Tuesday 29th

Hi everyone,


Just a quick message to let everyone know that Bryan is heading out for another adventure on Saturday, we are taking him for a taxi ride over to Mark and Sue's (my brother and his partner)who live at Camp Hill for a BBQ. Bryan likes these outings so we will endeavour to do more over the next couple of months and iron out any problems which may arise before he tests the waters when he gets home.

The girls and I have spent the last couple of days at the beach for a bit of R & R. I'll be heading back to Bryan tomorrow and Rebecca and Erin will join me on Friday when the three of us will be heading to the city for a bit of pampering which has been kindly donated by the USQ.

Goodnight

Julie

10 weeks

Hey everyone,

Its Rebecca here! I'm on uni break as of today and have taken over as chief blogger for tonight.

Today it has been 10 weeks since Dad's accident and, as you all are probably thinking, I cannot believe it! For Dad I know it feels like forever that he has been it that place as one day rolls into the next, without seeing much progression himself. But for me just reflecting over the last two and a half months, I can see just how far he has come in such a short time!

From lying flat on his back, breathing aided by a ventilator, unable to communicate with us...to now when he is whizzing around in his chair, eating and drinking independently, taking leaps and bounds in his recovery. Although there have been a few set backs on the way, I believe Dad was reborn into this new way of life as a challenge..because life is not meant to be easy.

"Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow."

As Mum told you earlier in the week I got a new Subaru Forester. I think Dad was almost as excited as I was! He was so keen that he wanted to get the train with me down to the Gold Coast to pick it up. "As simple as it may sound Dad, its going to take a little more planning than that".

Bryan being the motor-loving man his is was hanging out for me to get back to Brissy on Friday afternoon so he could see it. We took him across to the carpark where he analysed it from every angle possible. The final thing he wished was to go for a test ride...again not an easy process. So overnight Dad came up with a plan...

Dad's friend Shane came to visit today, unexpecting of what Dad has in mind...
Dad: "Are you feeling strong today Shane?"
Shane: "Umm..yeh!!"
Dad's plan was for Shane to lift him from his chair into the car. Shane was up for a challenge and managed to lift Dad, who weighs about 73kg at the moment, from his chair and into the car. We strapped him in and away we went for a drive around the city! What can I say...Dad absolutely loved it!! He was thrilled to get away, if only for 15 minutes. As soon as we got around the corner Dad's first words were "Alright, back to Toowoomba!".

Dad is designing a device that will be able to transfer him from his chair to his car, as Shane won't be able to be Bryan's personal lift.

Bryan has by choice, weaned himself off his Sudafed tablets. He usually takes one in the morning to increase his heart rate and therefore to increase his blood pressure. With these he is able to get up without feeling too dizzy. He has gone 3 days now without them and is doing very well, only on occasions needing to get his feet lifted up to let the blood drain back to his torso.

Until next time!

Love to all

Rebecca and Family xoxo

Thursday 24th September

Hi All,


Bryan has had a very mixed week going from feeling good and working hard with his physio, to feeling a lot of pain down his back and in the soles of his feet. This pain may be signs of good things to come but is not pleasant in the short term. Bryan is trying some nerve pain medication to see if it will help alleviate the discomfort.



The blister he has on his inner thigh which came about last week from the catheter has got bigger and is of concern at the moment, so they have changed to a different catheter and will need to be monitored closely.



Bryan had his second ride in a taxi yesterday which took him to Lifetec over at Newmarket. Lifetec is a place where they supply aids for people with disabilities such as aids for the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, car, and alarm devices etc. It was a great morning and has given us a few ideas to pursue. The ride in the taxi wasn't much better then the first one he had a couple of weeks ago he would much prefer to be transferring into a normal seat and not sitting in a wheelchair in the back.


After my effort with driving through Brisbane yesterday I think I'll stick to taking public transport as I got lost on the way to Lifetec and on the way back and getting a few more grey hairs in the process.


Erin brought a guitar to the hospital today and played a few tunes for Bryan and some of his friends here at the hospital, it brought a tear to his eye.

Bryan had a trip over to the shops with his OT to try out community access. The task required purchasing some needed items. Bryan discovered the dilema of not being able to reach the motorcycle magazines as they were on the top of the rack and the difficulty of receiving change to put back in his wallet. Similar problem purchasing items from supermarket as many items are out of reach. Bryan has asked if anyone has any good ideas to hand over and receive coins please let us know.


