Michael Forbes

While the cat is away …. apparently the mouse will play

I had been gone for less than 24 hours when I spoke to Mike on Wednesday afternoon and he had met with TAC and was getting sorted for a mid-December discharge. Apparently this followed a meeting with a private re-hab clinic in Ivanhoe earlier in the day! I thought I was going to get a rest when I got home from NZ - apparently I have been very, very wicked (as they say no rest for the wicked!).

The private clinic is interesting as they didn’t want a bar of Mike when I rang 3 months ago and begged them to take him but now the Prof at Talbot has put in a query we get a different response. Will followup more. Mike very keen to be an “out” patient as opposed to an inpatient and Ivanhoe is further from home but will check out the program and facilities - if it looks good then off he will go!

The land of the long white cloud (and cold temperatures and biting wind) was good. Didn’t really get out much but the conference was excellent - nice to see that there is research going on all the time and all over the world and that they are making good progress. Hoping that the recommendations from Canadian research about early surgical intervention and also the vocational work from NZ on early community integration get picked up here quite quickly. Also got a chance to do lots of reading while I was there so feeling highly motivated, very well informed and all a bit clever really …… well except for the surgical talk over b’fast that I nearly lost and all of the research papers that used words and acronyms that I need to go back to uni to understand!

Have lots of highly inspiring, humbling and interesting quotes that will have to go in the next post as it appears that I will  be late in for MIke’s appointment this morning unless I stop rambling shortly!

Another fantastic and very busy weekend at the blue house with Mike’s sister and parents down - lots of kids playing, lots of great food and plenty of relaxing for me which was great. Mike had lots of good therapy sessions too which was awesome. Although, we might have tired him out - I popped him on the trampoline for some stretching but by the time I went inside to grab something Mike was fast asleep! Anyway, he had a lovely alfresco nap which can only be good for the soul! And for the record, when we put Mike on the tramp, we lie him down and do some stretches and move his back around to release it — he is not up doing supported jumping!

Enough, lots more to say but will try again for another post tomorrow.

Really glad to hear that Will is doing well, can’t wait to see him on his visit back to catch up on his news - we keep using him as an example of how fit and well you can get to some of the new para’s in at Talbot (so I  hope that is OK! …. you better be looking great when you come in Will!).

Thanks to Jules who is doing an amazing job (made harder by my e-mail dramas, inability to make a decision or have all the right pieces of paper with me at the same time) with the cycling kit. She clearly needs some sort of medal (or a free entry to mental asylum for working with me!!) Kit goes off for production this week, very exciting!! I can’t wait to get some pics of it up on the site — maybe you can all get it as a new years present instead of a christmas one!

What a week!

Lots and lots to report … quote of the week goes to Mike after it took us nearly 4 hours to get home from the cycling on Saturday night “I am so over being disabled” - nice, it was very helpful!

Have been far to busy to write a post, in fact I nearly got this one written today but didn’t manage to get it posted before we raced off somewhere else.

Lots and lots of thankyous again! I think in order:
- thankyou so much Jules for your work on the sponsor banner for the TWC - it looked great!
- thankyou to the wonderful Fred Morini who lifted MIke’s spirits (and most of those at Talbot) with his flying visit on Wednesday — see more below.
- thanks to those who came along to the cycling with us and enjoyed a night out — what a fantastic event
- thankyou to Margaret who whilst over from Perth on her holiday dropped in our the foulest day ever to do some Feldenkrais work with Mike - he loved it!
- thanks to the wonderful, wonderful ladies (most of whom I do not even know) who came and cleaned my house today … it was getting out of control. Michelle - you are amazing and Jenna - you are an angel!
- and Kent … who managed to procure a “tumbling monkeys” game. This has proven very difficult to find and is Ash’s absolute favourite that she and Mike can play together!

During the week, the wonderful Fred Morini took a day out of his hectic schedule and “popped” in to see Mike -from Brisbane! Thanks to Flight Centre for organising his flights to allow this to happen. In 2001 Fred had a little stack (ie, he crashed off the road and down a steep embankment) and broke his back in 5 places. Like Mike, he did not believe that his legs would not work again. Although he cannot feel his left leg, you would not know to watch him walking around that he was ever involved in an accident. Whilst we don’t expect that of Mike and the level of his injury it is so nice to (as one of the guys at Talbot said) “see someone who has done it”. Fred is now back on the bike and loving his riding - he is on his way back to Europe already! Fred was amazed to see how well Mike was but was horrified by how little “work” he is doing. The boys had a good chat about standing for hours each day and getting serious about “doing some work, work hard, and then work some more”. It was great for Mike to hear how an injury was handled in Germany and Italy 7 years ago in terms of the amount of work that was undertaken. It just makes us more determined than ever to continue with the treatments we are using, get MIke on the FES bike as much as possible and in the pool whenever we can and to get him home where we can get up early each day and make the most of each day. Mike is very keen to get a standing frame for us to leave him in while he watches the cricket …. I think that needs to get added to the projects page!

