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