Home sweet home, well kind of anyway!

With a bit of a gentle push (metaphorical push) from Jenna this Sunday we decided to venture a little further afield and head back home, well to my mum and dads that is, as the other alternative was to go and sit in my car park space and look up at my second floor flat! Decided against that option, I do get a little sad at the prospect of never visiting my little flat ever again mind : ( ....as the decision [to go home] was a little last minute, it meant mum and dad had to fashion an impromptu ramp, which, with the help of terry our next door neighbour, did the trick just fine.

It was a little strange being on familiar ground with my new vantage point, for instance, my first port of call has always been the fridge but sadly the top shelf is now a little out of reach, I know where my mum will be keeping all the good stuff in future! The sofa also needed some minor amendments, with the cushions off one being layered on top of the sofa I was getting on to try and make it a little closer to my wheelchair height, it was fine getting on, but after I'd sunk into it, it was a little more uphill getting back off! but with a little team effort we managed it! There was also the main highlight, home cooked roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, don't get me wrong, I've not been living exclusively on hospital food there has been the odd meal out now and again! But proper home cooked food has been a rarity so was a real treat, thanks Bren! ...and thanks Jen for pushing the idea too!

....other than that there's been a few good evenings on the ward, we've managed to pinch a card table from the day room and 'shithead' has become the game of choice (it is a real game not just something we've made up! Google it if you don't believe me, although thinking about it be careful doing that!) It makes for some good banter and is actually pretty good therapy for the old dexterity and grip for some of us! We had a friday night recently of shithead, takeaway pizza and cracked a few cans open too! Not too bad as hospitals go really!

 

.....I've also got myself a new wheelchair, no longer am I riding around in my lovely camp pink one, it's a much more staid black one, boring really! ...but thankfully I actually seem to fit into this model a little better and feel a little less like I'm sitting on it and more like I'm sitting in it which makes a huge difference when I'm pushing myself around, its much easier and faster, and I can even do some wheelies too! 

 

We had a mass expedition to Tesco last week for our wheelchair skills class and I was made up that i managed to push myself all the way there as I could barely push 10metres when i was outside in the old wheels as pavements are pretty tricky! The security guards looked a bit dubious when 8 of us in wheelchairs rocked up, as if it was some elaborate shoplifting scam they weren't yet privy to. Sadly it wasn't and I had to pay! it was another world in which it was a little weird from my new eye line.

 

Cartoon donated by Tony Husband

 

 Also, I was called 'buddy' twice whilst there which for some reason I find very patronising! I know people don't mean it but it feels like they're one step away from ruffling my hair and patting me on the head!! The other common irritant is when old people give you a 'ah poor you smile', again i know it's from a nice place but it is bloody annoying!

 

I also had the pleasure of meeting Jenna's friends, friends auntie at the weekend, practically blood! ...she came and introduced herself and was lovely, it turns out she's a coach for the wheelchair rugby team that trains here so I went down and watched them training on Saturday, it was very impressive indeed. Chatted to a few of the other coaches who'd played for GB in the past and they were keen for me to have a go, so I may well be popping in soon. It's pretty violent though so I'm hoping these screws in my neck are nice and tight and they go easy on me. The other good thing was meeting a few people with similar level injuries to me and seeing how far on they were and what they were capable of in terms of fitness, strength and movement, it certainly gives me something to work towards, in fact the final drill they did was 30 minutes solid pushing flat out, I was tired just watching!

 

That's about me!
Off to watch the musical fireworks in Southport tomorrow night so praying this incessant rain holds off for a few hours or it will turn out to be fairly miserable! Oh and big thanks to sue for the tickets!

Ta. Mark x

....oh and finally, you may have noticed a tab spring up on the blog 'lands end to John o'groats' my friend Tom Jones (sadly not the famous one (sorry Tom!)) is organising this cycling challenge and is keen for any extra participants/help etc.... So please check it out!

And whilst I'm doing and finally's the party next weekend is sold out and the efforts of all involved particularly Hannah and Jayne has been quite remarkable so a massive thank you, it promises to be a great night! X

Parental Guidance Warning

Hello there!

Think this one should come with a parental guidance warning again!!

....for those who've read on, as promised here's a snapshot of the old injury before and after the operation!

The one is an MRI, you can see the vertebrae down the left and then six down from the top things go a little squewiff  and you can see where the bone has hit and pressing on the old spinal cord, which is
the black thing running down the middle! Which is thankfully still, just about, intact!!



The second and third xrays, in case you haven't guessed, are after the op!
On the second one, the bit in the middle is where they went through the front and stuck two of the veterbrae together, then behind are the two longer rods screwed in above and below the injury (you can see the screws on the bottom one!)