Wow - what a weekend. Raced around like a headless chicken trying to get stuff ready for the TWC last week. We took Ash to the cycling on Friday night and she loved it (well, actually she thought the commentary was a bit loud and she enjoyed the warmup most when all the bikes were on the track). Mike got to enjoy one the few perks of being in a wheelchair - a spot directly opposite the finish line! Then on Saturday we enjoyed the dinner in the middle of the track. A very different perspective, or maybe that was the wine talking! Was great to be out and about with friends, although I think there was a time that Mike thought he would need to get the neighbours in to chuck him in bed - thankfully the rain meant that a cab was impossible to get and the good folk at Connex were doing track work on our line so after a bit of jogging around in the rain and a few failed attempts, by the time we got home I was more than sober enough to operate the hoist! You live and learn …. and we learnt that we need to get our own van with a hoist! Anyway, didn’t let it ruin a brilliant night ….. definitely highly recommend being in the middle of the veledrome - although I am pretty sure I watched much more cycling up in the stands!

I am off to NZ for a spinal conference tomorrow until late on Friday but will be home again for the weekend. I assume that I will not be technically competent enough to post a message from over there so probably the last you will hear from me before next week …. but don’t forget to have the kids lined up to destroy my kitchen (I mean have fun cooking!) for 6th December.

That looks like being our last date for any fundraising this year so I get to relax after that and sleep, sleep and sleep! Yipppeeeee! Next on the hit list is “get Mike home” and into a full-on program. We need to so I don’t have to listen to Ash whinge the whole way to Talbot each day!

I was trying to be all organised to have some meals ready for Mike and Ash while I was away but Mike just laughed — apparently he and Ash have it all sorted to get take-away every night!

Again, thankyou to everyone who is doing amazing things to help us out - I am sure this is only necessary b/c I have developed some sort of baby-brain-type phenomena since Mike’s accident …. and hopefully it is only temporary and I will be able to resume ability to cook and clean and function on some sort of normal level in the very near future. In the interim though, a hard pill to swallow but thankyou.

 

Auction Items for Track World Cup

Support Forbesy and grab a piece of sporting history
If you’re coming along to the Track World Cup sessions on Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights (Or even if you’re not), you can place your bid to take home one of these great sporting memorabilia items.

All items have Certificates of Authenticity, other than items 6 and 7.

These items will be sold via Silent Auction during the evening of Track World Cup sessions. If you can’t attend, please email your high bid for the item to Monica. The highest bidder on each item from those in attendance or from email pre-bids will win the item. All winning bids must be reach the Reserve Price.

Don’t miss out. Make your bid now!

“Spice Wheels” — give us strength!

Not sure if I have mentioned in an earlier post about “singing” on Mike’s program to promote increased lung capacity. Well tonight the boys all showed up. Mike was minding Ash while I did some much delayed banking (thanks Rob for your help) and, while it appears the boys had fun, her take on it was “they were really noisy mummy!”. I think she was just put out that they didn’t have the fairies game cartridge.

Apparently they were using one of the x-box or Wii games and it was somewhat bearable to the point that the lads have decided to form a “boy-band”. I believe they have decided to name themselves the “spice wheels”. Not sure how sales would go but looks like I will head along to the session next week for a laugh.

Was good to see him happy after a slow start to the day meant that he missed hydro - there was one very unhappy lad this morning - I thought he was just going to drive his chair straight in to the pool when he finally got up there and they said it was too late and he couldn’t get in. Anyway, given that there was nothing on his hectic program for another 4 hours we jumped in a cab and went to Kew recreation centre to have a swim of our own - Ash loved it and Mike’s back felt heaps better. Despite the 2 hour wait for a cab back it ended up being quite a nice day! Apparently while I was out they worked on my ’secret present’ which Ash proceeded to tell me all about when I got back!

Onto more serious matters - get Thursday 11th out of your calendars! It was going to be a rushed event and we have decided (on Mike’s request) to have more of a party-type dinner next year when he is ready for discharge and to head off to Project Walk. This gives everyone time to get over Christmas and New Year silly season and allows plenty of time for planning and for anyone interstate who wants to attend to come down. Invites will go out in the new year. The kids in the kitchen pre-Christmas tupperware thing is still on at the Blue House on the 6th so feel free to drop in from 3pm.

And on the fundraising front:

A huge (and slightly overdue) thankyou to a few people for some amazing fundraising efforts:
- the DOC project team at ANZ for a morning tea which managed to raise an extraordinary amount of money (they must have put some magic mushrooms in the cupcakes!). Thanks guys you have been and continue to be incredible!
- the lovely Jacquie C who did a fun-run and raised $1100! Well done Jacquie and thanks heaps!

We are doing some updates to the fundraising page to show what the money has already been used for and to explain what we are hoping to do in the very near future.

Also in the fundraising space, the TWC is on this weekend. We have a spot at the expo where we will  have the sponsor board on display and some flyers. Also, we will be auctioning some memorabilia to holding a couple of raffles. Details of the auction items will be up on the website in the next day or two for anyone who can’t make it to the TWC but who wants to place a bid.

