ALL CHANGE....AGAIN !

Well my first physiotherapy  went really well and have had another one since then.

All concerns where laid to rest when I managed to impress them with a sit to stand from the wheelchair to the bars without using the bars for support. After 6 lengths of the bar they told me that if I could sit to stand from my chair to a zimmer frame then I could take the frame home! As I have always preformed better under pressure and in the face of a challenge, ( just take a look at the rest of my life!), I managed and felt rather proud  of my self to say the least.
I asked Emma my physiotherapist  for a prognosis based on what I had managed.  Although it was not fantastic I was really pleased with it.  Within 2 month I should be steady enough and confident enough to transfer from my chair to a front passenger seat of a car or another chair, using a swivel transfer.  Within 4 month (in time for my hols), I should be able to get into the office without my wheelchair, get around the house with out my chair and when out shopping etc using  mixture of sticks and the wheelchair.  This means that although I will still need a wheelchair to go away with as well as help on the plane etc , I should be able to transfer into the plan seat, use the toilets, transfer on to rides and sit at the dinner tables for meals.
They still think at least 6-9 month before am out of the wheelchair altogether and using just sticks/elbow crutches and 12-18 months before am fit and well.  This weeks physio went even better.  Since getting the frame to bring home I have been practising very hard with the stand to sits from the chair as you can see.  So much so that when I went on Thursday they took me out of the bars and give me a walker (frame with wheels), and I walked 35 meters !! I was ecstatic! We are aiming for 70 meters this week.

Obviously I was still concerned about work as the news was good for me but not so much for that.  After a telephone meeting with one of the managers of the company they agreed to support me through this period which was fantastic!!! So at the moment I am working from home for 16 hours over a 4 day period which fits great with my treatment and hospital appointments. This will be looked at again 2 month.
Although this does now mean that I am totally house bound and a recluse because I now only leave the house for appointments at physio and hospital.  Nothing more has been heard from the council re a ramp and unfortunately whilst out on Bank Holiday with my daughters, even with a wider solid ramp and wider doors, I still went off the ramp and nearly splatted on the floor !! David pushed too fast, the wheel at the front turned and it went off the edge.  With the speed David was pushing it didn't take much  for the momentum to take the rest of the chair off ! Lucky for me David caught the chair before it went completely off and lift it back onto the ramp.  Needless to say he is not allowed to push me up any more lol.

I still can't believe though that in this day and age there is still places that although refurbished not long ago don't have disabled access.  Last Saturday was my best friends wedding, but due to the premises not having disabled access  I was not able to attend the reception day or night.  I was disappointed and my friend was upset by this.  As to date I am still waiting for a reply from the company that owns the pub.  Will keep you informed.

NOT GOING TO PLAN

It is surprising how quickly things change..and not always for the good either.

So am not back at work since the near mishap with the taxi .  The directors of the company called to say that they could not guarantee  to have the type of car and ramps that I would need for my type of wheelchair. so contract ended.  So this left me in a bit of a dilemma. Have spent the last few days ringing around taxi companies to try and get the right kind of car/ramps for my chair so that I can get to work safely.  OH and who are happy to deal with access to work.  Not as easy as it sounds actually.

After talks with my employer I am now temporarily working from home. On top of all of this my hours are now having to be cut to enable me to go to Physiotherapy twice a week so I  can learn to walk again.  It means that things are in a fine balance at the moment and am going week to week with my job as at the end of the day it can not be worked from home on a permanent basis.   Not great news. So now looking for work to do from home on a permanent basis's until all the rehab is done and dusted and once more I can return to the world of full time employment in the big bad world.  It does however make me wonder how other wheelchair users get over this as I know  that I am not the only person out there that goes to work in  a wheelchair?

Things for the holiday coming along fine all the meals are now booked on site and the itinerary is done (trust me 9 of us we need one!) and passports being sent off for. We have even started the holiday clothes shop.  Although still stressing about paying it off , I have to believe that by hook or by crook I will do it, there is no way am disappointing those kids of mine!

 These are the liners for the new legs.  As you can see there are a screw/ratchet type of fitting and the liner its self are made of silicone type material.

My first Physio appointment is going to be this Thursday so hoping things go well.  Have been putting the legs on to try and get used to wearing them. As part of this been trying to stand at the table with them on to put pressure through them. I am a little concerned though as when I take the right one off there is some whitening on my scar that could be a pressure point .. guess we will have to wait and see.

