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