Procrastination

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog, I have been procrastinating. And very very busy!

I had a lovely Easter with Colin and Russell, lots of great food great company and great wine. We tucked into fresh mud crab on Good Friday courtesy of Darrel and spent Easter Saturday at Larissa's house celebrating Colin's birthday and admiring her new outdoor entertainment area. Larissa, together with helpers Ross and Val, cooked up 11 different tapas dishes and a fantastic chocolate birthday cake! I thought I would be too full to eat anything on Sunday but managed to scoff down Yum cha at Benny's. After that we retreated to the lounge room and the TV, I think I managed to get Colin and Russell hooked on Justified:-)

I had a great yoga session with Tracy on Easter Monday and got back up on the bike on the Tuesday. Unfortunately I woke up in the early hours of Wednesday morning feeling off colour. So off-colour that I woke Val to check on me. 

Some mother-daughter bonding experiences are great, others are not so great. Sharing a bucket falls into the not so great category. Don't know if it was food poisoning or a bug that is going round but as my temperature got higher than 38°C we decided to call the doctor to your door service. Dr Dominic was great, he gave us some Maxolon for the vomiting and diagnosed me with a UTI and gave me a script for right antibiotics after consulting with the registrar at the hospital. So much better than waiting out at the emergency department for hours on end. The rest of the week was kind of a write-off, I didn't start feeling better until Saturday night when I managed a few of Darrels crab spring rolls:-) 

During those couple of days when I was ill I managed to get hooked on "the walking dead" and watch the rest of series 4 of "justified" and download a season pass for series 3 of "game of thrones". Yes I have been very slack;-) I will however justify my slackness with my latest results on the motomed. My latest personal-bests for my legs are 6 km in 50 minutes and 5 km in 40 minutes with a top speed of 35 RPM! I'm very happy but hope to improve further next week.

I have only been to one hydrotherapy session since Easter. They cancelled one due to rain can you believe it?!! The cancellation did give me time to go shopping and out to lunch so I shouldn't complain too much :-) I have found a pair of jeans that fit and that is a wonderful thing, we also found a second hand beach wheelchair that I am going to make an offer on provided it fits in the car. The wheels are very wide and may not fit up the ramp.

 I tried out my new flippers at hydrotherapy yesterday but it was not a success. My feet float too much on their own but my regular ankle weights are too heavy. We are going to try again next week with little weights. I still managed to "swim"10 laps and did some standing - with the help of a young man under each arm :-) I was tempted to make some smart arse comments about this but my breasts were threatening escape from my new top so I thought I'd better not :-)

I have finally had a follow-up call from Easystand.com, they have a rep coming up at the end of the month to demonstrate the Glider machine - $11k but it looks great. I have also finally committed to the yoga table which is being custom-made by Meridian Massage In Sydney and should be here in two weeks. Tracy has had a job offer in her chosen field (geology) which is great but I already miss my sessions with her. I have arranged for some yoga sessions with Meredith next week which hopefully will be an ongoing thing. In 2° of separation Townsville it turns out that Merediths daughter is friends with my niece Cali!

I had a lovely visit from Margie and Ralph this week. We got thai takeaway on Sunday night and went to Watermark on Monday for lunch. Watermark is really good at the moment particularly the desserts (I can say this with confidence as I have now tried all of them¡). It has also been a week of catch ups - with my mum and my sister on Tuesday, Scrabble club on Wednesday, my hairdresser friend Shaun and my dad on Thursday, and my lovely Darrel, Shaun and Ronnie at "a touch of salt” last night. Special thanks go out to Shaun for the great haircut and Ronnie for the lovely scrabble rings. Darrel has gone fishing so I am catching up with Helen tonight and Larissa tomorrow. Wine and Scrabble are on the agenda and hopefully fresh fish on the menu tomorrow:-)

I am still planning a visit to walk on in Brisbane in July and need to look at organising a home swap which I will hopefully get onto next week. Other plans include a visit to my accountant to finalise last years tax return, checking out the beach wheelchair and as much exercise as I can possibly fit in!

