A good weekend. A couple of wheel related updates:

The FES bike is in Mike’s room at Talbot so that he could do some exercise on the weekend. Was great, got in a few really good sessions to keep him nice and loose ….. and I remembered to video the wonder machine in action. This is the bit where I confess to being completely technically incompetent despite having an IT degree. Mike is sure that I must have copied other peoples work to get my degree I am so bad. Anyway, am flicking thru the video to the non-technically challenged Sparky who will no doubt have the video up for your review in the next day or so (thanks Sparky!).

And other wheels – Mike is trialling a manual chair which is a bit exciting. It is kind of weird b/c he can’t hold the rims and doesn’t have much range in his arms to get a good push going but still it is amazing to see him move it. Was funny on the second day b/c he could not go straight. The physios were giving him a hard time telling him to use his left arm more but it just kept going the other way – anyway, turned out he was quite even – the chair needed a wheel alignment.

Whilst it will never be his primary chair he is a bit excited about the gadgets and wheel choices that this will allow him – apparently Zipp and Spinergy do wheelchair wheels so that will be a bit of fun. He already has one of the guys at Talbot lined up to bring in some wheels for Mike to talk him thru how to set them up and some bike gearing too!  Come on hands … at least work a bit so that Mike can tinker away!

Unfortunately for Mike, little Ash is far, far better in the manual chair than he is (and probably ever will be) – she flies up and down the hallway which is hysterical b/c, as she is so short, you can only see this chair moving along with these tiny little hands popping out the side to steer it and give another push. Then you see if front on and this little fairy is sitting there pushing it along. Some fairy-chair video is also with Sparky to put up on the site for your amusement.

All in all a pretty good weekend. We have been doing lots of massage and stretching at night and Mike is cramping less overnight and sleeping thru – now all I have to do is get Ash to do the same and I might get some sleep too! Thanks to the lovely ladies who popped in for the tupperware party and for those who visited to make the weekend at Talbot go by more quickly and thanks to Michelle and Jacquie who show me up for the bumbling fool that I am!

Finally a hi to Brent – please rest assured that I do keep a journal, not always daily but certainly regularly - there are indeed many thoughts not for public consumption! One of Mike’s mid-to long-term goals out of this is to raise some money to better staff spinal rehab so the journal keeps tabs on the things that we think can be constructively addressed. No comments in here are meant to reflect badly on any staff – just a very frustrating process at times.

Have a great week – hopefully a few more sessions on the FES bike for Mike and bring on hydro to try to help  his poor lower-back or hip that seems to generate a lot of pain (even though he can’t really feel it) – too weird!