The nerve damage is worse then it was and this causes a lot of problems during the day and at night I am finding it difficult to sleep with it.  Unfortunately they could only get me an appointment for mid July for the pain clinic.  Having  tried all the usual suspects it is time to move on to the big boys of drugs as well as alternative procedures that may be available to me.  These might include having something placed into my spine to release chemicals into my spine to block the pain / messages. Not so convinced with that one though


Some good news though for a change.  Heard from the grant department at Motability and we have been awarded the full funding for a Ford Galaxy that  I should have new issues transferring into with or with out my legs. Down side?  Of course there is ....it wont be delivered until August this year.

IT COULD ONLY HAPPEN TO ME

yet again it has been an eventful time for me.  I am beginning to think that "quiet" "normal" or "smoothly" applies to me and mine.

I think the biggest news is that I have finally got my legs back. So have been in touch with physio and have gone down on the waiting list. In the mean time I can put my legs on at home to get used to them as well as practicing standing up from the wheelchair  and putting weight through them when doing my boxing and weights.
Better news then last week when I got 3  streets away and realised that I hadn't picked them up!! Would the ambulance drivers go back for them..would they hell!! They where happier to take me all the way to the Freeman's for me to sit and do nothing.  Well that's not strictly true they weighed me and I had lost 4 and a half pound and found out that my new wheelchair, as well as being a nuisance to the ambulance service who complained constantly about trying to strap it in on the ambulance and refused to lift it over my step and tilted it instead even though i told them about my fall, didn't fit in the Freeman disabled toilets.  You can imagine the mood when I got home.  So I showed them and ate an Easter Egg.

I finally got up the guts to go out socially on a hen night last Friday. This proved to be interesting and quiet fun actually.  The hen of the night who is a long standing suffering friend had planned her route taking into account me and runs to the toilet etc.  All the pubs we went too where friendly, helpful and the toilets clean and accessible ( although if there was an award for the best it would be the Cooper Rose).  Over all I had a very fun night and didn't think about dancing from my wheelchair leaving me feeling like I had done a 48 hour workout at a gym 2 days later !! The one or two spoilers of the night ( and there always has to be one), was the lady who fell on me drunk and the man who thought that "people like that shouldn't be allowed in pubs and clubs".  To the lady who fell on me you could have at least replaced my drink and to the man who complained about me being there , karma is a bitch so watch out !!! You still have time ahead and you never know what is around the corner.

Well the grant form has gone and we have been awarded the grant for the ramp, surveyor been out and now just waiting for the work to start, however that could be months yet.  Have been to the holiday company and have booked the wheelchair on as well as priority booking for me as things are so behind schedule now that it seemed the best thing to do.  Lets face it I don't think I will be fit enough to walk around the theme parks all the time, in fact I will probably be lucky if I manage half the day walking on and off.  Thinking of videoing the holiday from a disabled point of view for my Youtube account but that is still in discussion.

But just to round things up you would never guess what happened to me on Monday?  I swear you could not make this up for a soap. The taxi driver was getting me out of the taxi at work and was in a hurry. Because his doors where not wide enough for my new wheelchair he had to angle the chair.  As he was bringing the chair down the ramps( telescopic) the chair wheel went off the ramp taking the big wheel and chair with it and there was me hanging sideways off the top of this ramp ! The driver couldn't straighten me up but tried to continue to pull me down the ramp which resulted in more of the chair going over the side. At this point I was a wreck.  If it hadn't been for a lovely man at the bus stop who missed his bus to hold me up to stop me from falling I dread to think what would have happened.  He had to tell the taxi driver to lift me at the same time as him to get me off the ramps and on to the ground. When I got on the ground my Tyre had  been pulled off the rim completely, you have the taxi driver trying to ram it back on and pysio from the NHS down stairs in the building where I work down trying to sort me out and get me in the building on the rim.   Anyway they got me into the building on the rim of the wheel made sure i was alright and got me sorted with a repair from wheelchair services and sent me home.  Damage sustained was tyre off, buckled rim, lose break, twisted support bar and a very very shaken jen!! Thats twice now in 3 month but at least this time I didnt hit the ground but still........

Its back to work tomorrow and to say am nervous is an understatement !