Thanks to everyone for reading the blog I hope you enjoy this and again apologise for leaving it so long between entries xxx

Happy Easter

I was seeking inspiration in a glass of red wine while posting this blog but unfortunately Val threw it on the floor. Ironically this makes her the first person to still red light on the carpet in the new Apartment. Whatever, you know what I mean :-)

The last few weeks have been ridiculously busy and I have been exhausted at the end of most days and sometimes in the middle of them.  I am now regularly (i.e. more than once) putting in more than three kms active peddling with my legs and ten kms (on resistance level 3) with my arms on the Motomed.  I also do modified yoga with Tracy for two hours on Mondays and Wednesdays and an hour plus of hydrotherapy on Fridays.  Pretty good for a quadriplegic, I reckon :-)

We have recently found a number of other wonderful looking rehab machines online at Hocoma.com and easystand.com .  I want all of them, and have requested prices for some.  Pricey little bits of equipment!  This, in conjunction with the great results I am getting from my current exercise regime, has got me thinking that maybe I should start a new and innovative "PhysiYoga" clinic.  I am sure there should be some government grants available in addition to research and development tax deductions.  Hopefully these will include business class airfares to the USA and Switzerland to check the equipment out :-).  I've even looked at properties that may be suitable for such a venture.  What do you think, Folks?  Townsville could be the new SCI Rehab Centre in Australia.  :Perhaps I should approach Mayor Jenny Hill and see what she thinks........

It has also been a busy time socially, with outings for Tracy Armstrong and Dave Shorten graduations, St Patricks Day and Friday afternoon drinks at the wonderful Touch of Salt.  I also had a lovely visit from Margie and Ralph, they must have enjoyed it as they are coming back again in April.  Russell and Colin are coming to visit this weekend (Easter), so I can have a slightly early celebration with them for Colin's milestone birthday.  We hope to do this at Larissa's on Saturday afternoon in her new outdoor entertaining area.  Last time I visited the outdoor entertainment area a very cut lizard stuck its head up to say 'hello' to me.  A moment later I realised that it was a lizard without legs - ie, a snake.  Hopefully he will not join the party on Saturday.

While I am here I may as well confess to a few less worthy practices: yes, that's right, I have bitten ALL of the nails off of my left hand.  AND watched all of "Justified" and ALL of Season One of the  Walking Dead.  Seriously, though, "Justified" is completely justified and the best TV series I have seen in quite a while.  Equally as good as "Game of Thrones" and "True Blood" in my book.  And will you all please hurry up and watch it so we can discuss what happens in Season Four??

I think one of the truths for people in wheelchairs is that you can never have enough velcro.  Last week I managed to throw my phone on the floor in the bathroom.  Val kindly came to the unit to pick the phone up and give it back to me as there was a high risk that I would drive over it if she didn't.  Shortly after she left, I scratched my eyebrow and somehow threw my glasses on the floor - right next to the wheel!  I immediately rang Val only to discover her phone ringing on my kitchen table.   I have since obtained velcro for the phone but I am reluctant to stick any on my head to keep the glasses there.

Scrabble Club is going well and will be held at my apartment this week.  I hope my luck from the weekend holds out as Val gave me two 500 plus games and the lovely "outgazes" for 126 points (not on a triple triple :-( ).  I wish I could be playing in the Nationals this year, but it is a little too early.  It won't stop me obsessively checking the results on line and cheering on my friends.  Good luck in particular to Helen Maurus, Ryan Anderson and Naween Fernando: may the blanks be with you!  I would wish this for Alastair Richards but he is too good to need it ;-)

Darrel has been outdoing himself lately with delicious meals.  My latest favourite is the crab, coriander and cashew spring rolls.  We have also had some lovely meals out together most recently at Longboards (the mini fish tacos rock) and Yum Cha at Benny's.  We still haven't used our gift voucher to Watermark so there is more to look forward to in dining in the near future.

I would like to close this blog by wishing you all a happy and chocolate-filled Easter.  

xxx







Sent from my iPad

A year or so later

A year and three days ago my life and I changed dramatically. I should probably have reflected and written a serious post on this but chose to exercise instead :-) I will do a serious reflective post one-day - getting stronger is top priority at the moment (Yes, I have watched all of Justified).

On Monday I achieved a new personal-best on the leg bike – 2.3 km! After that it was time to switch to the arms, so I got Katelyn to set me up on resistance level III before she headed off to the shops. I thought it would take her about half an hour. Once you're strapped in you just have to keep pedalling or let the bike pedal for you, so I just kept on pedalling until she got back nearly 45 minutes later. Result - another new personal-best 7 km!

After that I had little nap :-)

Fortunately the nap and Tracy's enthusiasm got me through two hours of yoga/physio that afternoon. We have managed three afternoons this week which in addition to the bike most days is lot! There is a photo up on Facebook if anyone is interested in seeing what we have got up to.

If you are on Facebook you should also check out the short video of a spider that I have shared, it still makes me laugh and I have watched it at least a dozen times! 

