little knackered/delicate this morning!

....one of my fellow inmates is leaving tomorrow so decided to get a few crates of beer, a bottle of Jaegermeister and a Dominos last night, it would have been rude not too really! I didn't go crazy as the need to do catheters kind of puts a dampener on things also my total alcoholic intake over the past few months amounts to about two beers so I didn't want to end up in a heap with my chair on top of me!

This night followed on from a days rest after a very busy weekend (well busy in my new existence anyway!). It started on Friday when I was given the all clear for my first swimming session which begins at the ungodly hour of 8.30 (not expecting much sympathy here!)
I think I was expecting them to stick some floats on my legs and boom I'd be away swimming lengths using just my arms almost like normal! Alas, it wasn't to be, they put a lovely yellow armband type thing around my neck and another float around my bottom half and I think I felt possibly the most 'special' I have done since my accident! Just floating was an effort and the only stroke I could muster was a simultaneous two armed backstroke sort of affair, this superseded the previous feeling of being special by a mile! I did try some breaststroke and front crawl but a combination of neck rods and stiffness resulted in failure/drowning! Despite all of this it was a really nice change and good exercise too.

The day continued with my normal gym and physio sessions and in my O.T. at the end of the day I managed to transfer in and out of Jenna's car so we were given the all clear to do this on our own which is brilliant as we can now just go out without booking taxis or vans and also without risking my head going through the roof! So go out we did, to Pizza Express with Bebbo and Emma and I thankfully just about managed my first solo transfers!

Saturday started early too, Jenna made me shave, just when the beard was starting to get a decent hold again. We then ventured off in search of a barbers which proved surprisingly difficult, when we eventually found one that was open and accessible I definitely got some funny looks in my sparkly chair, none more so than from Jenna who said she'd never noticed quite how pink it was, charming!

Next up was the Southport match, my mate Mike was 4th official so had got us in for free so we sat right at the front on the disabled bit of a tarmac, Jenna was leaping round like a salmon anytime the ball came anywhere near, not sure if she knows my hands still work! She did pull off the save of the match though with an impressive catch that got some applause from the ground staff! In summary Southport were crap and Telford were slightly less crap and cruised it 3-0. Another pub meal followed before an early night in anticipation of the long day to follow!

So Sunday was the trip down to London for the Paralympics.The wake up call came at 4am, minibus to Lime Street, train to Euston, 'walk' to St Pancras, train to Stratford and 'walk' to the Olympic park, if I could feel it, my backside would definitely have been numb already! But it was definitely worth it, it was great just to see it all and appreciate the size of the place, thousands of people just seemed to be milling around and the atmosphere was tremendous. We didn't end up seeing all that much sport really, a bit of basketball and some tennis, we tried to get into the football but it was too busy so we just found some fish and chips and had a few beers (very pricey indeed!) and watched a big screen! We then had the repeat journey home and made it back for about 10ish, all absolutely knackered!

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This about brings us to the day of rest I mentioned earlier, after physio finished at three, myself and the two other guys from my ward who went to London, were straight back in bed and asleep in minutes. Mum and dad visited and had the pleasure of me drifting in and out of sleep for about an hour chatting absolute gibberish! ....so as I say it's been pretty busy, I think I'm just about back to normal now and planning on staying off the booze for a bit!

....oh and still no joy on the X-ray front, consultants seem to have pretty good holidays!!

Cheers Mark xxx