It looks like some pretty heavy engineering to me! ....and in this one as you can see is the line of little  staples they used to close it all up, nice!

Well I hope I haven't put you off your lunch!!

Thanks

Mark x

(oh and I didn't have to pay for the pictures of my own neck, which i gave them, in the end!! Common sense prevailed!)

Look Away Now... If You Don't Want To Know!

Well it's been a pretty quiet one this week after a somewhat frustrating weekend, which had started out so well..... a quick couple of beers (didnt do very well with staying off the beer reallly!) outside the Bold Hotel with our Paul and Mr Chew got Friday evening underway, then it was 'date night' with the lovely Miss Hughes, we visited the Vincent on Lord Street which is quite a posh restaurant and had a great meal, lobster and crayfish risotto for me! I have noticed a trend in my dining choices towards things that need less cutting hence the risotto, steak is out of the question for now! I can just about cut it, but I think it's more the looking like a proper special person in public that puts me off!

It was as the evening drew to a close that the weekend began to descend! ....possible information overload and decency issues about to be breached so look away now if you don't want to know!

....in the realms of peeing now my bladder has started to do stuff again but on something of its own schedule! therefore I wear something called a convene that pops over the old chap and kind of sticks to it, so everything gets drained nicely.... Well this is the theory at least, sadly the stickiness decided to give way at the end of the evening so just as we arrived back at the hospital I was in a bit of a state that I haven't visited since early childhood and sadly Jenna's car may now smell a little like a care home!

 ...being serious for a second, I must admit times like that are very hard and really bring things home to me, I know it's all part of the process etc.... but sitting there as a 30 year old bloke at the end of a lovely evening with my girlfriend in my own pee is upsetting/annoying/bizarre/frustrating and the list could go on forever! And saying it's hard for me I can only begin to imagine the thoughts and emotions going through Jenna's mind at a moment like that. I don't think I've really said it on here but she has been truly amazing through everything over the past few months and I really am a very very lucky person to have such a wonderful (and beautiful!) girlfriend. Thank you Jen xxxx

Right anyway I digress, enough soppy gayness for one blog! ....Saturday morning followed on nicely from Friday night! I had my 'obs' taken, blood pressure, heart rate and temperature, sadly the latter was somewhat on the low side (34.5 degrees) the word hypothermic was banded around! So they covered me in blankets first off, this didn't bring it up, then came the 'bear hugger', sounds grander than it is and sadly it wasn't a hug from an attractive nurse! ....just an inflatable blanket filled with warm air but it did the job and I had a lovely little nap! Once the temperature was sorted they noticed a red mark on the old derrière, so that was me bed bound for the rest of the day, dull! ....on the Sunday they gave it 'til after lunch to give me the all clear but when I got up the old blood pressure decided to rear its ugly head again so that was me going nowhere for the day, as every time they lowered my feet the blood pressure followed and I went in to a bit of a floaty state! ....so as I say pretty frustrating!!

That lot aside, I've just been cracking on with the old physio and O.T. this week and the slow but steady progress continues. Thankfully the swimming is getting better and the lovely neck float was removed as I managed something that resembled conventional backstroke as opposed to the two armed special variety! 

...oh and I had my first shopping trip yesterday, Paul and I visited Debenhams on lord street, they were very wheelchair friendly indeed, it was a little strange being at eye level with all the clothes! But I managed to pick up a few bits and bobs that are a little smarter than my current uniform of slouchy pants and general sportswear so hopefully i will begin to look a little less Chav like when I go out!

And finally, There's also progress with the scans and X-rays,  I just need to have a look through now and chose some of the less gruesome ones that will be suitable for public consumption so they should be up soon!

Thanks, mark xx

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!

Please click the read more button to see more photos and read more....... thanks

Well, I'm afraid apologies are in order! 

Sadly it seems getting hold of X-rays and MRIs is not quite as straightforward as I anticipated! ....despite the fact I came down from Middlesbrough with them all on a disc and was told I could have the disc back when they'd copied them, apparently now I can't. 

From what I can gather, it seems the kitty for the Christmas party is a little low, so I now have to pay what as yet, seems to be an undecided fee for the images of my own neck, that I gave them! hmmm!! ...also to try and make it appear less like a scam I need to put it in writing for my consultant. Therefore I made good use of my occupational therapy on Tuesday as I "practiced" my writing to put the letter together.