Finally, the sponsors for the much anticipated cycling kit are locked in, the sponsor board is done ready for the TWC and the amazing Jules is working on the jersey and knicks design now. We are slotted in for a production run later in the year with the kit expected to be ready for sale in early to mid- Jan. The draft jerseys look fantastic and I can’t wait until they are ready!

A couple of dates for the diary …. and other stuff

About time for a new post ….. sorry, the last few weeks have been crazy and I am not allowed to post over the top of Mike! He ‘reckons it takes him about two weeks to write a post so it has to stay up there for at least a week!

Now that Mike is out from early Friday until Monday lunchtime most weeks it is chaos and madness at our place. We love having him at home but not a lot else gets done - including posts! Lots and lots of good things happening with heaps of friends dropping in on weekends - we seriously drop Mike back at Talbot so he (and we) can have a rest! But don’t stop dropping in …. we wouldn’t change the chaos for anything!

When we are home we try to make sure that Mike reads Ash a couple of books and puts her to bed but this little routine has shown us that her big eyes actually take in lots that goes on around her …. the other night she was being a bit cheeky and wouldn’t lie down for him so he used his only real threat - “If you don’t lie down and shut your eyes I am going to go out” - this was not what she wanted but it only took a moment for those eyes to gleam with the idea of her own cleverness …. she leaned forward, flicked the switch to turn off Mike’s chair and then popped back on the bed with a big cheesy grin on her face! Mike didn’t find it that amusing but I confess to having a chuckle!

Another Ashley and Mike story …. as part of Mike’s rehab he is making a breadboard. He has asked them to think of things that he and Ash can do together and this was one. Anyway, off they trot on their secret mission with big plans to ‘not tell mum’. Anyway, it was very cute, Ash came and got me and told me that ’she was the gluer and daddy was the sticker but next time they would swap because that was good sharing’. I of course told her that was wonderful and she said ‘it is for your surprise board mummy that we are making - do you want to come and help’? Not sure that she really gets the whole secret thing yet but it was very sweet. Was very cute watching them working together.

Finally before I get on to the dates stuff …. a gentle warning - stay away from the general Kew area on Tuesday’s from 6-6:30. Someone has decided that singing for the quads is a good idea - which I am sure it is. Due to the decreased lung capacity b/c they don’t have all breathing muscles the high-level quads now have singing on Tuesday nights. I know that singing is proven to increase their lung capacity and voice projection rah, rah, rah but come on: a) do I really want him to be able to scream at me across the house? I might want to ignore him?? b) is it really fair to everyone else? I think not! c) does the teacher have any idea what she has got herself in to? I doubt it or it would be permanently cancelled! d) what are they going to sing? We tried pointing out to them that Mike already sings to Ash and that this is very, very bad and should not be inflicted on other people. Anyway, a couple of them wagged singing last week so they have to go this week! I think they have decided that the Johny Cash “Ring of Fire” might be a good choice. I suggested a Christmas nativity type thing but I think that got voted out!

We are really looking forward to seeing those of you that can make it this Saturday to the track cycling - should be a great fun night. We have been assured that Mike can definitely get in so hopefully this is correct!

A couple of other things are also coming up so some dates for your diary:

- a “night out with Mike”. Final details are still being confirmed but pencil in Thursday 11th December. Just a short drinks and nibbles night with some awesome guest speakers. Promises to be a great night. Final details to be confirmed in the next day or two and invite will be put up on the website. There will be some games, auctions and raffles so come along to have a chat to Mike before the Christmas madness kicks in!
- a ‘kids in the kitchen’ tupperware christmas do at the blue house. The kids are going to cook us afternoon tea on Saturday Dec 6th. Promises to be lots of fun for the kids - good luck Jacquie!! Anyway, come along, grab some snacks, say hi to Forbesy, let the kids have a play and maybe even get some of your Christmas shopping done! I’m pretty sure it will end up rolling in to snags on the BBQ for an early dinner for anyone who wants to hang around.

Finally, can’t finish off the post without a massive (and ongoing) thankyou to so many people - the wonderul Harri for her calmness, reflexology and massages; Cam and Michelle for just stuff; Jacquie for trying to keep me organised; and our neighbous Jack and Daina who probably want to move! They help us out in so many ways every weekend and during the week - grabbing Ash, helping out with massage and stretching for Mike, shopping, giving me a break! I even got in a stealth ride on Saturday when Jack went with Mike and took the girls to fairy ballet.

Come To The Track and Raise Money For Forbesy

Support Michael Forbes and watch some great riding in a unique setting …..



As many of you would be aware, the UCI Track World Cup cycling is coming to Melbourne from November 20 to 22. On each of the three nights of competition a dinner will be held in the centre of the velodrome – what a fantastic way to watch the cycling!

The organisers of the event have very generously appointed ‘Michael Forbes’ as their sole charity which means that a portion of profit from each table sold (with mention of Michael Forbes at booking) goes straight to help out Mike’s rehab and “top 10” projects. In addition, at each dinner we will be running a raffle and holding a couple of silent auctions.

Read more on the FUNDRAISING page