Michael Forbes

We All Need Some Cheering up at Some Stage!

Well Monica, Ashley and I returned from holidays late last week and I began my rehabilitation routine for 2010. It has been great to have a break from the routine but I discovered that my body needs regular manipulation and movement in order to not rust and be thrown in the scrapheap! By the end of the holiday my shoulders were basically seized up and could barely move.
There were however some great achievements from our holidays from my perspective. It was wonderful to revisit the wonderful holiday home of my parents-in-law who worked for months to modify the home so I could stay and they did an amazing job. In addition to this they worked tirelessly to help me have a break from my regular care routine and be surrounded just by family. The best addition to their home was a custom-designed set of stairs which was about 40 cm deep and 10 cm high a step. This allowed me to walk from the ground level to the upstairs portion of the home almost independently using my sticks. It really was invigorating! In addition to this, with help from my brother-in-law Simon in particular we had regular trips to the beach where I walked on the sand and sat in a camp chair to watch the kids play in the water for hours upon hours. I even had a dip in the water myself on the odd occasion. This was not at all graceful but very pleasant nonetheless. A far cry from the long ocean swims and body surfing that I’m used to but I can’t complain.
The worst part of the holiday and the reason we need some cheering up is my poor wife Monica has come down with a severe case of pneomonia which she contracted just prior to Christmas. The truth is it has been coming on for some time because she has worked so tirelessly since my accident. We are doing whatever we can to help her get back on her feet so please feel free to send your best wishes to her. She is getting better and is certainly through the worst of it but needs to be careful for the next month at least. Trying to tie Monica down is probably the greatest challenge that I have ever had so please help me! If you see her out and about trying to knock off one of the 20 things she puts on her list every day please send her straight home. My mother is down with us at the moment which is fabulous.
On a lighter note please find a video clip below. With close friends of ours who have a daughter the same age we have a competition each year to buy each other the noisiest present. This year was hilarious as we both bought exactly the same thing for each other… a drum kit! Here is Ashley strutting her stuff and I think there is a real future there. Listen in particular for the crescendo!

Keep well,
Mike.

Don’t Try This One at Home!

It has been a little while since the last post (and that does not mean it is Anzac Day) but I have uploaded another video of some exercise that I’m doing at the gym with my trainer Patrick. It is a seated rowing exercise while sitting on a Swiss ball. I am quite proud of this exercise as it is taken quite some time to even be able to sit on a Swiss ball. In addition to this, it has taken a long time to get my shoulder blades to move at all let alone under my own muscle control. So here it is, enjoy and don’t try this at home!

I hope you are all well and Merry Christmas to all. Be good to family and friends because trust me in times of need they are the best resource you could ever have.

Cheers,

Mike.

A Walking Update

Just a quick post to give you an update of the walking. My lovely Mum took a video last time she was down to visit. It gives you an idea of the improvements I have made since being in the US.

The biggest improvements for mine are being able to do it without gloves, being able to talk whilst I walk, and not having to lock my knees with every step. Aside from this I can turn around and walk a lot quicker and have just started learning how to do steps.

Enjoy,

Mike.

Time to Open the Next Chapter!

Apologies for it being a month since my last post but it has been a difficult month for me to write a post as the legal proceedings between myself and the TAC were held last week. As a result of this I have not been posting information that may have jeopardised these proceedings coming to an end. Finally some closure has been achieved in relation to the accident. Since my accident I have been going through a process with TAC where they are given time to investigate the accident, its cause and its effect on me as a victim. This process culminated last week with a mediation hearing between my lawyers and the TAC and I’m happy to report that the process is now over. My lawyers and TAC have been wonderful to deal with in this process. With this process now complete I am free to discuss the accident and participate in organisations that are aimed at improving road safety, cycle safety and awareness. My initial aim will be directly related to improving the way Beach Road can be shared between cyclists and motorists. I want to address the us versus them mentality by drawing people’s attention to the fact that most cyclists out there are motorists as well, pay their taxes and car registration so from every respect have every right to use the road from a motorist’s perspective. As we all know there are many aspects to this argument and one that I would like to see become not an argument at all but a recognition between cyclists and motorists of how to share a road in a safe manner. Motorists need to recognise that a collision between a motor vehicle and a cyclist is likely to result in a catastrophic injury like mine or even a fatality. Cyclists need to recognise that breaking road rules and not being considerate to a motorist and their passage on the road may not result in them getting injured but will anger a motorist that may result in another innocent cyclist becoming the victim of an accident.

Enough said on this matter for now, I don’t want this to become just words. I am hoping to get to act on these words in the near future and be a big part of improving what has become a wonderful recreational activity, whether it be training to race, keeping fit in a great social sport, or just earning that big breakfast on a weekend morning.

Now for those of you who are not familiar with my accident, I will give you a brief synopsis of what has been accepted to have happened. I was performing a training ride on Beach Road in June last year. I was about 5 km from home having completed the hard riding in my training ride and was cooling down. As I was heading up a small rise I heard a large vehicle from behind approaching me. There was a parked four-wheel-drive in front of me that I needed to go around. The truck struck me on the right hand and wrist towards the tail end of the truck. This caused my hand to be dislodged from the handlebars and I lost control of my bicycle. I remember the sheer fright at this point and nothing thereafter. Evidently following this loss of control I collided with the parked four-wheel-drive and broke my neck and jaw. My stay in hospital is what followed including an induced coma for 12 days.

