Big day today … the wonderful Campbell from the integration group mapped out a trip to the park for us all with Ash. He also showed us the way to the train station so we can escape that way if needed (to get to the footy if the swans make it to next week)!
We left Talbot just after 3 in beautiful sunshine and headed off for our adventure. Ash was on her bike with her helmet on racing daddy. We headed off along Kew Boulevard and across the river to a wonderful park where Ash and daddy had their first play in 9 weeks. Was a pretty rough ride for Mike in his chair and his shoulders were pretty sore by the time we got back. It is pretty hilly over that side of town and the trip used up 25% of his chairs power. Lovely to spend a couple of hours out in the sun doing something “normal”. Mike has been teaching Ash to swing by explaining to her how to do it (as he can no longer show her). Anyway, today she did a great job of swinging herself and pronounced — “I can do it myself, the way Daddy showed me (slight pause) … told showed me”. Big achievement Mike – being a great dad explaining how to do something rather than showing her.
Was a lovely day so there were lots of cyclists out for a ride, a think a bit confronting but something to get used to. On the way back to Talbot we saw a cyclist come scooting past with a wave and yell “Hey Forbesy”. It was wonderful Dr Sammy out for his Thursday afternoon session. Sammy was on a hot-lap so we watched him speed off before he flipped around to come back for a chat. Looks like we will be out for the next few Thursday’s timing Sammy’s hot-laps and giving a bit of encouragement. Ash is already planning her “Go Sammy” sign. While we were out and about Mike’s legs were jumping like crazy …. he is adamant that they knew they were at the Bouli and wanted to ride!
We were all pretty exhausted after our adventure but it was lovely to get out and know there is such a great park relatively close by. Will definitely be doing that again as soon as Mike’s program (and shoulders) allow. Thanks Campbell – this was the most positive couple of hours since arriving at Talbot – fantastic!
Also thanks to the lovely Erin who has completed the home-assessment. We now know what we need to get done for Mike to come home …. this will be added to the projects list over the coming days.
As usual, thanks to Theresa (Mike’s physio) … these sessions are the highlight of his day – he loves getting out of the chair, stretching, and trying new things!
Mike has a new room-mate so unfortunately the voice recognition software doesn’t get much of a run at the moment. He is pretty keen to post another message to you all. He is reading the messages, it’s just difficult to “type” in his responses. Will try to get some time in a meeting room where it is quiet enough for the software to work.
