It is our last night in Brisbane and five months since Bryan’s accident. We have been looking forward to this day for sooo long. To think that on the night of Bryan’s accident I took a clean set of his clothes down to the hospital as I thought that I would be bringing him home the next day, little did I know.
Our stay in the transition house has run rather smoothly just a couple of little issues to contend with, pressure areas on Bryan’s heels and back, but with constant monitoring and keeping off them they shouldn’t cause any problems. Of all the issues that come with a spinal cord injury the skin would have to be the biggest issue as if you don’t keep checking for pressure areas you could end up in bed for 1 to 8 weeks or even more depending on when it was noticed, where it is, how big it is.
Bryan’s progress has been amazing, but still has a long way to go. He has got more strength in his shoulders which helps him to push his chair around and helps with transferring from bed to chair and vice versa. He also has a bit more strength in his left tricep the right tricep is still weak. There hasn’t been any progress in the way of movement in his legs or fingers but his wish for Christmas is that he gets some finger movement back. Bryan is getting more spasms in his legs and stomach, but don’t know if they are a good thing as if they get too bad it means more medication to control them. It could be a sign that good things are happening inside, but no one can tell you for sure, it is still an area where more research needs to be done. We’ve been told that things can still come back up to two years after the accident, we can only pray.
I’m ready to hit the pillow ready for an early start and what will be a big day tomorrow.
Goodnight
Julie
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Next Step
We have finally taken the next step and we are currently living in the transition house in Brisbane. This follows my trip home last Sunday for the first time in 5 months. Our first stop was to Julie’s Mum’s place for morning tea (which is a regular for the Fitzgerald’s) and to watch the boys play a bit of back yard cricket. Danny, Mick and Craig placed me in the outfield in the hope that I could catch a ball or two, no such luck, I was never that good at cricket anyway.
From Joan’s we went to Steve and Brenda’s home for a gathering of the Friends of Bryan Committee. It was great to be surrounded by friends and family. We stayed in a motel in Toowoomba for the night (thanks Liz and crew), then out to the University in the morning to catch up with work colleagues.
On our way back to Brisbane we went via Lotus Cres., where my Dad and Craig were hard at work finishing off some painting, can’t wait to get back home to stay. Our trip didn’t start well with the air con not working in the car, Shane had a look at it for us but it is going to need some time spent to fix, hence a hot trip back to Brisbane.
After saying our farewells to patients and staff we headed off to the transition house for our stay up until Xmas Eve. The house is certainly going to test my skills as it has a few challenging areas for me to negotiate. Our first three days have been without drama and feel that my endurance is increasing to the point I can handle being in the chair for a whole day in this heat. We have carer’s come in morning and night to assist with personnel care giving Julie a much needed break. Next week we have a carer coming down from Toowoomba for three days who will be trained to work with me when I get home along with 3 other carer’s.
We can’t thank everyone enough for the effort they are putting into getting us home.
Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you
Keep you posted
Bryan
From Joan’s we went to Steve and Brenda’s home for a gathering of the Friends of Bryan Committee. It was great to be surrounded by friends and family. We stayed in a motel in Toowoomba for the night (thanks Liz and crew), then out to the University in the morning to catch up with work colleagues.
On our way back to Brisbane we went via Lotus Cres., where my Dad and Craig were hard at work finishing off some painting, can’t wait to get back home to stay. Our trip didn’t start well with the air con not working in the car, Shane had a look at it for us but it is going to need some time spent to fix, hence a hot trip back to Brisbane.
After saying our farewells to patients and staff we headed off to the transition house for our stay up until Xmas Eve. The house is certainly going to test my skills as it has a few challenging areas for me to negotiate. Our first three days have been without drama and feel that my endurance is increasing to the point I can handle being in the chair for a whole day in this heat. We have carer’s come in morning and night to assist with personnel care giving Julie a much needed break. Next week we have a carer coming down from Toowoomba for three days who will be trained to work with me when I get home along with 3 other carer’s.
We can’t thank everyone enough for the effort they are putting into getting us home.
Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you
Keep you posted
Bryan
Saturday, December 12, 2009
One more Sleep!
Only one sleep to go !
Tomorrow morning we will drive back to Toowoomba for a xmas gathering and stay the night in a motel. On Monday Bryan is going to visit the Uni to attend the WHSO morning meeting as a guest and to say hi to as many as possible by 11.00 am before returning to Brisbane for 10 days stay in a transition house, to be home on Xmas eve hopefully home for good. The stay in the transition house is to prepare us and train the carers who will be looking after Bryan when we get home to Toowoomba. It is exciting as well as scary proceeding with rehab in an environment not supported by 100% hospital staff at the press of a button.
This last full day here in some ways is sad as you can imagine you meet a lot of friends, but there is no holding me back here, I’m so looking forward to being around my family and long time friends as I progress towards normal life.
It has been so wonderful for Julie to be able to stay with her brother Mark, sister-in-law Sue and niece Kate while attending the hospital each day (only 10 mins drive) without their support it would have made things very difficult.
We will keep you updated from the transition house.
Bye for now
Love from Bryan and Julie
Tomorrow morning we will drive back to Toowoomba for a xmas gathering and stay the night in a motel. On Monday Bryan is going to visit the Uni to attend the WHSO morning meeting as a guest and to say hi to as many as possible by 11.00 am before returning to Brisbane for 10 days stay in a transition house, to be home on Xmas eve hopefully home for good. The stay in the transition house is to prepare us and train the carers who will be looking after Bryan when we get home to Toowoomba. It is exciting as well as scary proceeding with rehab in an environment not supported by 100% hospital staff at the press of a button.
This last full day here in some ways is sad as you can imagine you meet a lot of friends, but there is no holding me back here, I’m so looking forward to being around my family and long time friends as I progress towards normal life.
It has been so wonderful for Julie to be able to stay with her brother Mark, sister-in-law Sue and niece Kate while attending the hospital each day (only 10 mins drive) without their support it would have made things very difficult.
We will keep you updated from the transition house.
Bye for now
Love from Bryan and Julie
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