Home news - Now Erin has turned 16 she has obtained her Leaner's and will be out and about so look out! Bryan is looking forward to getting back in the car and giving her some lessons.
Rebecca hasn't had much luck with cars lately, they keep breaking down or end up in wrecker heaven so as from Tuesday she took possession of a 2002 Subaru Forester which should keep her on the road for many years. Rebecca has done really well with her exams which is an amazing effort as she has had a lot to contend with these last couple of months.

We have plans over the next week or so to take Bryan on the train into the city for the day, depending on his health.

Love to all,
The Flemmings

Eight weeks on...

Hi All

It is now 8 weeks since Bryan's accident and six weeks in the spinal unit. In this time he has gone from flat on his back strapped down to his bed with weights attached to his head and communicating in any way possible other than by voice. Telling us he had any itchy nose could sometimes take 10mins or so. From eating pureed food to now enjoying a nice juicy steak. Passing out when getting hoisted out of bed of a morning to going for a whole week without Bryan saying to quickly lift his legs up to the blood flowing back to his head. Requiring assistance to get pushed around in his wheelchair to testing out how fast the wheelchair can go down ramps, the list goes on.

Bryan's movement is still limited to his head, shoulders and part of his arms, his legs and fingers still don't have any movement, but he hasn't given up on them (YES USQSafe team, The power of positive thinking is not a load of rubbish). He has been getting some spasms in his legs and through his torso. The touch feeling he has in his body is also much the same, but has discovered extra sensitivity with hearing. The pain that he originally had in his neck and shoulders is not so serve anymore and not needing any pain relief, Bryan is not keen on taking pills!

Another milestone achieved today in physio with Bryan being able to get from lying flat up to a sitting position all by himself with the aid of a ladder strap that he hooked his wrists through. Bryan is also showing excitement about finally getting to try out smaller and lighter wheelchairs as they are much easier for him to manoeuvre places. We have had a couple of excursions across the road and also beyond the car park to view riverfire with the F1 11's flying directly over head.

Bryan has been shifted to bed 14 which is in the most western room in the spinal unit and he says is the closest he can get to home. On the subject of home, plans are progressing and Bryan has been able to have plenty of input with design features.

We found out this week what the issue is with Bryan's voice. After the camera down the nose to view his vocal cords, it was found a Granuloma has formed most likely due to the tube down his throat while in ICU. The Granuloma may reduce and disappear in time but if it continues to cause voice problems it can be removed by laser surgery. (Granuloma is a benign growth that results from irritation or trauma). Adding to this is some nerve damage resulting in one side of the vocal cords not moving and requiring the other side to compensate. The speech therapist said Bryan should get this vocal cord movement back as this nerve can repair itself.

All in all Bryan is progressing steadily and working hard on his goals to get him home.

Keep you posted.

Goodnight from,
Julie and assistance from Bryan

Beginning of Spring

Hello all,

Sorry there has been no blog for the last couple of days! Its been fairly busy times this week with Erin's and Kellie's birthdays and alot going on with Dad.

This week I am feeling has been Dad's best week since being in the spinal unit! His spirit truly amazed me this week. A massive proportion of this due to the fact that he has not been experiencing as much pain as he had been. I said to him on Tuesday "Dad you are going really good today, do you think this has been one of your better days?", he thought for a while then said "yeh, i think it would be pretty close, apart from bad news this morning"

I will tell you a bit about that now...

Last week Dad had a very swollen leg, we thought he may have bumped it on something without noticing. Anyway after a few days the docs decided they would x-ray and ultrasound it to find out if there was any underlying factors.

The news came back that Dad had Heterotopic Ossificaiton which, in normal person's terms means there are bone fragments growing in muscle and other tissues where they shouldn't be. They found these at the top of his thigh and around his hip joint. Research indicates that there is a high correlation between spinal injuries and HO, due to mixed signals being sent through the nervous system telling bone to grow instead of healing tissue. Many of the other patients on the ward also have this condition.

It is preventable but not yet treatable, with no cure, besides invasive surgery to remove fragments. Prevention involves taking anti-inflammatories and keeping a good range of movement in the affected area. We are already noticing that Dad has lost some flexion range in that hip.

It is not life threatening but a little bit of a setback that we hope will not get any worse.