There are a number of things about this accident that I think could have been avoided. One is obviously the use of Beach Road by a truck on the weekend, the other is the issue of cyclists needing to duck in and out to go past parked vehicles. It is this last issue which I believe creates a lot of frustration for both the cyclists and the motorists. There are many other issues at play as we know but we need to start somewhere.

As some of you may be aware Magda Szubanski had a few things to say about cyclists on Beach Road during her appearance on Good News Week last Monday night. Her words even though they were on a comedy show showed a lot of anger and have fuelled the debate once again. Given the nature of my accident on Beach Road this obviously angered me greatly. So you are all aware, I am trying to meet with Magda and work with organisations such as Bicycle Victoria, the Amy Gillett Foundation and the media to discuss this issue and hopefully turn it into a positive for both motorists and cyclists who use Beach Road. Watch this space!

Beach Road is a wonderful recreational facility that both the motorist and cyclist can share. I would like to think that Beach Road could become a blueprint for how to set up a road for sharing by applying rules for its use during the times that it is used for recreational purposes. I believe that as cyclists we could lead the way by following a set of rules that are appropriate to allow motorists clear passage and in return motorists can show consideration to cyclists who are training, riding recreationally, keeping fit as well as the obvious environmental benefits that cycling as a mode of transport offers. The key to a resolution with the issue of sharing a road such as Beach Road will be working positively with both sides of the argument with clear knowledge of the consequences of a collision between a motor vehicle and cyclist.

I hope you are all well as I look forward to the next chapter of my life with the legal proceedings relating to my accident behind me. It is energising me to think once again and hope that I can provide a service to the community by discussing my accident and my condition and using it to make Australia one of the safest communities to breed road cycling champions like Cadel Evans, and a fit healthy community that uses nature as its gymnasium!

Mike.

My Second Bonus Birthday

I apologise for not posting for a few weeks but it has been a difficult few weeks where I’ve been in a lot of pain. I’ve not missed sessions but when I have not been at the gym or visiting therapists I have been resting to deal with the pain in my back and shoulders. I do not think it is a bad thing that pain at the moment as I can feel my body changing just a little bit. As I gain more strength in areas that are weak, the spasms in those areas particularly the shoulders are also getting stronger. I am hoping it is a phase that my shoulders need to go through to learn how to behave more like normal shoulders. I’m hoping this anyway but I will have to monitor it over the next month or so and will put up with the pain that comes with it.

It was great to celebrate my first birthday at home and not in hospital! The day itself was nothing special but we finished up with some local friends over who have been a great help since the accident happened. It was a very normal day that finished with a wonderful piece of chocolate cake.


Monica gave me the best present as you would expect which was a handle that sticks to a shower wall using suction. I had my first stand-up shower since the accident. Not only was it invigorating but it meant the shower took about 10 minutes less! So every second day now I no longer need to use the uncomfortable shower chair can avoid it altogether by standing up to be showered and dried before I get dressed. A small thing but a big change to the daily routine in terms of time usage. It also makes a difference with what I am trying to achieve to be able to stand up as much as possible.

I have also had a bar installed at home that I can stand up and hold onto. This allows me to do squats, leg raises and sideways leg movements and also stand-up to talk to people. It is really important that I do this to get my body used to standing for periods of time to improve blood pressure. As a part of this condition your blood pressure falls through the floor and you have to retrain your nervous system to get it back to normal levels. Of course it also allows Ashley to practice her ballet moves as shown in the photo.

Whilst I am making progress and need to keep encouraging myself to work every day to get better you can see it is not all beer and skittles. I am dealing with a lot of pain and you still get slapped in the face every day with what you can’t do. It is taking every ounce of my patience and determination to keep my head up and keep working every day to improve. Luckily there are people around me to help me out during periods when I feel down. My family and friends are my greatest blessing.

Keep well,

Mike.

Now This Is a Milestone

With the work that I’m doing in the gym and the physiotherapy no doubt contributing also I absolutely achieved a milestone last week. I can now stand up and let go of a handle on the wall after finding my balanced position and stay there without falling over! The work we have been doing has been strengthening those little muscles that everybody uses in order to not fall over when in a standing position. You would not believe how much I had have been watching people in a standing position and the way that the muscles flicker in order to keep you there. It would be very interesting from a physiological perspective if it wasn’t happening to me!

Here is a picture that was taken at the end of one of my gym sessions with Pat. Patrick is holding a little leather bound book which is a bit of a joke from Project Walk where my instructor over there Eric used a leather bound book and we used to wonder what the contents were. Now Patrick has the ability to do the same to me that Eric did when I was in the US.

In addition to this I visited a friend’s house on the weekend where there were no less than 40 steps to get to the first level of their house. Rather than be carried I used his assistance to walk to the top and then had a wheelchair carried up the steps for me to sit on once I was there. Going up the stairs was actually okay, but coming down was not pretty.

In other news I’m regularly taking Ash to kinder in the mornings riding my electric wheelchair. It is nice to contribute in some way to the running of the family once again.

Hope you are all well,

Mike.