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I'm sure you've guessed things have been very busy in TRP :-)   firstly, the bad news: I have had a rotten cold for most of the time I have been here. Poor Val and Norm have not had much uninterrupted sleep while they have been here as I have been waking up and calling for drugs and tissues each night. Fortunately this appears to be going away as does the ingrown toenail. Norm was entrusted with toenail surgery and did an admirable job, he may need to repeat the procedure for the other big toe. I don't think that the nail bar did such a good job on my feet last time I visited...

I have learnt some valuable lessons while I have been here one of which is to make sure I have the safety strap on while at home by myself. This ensures that I cannot fall out of or partly out of my chair as I did last week when trying to retrieve the remote control from the couch.

I have started to Walk on program, they have allocated me 3X two hour sessions each week and I have two physios looking after me for the whole two hours - what a difference to the hospital! Norm has taken some photos that I will try to upload. They have assured me that I have been pedalling bikes etc mostly through my own efforts which is fantastic. Who would have thought that I would love the gym!

We have been looking at a portable stair climber for some time and finally had a demonstration of the PS universal machine on Monday. It is very impressive. The device holds on to a manual wheelchair while you sit in it and allows an operator to guide you up or down stairs without effort. I expected to feel unsafe but didn't at all - perhaps I was too tired to! It is battery powered and can do about 150 steps up and back. The weight limit is 130 kg so it isn't suitable for the power chair. I would really like one but need to weigh up the cost...

Today we completed a test drive of a Nissan Cube with my power chair in the back. We tried yesterday but ran out of room so had to remove the back seats. The ramp mechanism pulls the rear of the vehicle down to minimise the slope which makes it easy to drive the chair in. They have clearly designed them for short people all short chairs as I don't quite fit :-) it is a really good solution for me for getting around if the roof can be lifted so I am not confined to the manual chair. The cards are imported by Imperial Auto Group generally with under 60,000 km on them. The ramps are factory fitted which avoids the problems with conversions.

I am booked in for hydrotherapy tomorrow afternoon after cancelling last week due to the cold. Emma, the carer who will train the carers in Townsville, is coming with us so she can show everyone else what to do.

There has been an item in the news recently that is very encouraging for spinal cord injury research outcomes, perhaps you have heard of Jasper the sausage dog? Jasper lost the use of his back legs and some clever scientists cultured some cells out of his nose and grew them in a Petrie dish. The cells were injected back into Jasper's spine and he has learned to walk again after a fashion. Apparently human nose cells can't do this so perhaps it will be cross species implantation :-) Sounds okay to me, I just hope I don't start sniffing people's butts or grow a tail...

I have been lucky to have had lots of visitors recently and am looking forward to spending the weekend with more, most importantly my darling Darrel :-)

It has taken far more time than I expected to dictate this blog so I will sign off for now. The modifications to the Dalgety apartment are progressing and I still hope to be back in Townsville on 16 December.