Dad was very disappointed that he could not be with Erin for her birthday on Wednesday. Ann and I spent the day with Dad and assured him it wouldn't be long until he gets to go home. Trust me when I say Dad has everything planned out for when he comes home. The reconstruction of the house, his new gym, his modified car, wheelchairs and the list goes on! He is putting a lot of brain effort into his spare time so that he can get home quicker and for everything to be ready when he does. I don't think the nurses have seen anyone so keen to get out of there!

Troy and Jake (Dad's friends and motorcross racers) also came to visit on Wednesday. I saw the passion in Dad spark when he saw them coming. Even though Dad's injury was from a bike, that has not stopped his love for the sport and everything to do with bikes. He has been concentrating his energy on the mental side instead of the physical side, giving some advice to Troy and Jake about the up coming season. If Dad can't walk yet, he will use someone else's legs to do it!

Many of you may know already but Dad is set up on "Skype". This is a video call program run via the internet. Dad is pretty independent with Skype, no one has to hold a phone up to his ear, he just puts his earphones on and chats away! Uncle Geoff and Aunty Chris in China talk to Dad a few times a week on Skype, which means that no matter how far away you are you can still keep in touch.

I have been meaning to post something on here for a while about "how to post a comment" on the blog. Many of you who read this have had trouble writing in the comments box. So for those who are yet to discover the art of blogging you must first sign up for a google blog account. Then you can chose to "follow" our blog www.bryanflyanflemming.blogspot.com, it is only then that you are able to post a comment. Hope this works!

I hope I have not missed anything out from this week! You will be hearing from me again soon.

Love always
Rebecca and the Flemming Family xoxo

Father's Day

Hello everyone!

Wishing all the Dad's a very Happy Fathers Day today!

A very exciting day in the Flemming camp today, with Dad having his first outing since the accident. It was a very successful adventure just down the road to the Pineapple Hotel for lunch. Bryan has been craving a nice juicy steak with mushroom sauce for a long time and he got one today! The taxi ride on the way there was a little bit scary for Dad - taxi rides are scary at the best of times, but when you don't have a lot of balance it makes it even more interesting. Dad says the taxis aren't designed very well as he was sitting so high up in his chair that he couldn't see out the windows. However the hydrolic lift that got him into the taxi was very impressive! Here are some pics we took today...

Us girls (Rebecca and Erin) with our wonderful Dad

The "Father's" Kev and Bryan

Getting into the wheelie taxi

Pineapple Hotel for lunch - Kev, Julie, Erin, Ros, Bryan, Ev, Bec and Joey.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day - we sure did! And we hope that we can venture further and further each time.

Lots of Love

Rebecca and the Flemming Family

xoxo

Thursday 3rd September

Today finds Bryan confined to bed as he has a blood blister on his back which was caused from the binder he wears around his middle which helps keep his blood pressure at a manageable level. Without wearing a binder he feels dizzy and on occasions tends to pass out, so he needs to wear one. A binder looks like a girdle, it is a wide thick elastic band which is wrapped around Bryan's stomach and fastened up with velcro. His physio is sorting out a solution to the problem. It is very important to be extremely careful if you have any skin issues because they can lead to major issues with nasty results. Therefore staying in bed and keeping the pressure off the blister is priority.



By the way Bryan is out of isolation and back in the "Cute" section, not because he is needing extra care but he is waiting for a bed to become available back in the ward as his bed in room 6 was quickly snatched up when he left.



Tuesday I met with Rachael (Occupational Therapist) at our house in Toowoomba to assess what modifications will need to be done to the house before Bryan returns home. The major issue is the bedroom as it is too small to accommodate a wheelchair and a hoist (if needed), so the plan would be to knock out the wall between our room and the spare bedroom to make way for a toilet, shower and robe. As Bryan didn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen before the accident he reckons why start now, so at is stage there will only be minimal if any changes in this area. The only other issue at this stage will be putting a ramp at the front door and the back door.



Sunday, being father's day will be Bryan's first outing from the hospital. Rebecca , Joey, Erin, myself, his Mum , Dad and sister are heading to the Pineapple hotel for lunch for a nice steak.

Once Bryan has experienced a few day trips out of the hospital we will try an overnight stay in Brisbane and if all goes well we will trial a weekend stay in Toowoomba which Bryan is very keen to do, but will need alot of planning.



I'll update you on how the trip on Sunday goes.



Bye for now,



Julie