Hi everyone,
As usual please ignore any grammatical and spelling errors caused by voice to text.
I have been alternating between being extremely busy and extremely slack. Since my last blog I have watched all six seasons of breaking bad and have banned myself from downloading any more TV series until I have completed this blog! I have also racked up over 400 km on my wheelchair, over 1500km in the car and 4000km of frequent flyer points.
The Townsville scrabble tournament which was held way back in August was a great success, unfortunately my playing was not :-) We held the Saturday night's barbecue at my place at the Dalgety. It was lovely to have a drink with old friends and new although I still feel guilty that I can't help clean up after the wine is finished!
I took my first trip over to magnetic island for the magnetic island scrabble tournament which was held mid week at the picnic bay pub. The renovations are great and the food was excellent value for money. Sadly my slide down the scrabble rankings continued :-)
Two days later it was time to pack my bags and head off on the road trip to Cairns for yet another scrabble tournament. The car went well on the highway and I had no skin issues develop. So I really had nothing to blame my poor scrabble playing on :-) We stayed at Cairns Central Plaza, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other wheelchair users. We caught up with Margie and Ralph and Ebby for dinner on Saturday night at Doninnis on the pier. I had to drink extra lemoncello that night as I was worried that Val would drink it instead of me! After another day of Scrabble on Sunday I managed to sleep almost all the way back home on Monday.
The following weekend we headed north again, this time to Mission Beach for Brett and Mandy's wedding. Casey and I drove up on Friday morning and Darrel followed later on Friday night. I attempted to eat a packet of chips in the back of the car while Casey was driving to save time, it was not a success. For every chip I ate there was a handful of chips that went on the floor and in my hair and in the chair. The wedding was held on Saturday down the beach, it was a beautiful ceremony followed by a picnic on the lawn and finger food and a desert bar later in the evening. An awesome wedding with awesome friends.
We drove back on Monday just in time for the "take my seat" event on Tuesday morning. Take my seat is a fundraising event for SIA designed to give public servants and business leaders an insight into some of the difficulties that disabled people encounter by getting them to spend a morning in a wheelchair. I was paired with one of the town planners. I took the poor man up and down the worst pavements in town, he worked so hard at sitting in and pushing the manual wheelchair that by the time he got up out of the chair the entire back of his pants were wet with sweat. I felt very satisfied and a bit guilty :-) I will definitely volunteer again next year…
A week-and-a-half later and we were off to Sydney to attend the walk on program, I have posted some videos and photos to the JB movement movement Facebook group. The Wahkon program exposes participants to innovative physio techniques. My favourite activity was walking on the treadmill while suspended in the harness. I hope to do more of this when I return for nine days in November. The program is only run on weekdays so I had time to catch up with Andrew Mearns and Colin and Janet and cousin Tony and Emily and their son Otto for lunch on the Sunday.
Since returning from Sydney I have been slowly weaning myself off some of the drugs that I have been on. I have reduced my dosage of Lyrica to 1/4 of what it was and have eliminated another painkiller altogether. I feel a lot better and more optimistic than I have in months. To offset these positive steps I managed to give myself a pressure sore on my leg from some of the chair adjustments that were made in Sydney. I felt very stupid for not noticing it earlier and adjusting the chair back to the way it was. Fortunately it cleared up before the Cat Empire concert that was held at base backpackers on magnetic island - what an awesome night that was! thanks go out to Larissa Huxley for organising everything, basebackpackers, picnic Bay Hotel, and some cherries. (Sunferries, you stupid iPad! Not some cherries!)
A week later and Darrel and I were off to see Missy Higgins, another awesome but completely different gig. If you can get tickets to see her on her latest tour I highly recommend you do so.
Since the concert I have been trying to get back into a regular exercise regime. Hydrotherapy has recommenced at Kokoda pool on Fridays and I have been having some outpatient physiotherapy at the hospital on Thursdays. We have been practising sitting and standing in physio. Standing is very labour intensive as I require one person to control each leg/knee and a stronger person in front of me to stop me falling over :-) I think I am getting better at it but it is slow going.
I only have one new personal best to report: 10 km on the arm bike on resistance level three in 43 minutes and 22s.
As usual please ignore any grammatical and spelling errors caused by voice to text.