It was Cali's 15th birthday on Tuesday but we celebrated a little early (Monday night) at my place.
Cali looked lovely and a good night was had by all.

I will be finishing off the weeks exercise with hydrotherapy tomorrow, hopefully it will be enough to work off Norms seafood lasagne - yum!

Julie Brice, Chip Hunter

On the weekends my carers work from 730 - 11 AM and then 7 PM to 9:30 PM, so unless I have organised something with friends I have eight hours by myself during the days. On Saturday I hadn't  organised anything. I had a snack before Miriam left and thought that it would tide me over till Larissa arrived at 6 PM. When Larissa arrived she was surprised at the amount of crumbs on the floor until she saw the Twisties packet on my lap. Then she was surprised at the furniture arrangement.

Darrel had left an open packet of chips on the middle of the coffee table, to get to them I had to push the couch out of the way up against the windows and manoeuvre the chair close enough to the table that I could grab them. This took a few attempts and I moved the coffee table in the process. The next test was getting the chips to my mouth. I had about 50% success rate so there were quite a few on the floor for me to drive over...

Fortunately there was no lasting damage to the furniture or the carpet:-)

I am Julie Brice, Chip Hunter.

And now I'm tired…

This morning I got back on the Motomed bike and cranked up the saints "know your product". During my half hour on the leg bike I managed to pedal 2 km. All by myself. Without any help from the machine or any breaks :-) So I will attribute this new personal-best in part to the saints awesome album.

I also managed 6 km on the arm bike while listening to rancid "Life won’t wait", an apt title.

This comes on top of a day with no hillbilly heroin (endone) yesterday - the first of such days I've had in quite a while as my shoulder pain has been bad.

I have a feeling it's going to be a good week :-)

Drainage systems

This blog contains stories about wee and catheters and maybe somewhat distasteful. Read at your own risk...

Unfortunately I cannot transfer in and out of my chair, nor can I self catheterise as I do not have enough hand function which resulted in my agreeing to a SPC (Suprapubic catheter - Basically a tube stuck through my abdominal wall into my bladder).
I use a valve at the end of the catheter when I need to pee and have a system setup in my chair that it drains through the footplate. The chair also allows me to elevate my feet so that wee can discharge straight into a toilet bowl. So yes boys I now prefer toilet seats to be left up!
The system works really well provided there is enough room for me to manoeuvre the wheelchair. It doesn't work for standard sized toilets as I can't get through the door, nor will it work if there are steps on the way to the bathroom.
So, if I am out and about and need to use the facilities and there is no wheelchair friendly bathroom then I shall retaliate by peeing in the car park or on the lawn. If I come to visit and you don't like your neighbours I can irrigate their nature strip:-)
You have been warned…

Are we there yet?

Any errors or spelling mistakes in this blog are the fault of voice to text :-)
I promised myself last night that I was not allowed to start watching Justified season three until I had done a blog, so this may be short and sweet as I need to see what happens next! The blog ends suddenly again as there is a flaw in this site or more probably a flaw in my understanding of it.
The apartment is starting to look a lot more like home. Kylie and Ron have hung up most of my pictures, Shaun and Ron's outdoor setting has been delivered, I have a TV in my bedroom, and a working fridge for wine on the balcony. A pantry has been organised and should be delivered in a few weeks and the sound system has been installed. There is only one area that still needs to be tidied up and then I have to get onto a dreaded task – organising my tax from last year.
It was lovely to catch up with Margie and Ralph last week but we didn't bother to try my pool experiment. We wouldn't have had time in between long lunches anyway :-) I've realised there is no way to avoid a fixed hoist so that is another task to add to the list...
I've been playing a fair bit of Scrabble lately including a tournament that was held at the aeroclub on 10 February. I came third but still managed to lose 16 points from my rating. Surely the Scrabble study should pay off soon… Another tournament was organised for this weekend but has been cancelled due to lack of interest.
I've rearranged some of my carer hours to give me more time for exercise and have been back on the motomed bike this week. I achieved a new personal-best today – 1.05 km of active leg exercise (ie me actually riding the equivalent of this distance rather than the machine just pedalling it for me). I think I can thank the new sound system and ”Rage against the machine" for extra motivation to pedal the machine:-) Tracey Armstrong will be helping me with the project walk at home program 3 times a week as of next week. I will also be starting hydrotherapy with NQ Community health in a few weeks.
I met up with a local boy who had attended project walk in the states last week. He had a great deal of praise for that program but thought that the Sydney branch was worth a try as well so I am no further along in the decision-making process.