Sleep Apnea

Well there is only one thing I can begin with and that is yet another huge thank you!
Saturday night was amazing, Hannah and Jayne did a truly fantastic job with more than a little assistance from so many others too, so for all those who helped/donated/performed etc etc thank you so so much, it really meant a lot to Jenna and I. x x

Secondly I'd liked to apologise to anyone I didn't get the chance to speak too, I don't really recall taking a breath all night and it absolutely flew by, but I'm pretty sure I still missed a lot of people!

To think I was really nervous about the whole thing seems ridiculous now, but I was kind of worried about a) blubbing like a baby in front of so many people, which to be honest I came close to during my speech before being rescued by Jenna! Here's the bit of the speech that I didn't get to, due to said near miss
(.....And you'll be glad to know that brings me on to my final thank you and the biggest of all which goes to Jenna, I can't really do justice to how unbelievable you've been through all of this, other than say that if ever anyone here goes through anything similar, I sincerely hope you have someone as truly remarkable as Jenna by your side, she's carried me through this at times and continues to kick my ass into gear quite frequently! ..... I honestly don't think I would have made half the progress I have to date without you... so I thank you, I love you And I owe you big time!)

And b) aside from blubbing I was also concerned about a repeat performance of the other week and basically ending up in a wet mess in front of 420 people! ...very thankfully this did not happen either!
I imagine there were more than a couple of fragile heads on Sunday morning...I was a little fuzzy myself and I only had a few beers (managed to refrain from the jaeger bombs for fear of falling out of my chair!) ...I didn't get back to the hospital until about half past two, which was a fairly surreal feeling, returning to a hospital, half cut in the early hours of the morning and them not saying a word, I can't imagine that happens on many wards! ....I did not surface at all on Sunday and slept like a baby on Sunday night despite my sleep apnea (will make sense later!)

So party aside, it's been a fairly eventful week or so too. Having visited my mum and dads the previous weekend last Sunday saw a visit to the Hughes residence for the afternoon, it was nice again to be able to just chill in some nice familiar surroundings, rather than feel like we have to go somewhere every time we leave the hospital, which generally involves eating so costs me money! (or more specifically costs my mum and dad or Peter and Rose money!) ...don't get me wrong this visit also included food, however it was a lovely home cooked risotto courtesy of Jenna!

There was also a further visit home to my mum and dads in the week on Thursday evening. The day had started well, having had a meeting with my consultant/physio/ot and the remaining entourage, the outcome was my provisional leaving date of mid December was likely to come forward by at least a month to mid November! So great news but also, I must admit, pretty daunting news too!
In here it's like wheelchair world, with lovely smooth surfaces to whizz around on, staff on hand to help you out as and when required and about 40 other people in the same boat as me learning and adapting to life in a wheelchair! ...outside is a world of bumpy uneven pavements, busy roads and very tall people! and is really rather scary at times, so there's slightly mixed emotions on learning I may be out relatively soon! ...And to get back to my original point the sour end to Thursday! When I arrived at my parents I was doing what now seems like a relatively standard transfer out of Jenna's car and in to my wheelchair, in hindsight I think I must've been a little complacent with things, as mid transfer the board and myself moved forward off the chair and I was in something of a limbo between chair and floor which we couldn't rescue so I ended up on the floor. Sadly I couldn't lift myself into the chair and my mum and Jenna couldn't either, so they had to ring for backup and thankfully Alan and Jay are only about 5-10 mins away and were round in no time. But still the pathetic feeling of being a useless, helpless lump had set in, this combined with the idea I was to be released in next to no time, all had me pretty upset and again daunted at the prospect of being discharged. Thankfully my mum had done a cracking tea so spirits were lifted in no time! And thankfully I can report all subsequent transfers have gone swimmingly!

Right, now back to the sleep apnea I mentioned before. Apparently it is relatively common affliction and even more so amongst people with my level of injury. Basically you stop breathing in your sleep! only temporarily mind, but enough that you never really fall into a deep sleep and therefore end up pretty tired ....to be honest I think it's become something of a self fulfilling prophecy as since they told me I have it I've definitely felt more tired! ....to test for it they had to get me all wired up, with sensors all over my body and head, it looked like id taken a bit of a turn for the worse! ...And sadly, having managed to cultivate a good few weeks worth of growth on the old beard front, to get the sensors to stick to my jaw they shaved both sides of it off leaving me with a bit of a psychopath look! ...the next stage is getting a mask fitted for me to sleep in, it does seem to be one thing after another at the minute! Speaking of which I've got to go and see someone so essay over!    Mark x x

...and Tom says anyone who drunkenly agreed to Lands End to John O'Groats on Saturday night, this is a binding agreement ; ) !!

Cartoon by Tony Husband