 I must add the old writing has certainly come on a lot, it's still relatively messy as ever, but moving along the scale towards the legible end of messy! ....and my final excuse for the lack of X-rays is the fact my consultant is off this week, which has just made things even more complicated! ...I will get them next week I promise (although bureaucracy may thwart me again!)  

....oh and no news on the wallet front either, my good luck continues! And, I hear that a member of the British Basketball Wheelchair Team has tested positive for WD40!

Mark x x x 

Read All About It... Long legs, pink wheels and lady-like sneezes

Firstly apologies for my somewhat sporadic updates of late, I shall pull my finger out and get it back on track! 

As well as this update I'm hoping to get the disc with all my pre and post operation X-rays and MRIs from the doctor later this week so I can get those posted on the blog! I may have to give it a parental guidance warning as its not for the faint hearted but definitely worth a look!!

Thinking about it I probably should have tried to blame my troublesome blood pressure for the lack of updates as for the last week or so it's certainly been bit sketchy!Basically because I'm pretty tall there's a lot of leg for my blood to go and sit in when I get up, so for a good while I've been given a drug called Ephedrine which gives the old blood pressure a 'wee' boost for half an hour or so when I'm getting out of bed ....there'd been talk of weaning me off it but that went out of the window and they decided cold turkey was the route to go down! 

Gladly, I can now say it has worked, but there have been a good few slow starts to days recently, one day was a complete write off when Jen and I were supposed to be going to see Batman, instead it was back to bed early and a Chinese! ....other days have seen me go a little pale in morning gym sessions and sent back upstairs pronto, and my record low blood pressure (while still conscious) was 63 over 27, most people would usually be 120-140 over 80 - 90, so yep I wasn't feeling at my perkiest that day! ...but touch wood its levelled out now and mornings are less of a lottery, which is just in the nick of time really! 

This is because, all being well, I'm having a day out in London next weekend as five patients along with five staff have got tickets to the Paralympics! ....the unit got five complimentary tickets, so names went into a hat and thankfully mine was one of those which came out! ...also the other four tickets went to a good bunch so it promises to be a good day....but also a long day! 

The train leaves Lime Street at 06:55 and we won't be back in Southport until after 10 pm, which doesn't sound too bad I know, but I get knackered after being up for five hours these days so I may well be asleep most of the day! ....the most worrying part for me is the trip from Southport to Liverpool, as the unit has a couple of adapted vans which are going to be used to take us. These vans can be booked out by patients and we did just that on Saturday night as Jenna and I were going out for a meal with our parents and we thought it would beat getting a taxi. It turns out it didn't! ...despite looking taller than the taxis we've been using, the headroom was somehow even worse! and when we made it all of three miles to Birkdale Village it felt a little like I'd just come out of surgery again because of the stupid positions I'd been holding my neck in!

Also, the fact the van seemed not to have any suspension, combined with how tense I was at the prospect of Jenna's first van driving experience being with me as the cargo probably didn't help either! Credit were its due though, she did a great job although I think she was even more tense than me, as her dad's efforts at helping to get me in resulted in some rather strong words!! The meal was really good though and I think we'd all thoroughly recommend Gastro Bar and Grill to anyone who's in the area. 

My only complaint was my posh burger was too big! ....this inability to finish a burger combined with my less than manly sneezes and my very questionable wheelchair is getting me a little worried now, I'm not sure what else the spine influences! ....Anyway back to the point Southport to Liverpool in that thing may well finish me off, I'm praying the other van is a bit better otherwise it may well be enough to ruin the whole day!

....oh and as for the update regarding the guy who jumped out of the window, apparently he hasn't told anyone why he was fleeing which gives us plenty of scope for gossip! ....also it seems his substance of preference was plain old vodka, apparently a bottle a day! He's been forced to stop otherwise they were going to throw him out, the final straw being when he turned up to gym at 2 pm the other day ruined!

 ...in other news I lost my wallet (not related to the above!) ....somehow between the hospital and McDonald's we dropped it! And there was no sign of it when we retraced our steps. ....I think Beth  initially thought it was some elaborate routine Jen and I had concocted to escape paying for the mc flurrys! She was only convinced when I rang up to cancel my cards as that would be some lengths to go to for a free maccies! ....I'm also conscious here that McDonalds seems to make it onto every blog! we are not obsessed with it and we do not go every day, once a fortnight at most, it just seems to be noteworthy every time! ....the wallet did have £40 in I'd borrowed from my mum so I'm hoping she'll take pity on me!

 

....oh and I think this probably should have come up before now but.... I've been given a provisional 'release' date of the 12th December which is very encouraging, gives me something to aim for, and will be nice to be home for Christmas....hopefully!!

Love to all
Mark x