Thursday 23rd

Had to wait a little bit this morning before Mum and I were allowed to go in and see Dad (Erin's gone back to school for 2 days), as he was having physio on his chest.

He still has a lot of fluid on his lungs and the physio has to manually massage his chest and make him cough up as much as he can. They are also giving him antibiotics for an infection that is floating around his body, which is not surprising since his immune system is probably venerable as his body is concentrating on healing itself.

When Mum and I went in this morning he looked a lot better, less swollen and more colour in his face. They are starting to wean him off the sedatives so hopefully he will become more alert over the next couple of days. He was still very sleepy when we went in and he struggled to stay awake when we were talking to him.

Bryan was telling us with his eyes that he had a good sleep last night but felt dizzy, which I'm guessing is from the amount of drugs they are administering. They had him lying a little flatter than he has been for the last couple of days, which he doesn't like, he prefers to be sitting up and seeing what’s going on around him (not surprising for Dad).

Uncle Ed has bought up the Moto-GP for Dad to watch; you could see the excitement in his eyes when we told him that we finally had it here for him to watch. The bad thing is that there’s only one TV in the whole ICU, so we have to go and hunt it down again. Although he probably won’t be able to watch much of it as he keeps drifting in and out of sleep.

Dad spelt on the alphabet board "BREATHING" to uncle Ed when he went in not long ago and even though we have been telling him what’s going, maybe he is not remembering some of it or just wants to know the progress. So uncle Ed explained to Dad again how the tube was helping him breath until his lungs are clear. They might be able to take it out soon and he will be able to talk to us again.

He also spelt out "BREAK", obviously wanting to know more about his back and where it was broken, what movement he had and when and if he would ever get it back. Again Uncle Ed told Dad exactly what the doctors have told us, C6-C7 dislocation meaning there is very little chance he will ever regain movement in his legs and possibly his hands. As you can understand this is heart breaking to tell him.

BUT the doctors will always tell you the worst case scenario leaving room for hope and miracles to happen. And as we have been saying and will keep saying Dad is a fighter and nothing will ever stop him from achieving.

I was in with Dad by myself for a while last night massaging and moving his legs and I said to him "Dad I'm going to be the best Physiotherapist ever, I'm going to get you walking again". He then used to the alphabet board to tell me to "STUDY HARD".

The doctor comes around regularly to check-up on Dad and turn him on his side, which helps with circulation and prevents bed-sores. He will be having more physio this afternoon and as I am very interested in watching and learning what they do, the nurse told me I could be in the room while they are doing it.

Will post another blog tonight so keep checking the site for more updates. Continuing our thanks for the support and love you are all giving us.

Bec Flemming and Family
xoxo