I have been alternating between being extremely busy and extremely slack. Since my last blog I have watched all six seasons of breaking bad and have banned myself from downloading any more TV series until I have completed this blog! I have also racked up over 400 km on my wheelchair, over 1500km in the car and 4000km of frequent flyer points.
The Townsville scrabble tournament which was held way back in August was a great success, unfortunately my playing was not :-) We held the Saturday night's barbecue at my place at the Dalgety. It was lovely to have a drink with old friends and new although I still feel guilty that I can't help clean up after the wine is finished!
I took my first trip over to magnetic island for the magnetic island scrabble tournament which was held mid week at the picnic bay pub. The renovations are great and the food was excellent value for money. Sadly my slide down the scrabble rankings continued :-)
Two days later it was time to pack my bags and head off on the road trip to Cairns for yet another scrabble tournament. The car went well on the highway and I had no skin issues develop. So I really had nothing to blame my poor scrabble playing on :-) We stayed at Cairns Central Plaza, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other wheelchair users. We caught up with Margie and Ralph and Ebby for dinner on Saturday night at Doninnis on the pier. I had to drink extra lemoncello that night as I was worried that Val would drink it instead of me! After another day of Scrabble on Sunday I managed to sleep almost all the way back home on Monday.
The following weekend we headed north again, this time to Mission Beach for Brett and Mandy's wedding. Casey and I drove up on Friday morning and Darrel followed later on Friday night. I attempted to eat a packet of chips in the back of the car while Casey was driving to save time, it was not a success. For every chip I ate there was a handful of chips that went on the floor and in my hair and in the chair. The wedding was held on Saturday down the beach, it was a beautiful ceremony followed by a picnic on the lawn and finger food and a desert bar later in the evening. An awesome wedding with awesome friends.
We drove back on Monday just in time for the "take my seat" event on Tuesday morning. Take my seat is a fundraising event for SIA designed to give public servants and business leaders an insight into some of the difficulties that disabled people encounter by getting them to spend a morning in a wheelchair. I was paired with one of the town planners. I took the poor man up and down the worst pavements in town, he worked so hard at sitting in and pushing the manual wheelchair that by the time he got up out of the chair the entire back of his pants were wet with sweat. I felt very satisfied and a bit guilty :-) I will definitely volunteer again next year…
A week-and-a-half later and we were off to Sydney to attend the walk on program, I have posted some videos and photos to the JB movement movement Facebook group. The Wahkon program exposes participants to innovative physio techniques. My favourite activity was walking on the treadmill while suspended in the harness. I hope to do more of this when I return for nine days in November. The program is only run on weekdays so I had time to catch up with Andrew Mearns and Colin and Janet and cousin Tony and Emily and their son Otto for lunch on the Sunday.
Since returning from Sydney I have been slowly weaning myself off some of the drugs that I have been on. I have reduced my dosage of Lyrica to 1/4 of what it was and have eliminated another painkiller altogether. I feel a lot better and more optimistic than I have in months. To offset these positive steps I managed to give myself a pressure sore on my leg from some of the chair adjustments that were made in Sydney. I felt very stupid for not noticing it earlier and adjusting the chair back to the way it was. Fortunately it cleared up before the Cat Empire concert that was held at base backpackers on magnetic island - what an awesome night that was! thanks go out to Larissa Huxley for organising everything, basebackpackers, picnic Bay Hotel, and some cherries. (Sunferries, you stupid iPad! Not some cherries!)
A week later and Darrel and I were off to see Missy Higgins, another awesome but completely different gig. If you can get tickets to see her on her latest tour I highly recommend you do so.
Since the concert I have been trying to get back into a regular exercise regime. Hydrotherapy has recommenced at Kokoda pool on Fridays and I have been having some outpatient physiotherapy at the hospital on Thursdays. We have been practising sitting and standing in physio. Standing is very labour intensive as I require one person to control each leg/knee and a stronger person in front of me to stop me falling over :-) I think I am getting better at it but it is slow going.
I only have one new personal best to report: 10 km on the arm bike on resistance level three in 43 minutes and 22s.
An extra special thank you goes out to my sister Ky for arranging this new iPad for me when the old one died.
I think that is most of the news for now I promise not to leave if this long next time...
Hope you're all well and happy XXX
