What a difference a week makes …. can’t believe it has been that long but it is bin day again so it must be a week!

After the disaster which was Wednesday, Thursday turned out to be not much better … appears that all the whinging about his bite being off and his inability to chew things wasn’t just Mike being super-sensitive! Finally had a follow up a appointment after the jaw surgery only to discover that there actually was another break in his jaw that no-one thought to mention to us and that it actually hasn’t healed (presumably why follow up appointments are usually held??). Anyway, I felt like I was in an episode of Fawlty Towers or a Monty Phyton flick (kept checking for cameras but there were none). If it weren’t quite so serious it really would be hysterically funny. We are not sure exactly what needs to be done but looks like at minimum a tooth will need to go so the fracture can heal – will find out more in a couple of weeks. In the mean-time I need to eat all the hard chocolates – oh damn!

Needless to say a trip to the Blue House was very much in order. What a fantastic weekend – left very early on Friday and did a FES bike and had a massage on Friday afternoon at home. Saturday was jam-packed with fairy ballet in the morning, then brunch in St Kilda, ice-cream for lunch and then a wander via the park home. Mike and Ash took off in top speed and I got left way behind – I can see I will now need to pack running shoes on every outing! Then home for a FES bike session before heading to a kids party and then to kinesio appointment. Mike was the most relaxed I have seen him chilling out with a (light) beer at the party. Sunday morning had Mike feeling pretty tired after a busy day but we got Ash and Charli around to the park for a picnic and then came back for some stretching and another massage. Another couple of FES bike sessions on Sunday afternoon and Monday and Mike was ready to head back to Talbot for a rest!

Thanks, as always, to those at Talbot that made weekend leave possible.

A really great day at Talbot on Monday and again today (maybe our letter did make a difference!). Lots of sessions and some nice early starts. I said to Mike that maybe they were trying to punish him for his letter and he was going to get 4-5 hours of therapy a day. He got the classic Forbesy grin on his face and responded very promptly with “good – they won’t know what hit them, I’m up for that” – that’s the attitude we like to see! Maybe Mike will need to come home for a rest soon!

I can’t finish todays post without a MASSIVE thankyou and congratulations to Paula and Kerry. These two lovely ladies were doing the Melb marathon and offered to “run it for Mike”. This was pulled together very hastily in only the couple of weeks before the marathon but these fantastic ladies raised over $3,000! Well done to the girls on their runs and on the fundraising efforts. Thankyou to all those who sponsored the girls – I am sure I will get rsi from filling out the receipts but what a wonderful injury to have!

Whilst on things sporty, well done to Dr Sammy – a sub-9hour ironman in Hawaii on the weekend – great work Sammy!

There is lots afoot in the fundraising space so expect some updates in the next week or so. Have a wonderful Wednesday and a fabulous rest of the week.

Mike is desperate to do another post but apparently I keep nicking his computer and he has been too busy with therapies (which can only be a good thing). Expect something in the next day or two from him.

A very bad day for us today, particularly for Mike. As some of you know we were off to the Austin today for Mike to have a few tests. Unfortunately these did not go to plan … well the tests did, just not the results. We still don’t have the full details but basically some really bad news about the functioning of Mike’s kidney and bladder. Very upsetting given the hard nursing work that has been done in this regard over the last week. The results feel like a massive leap backwards but we will wait to talk to the specialist next week to really understand the medium to long term ramifications of this. I was so sure that I spoke to the guys on the roller-coaster and said that we were over it and to turn the damn thing off! I have never seen Mike so stressed and this of course led to uncontrollable (and extremely painful) spasms all day.

Worst of all he was so upset that he couldn’t do a FES bike session in the free time in the afternoon.
(and for those that have asked since the video went up – Mike is not doing that himself. His hands are strapped on to the bars and then the machine is turned on, it moves his arms either passively (ie, with the motor) or via electrial stimulation to key muscle groups).

On more positive notes:
- physio session (as usual) was awesome. Leanne was a wonder and a marvel and got Mike to roll over. I’m sorry I missed it but will ask for a repeat performance asap and will try to nab it on video (yes Sparky, the right way up!) While Michelle was in last night with Baby J she (ie, baby J) rolled over – MIke was asking her to do it again to show him how — well done Jazzy – you are a good teacher (even if you are only 4 months old!)
- was great to catch up with the guys in Hawaii doing prep for the Hawaii ironman (Skype is a wonderful thing) — good luck Sammy and Brett, happy cheering Naant and hope you are on the mend quickly Mitch. We will be cheering for you from Talbot (or hopefully home!). Bridie – sorry we missed your call;
- had a really good meeting today with the patient advocate for Austin Health in an attempt to improve Mike’s program or at least be allowed to bring in external people;
- we had the best ever ambulance transfer guys over to the Austin – thankyou Reg and Denise you were amazing!
- the lovely and amazing Harri came out to Talbot tonight to do Mike’s nightly stretching, massage and range of motion work to give my back a rest, me an early-ish night and some time with Ash. Thanks Harri – was great to read to Ash until she feel asleep tonight, precious time.

All-in-all an OK day, and let’s face it, we were due a setback— just wish it weren’t so major or permanent!

We have another appointment tomorrow – we are regular jet-setters (or ambulance-setters) these days – with the maxio-facial guys to suss out why his jaw doesn’t align, why he can’t bite properly and why some of his teeth are about to fall out. Hopefully an interesting outing with some easy and non-surgical solutions.

Will try to get Mike home for the weekend. I think after the setback of the week will be good to re-group at home (and fairy ballet!) for a bit of normalacy. Thanks for the messages of support – will try to keep the video (right way up) coming – maybe some of Mike playing ball with Ash and Mike doing his “tricks” in physio.

Finally a huge thanks to Sparky for the fairy-wheels clip – Ash honestly thinks she is a movie star. I think i have watched it about 20 times – she is mesmerised!

Check out the video below to see some amazing FES Bike action from Forbesy.

Ashley’s decided that Daddy’s wheelchair is the perfect fairy playground. Just watch her go!

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!

Or at least do some form of exercise this week!

Apologies for not many posts recently – been busy trying to not get upset about the pretty quiet program at the moment. A few staffing issues at Talbot due to flu season and school holidays have meant a fair bit of inaction which is driving Mike a little bit loopy (and me a lot loopy). Lots of stretching and complementary therapy being done by us to try to keep busy, postive and to keep him moving and a bit lose. Very disappointed to miss a session on his FES bike due to a timetable hiccup and then for hydro to be cancelled today. Normally we would just compensate by making sure Mike got a good 3-5 sessions on his bike over the weekend but there will be no blue house this weekend so Mike can work on some nursing stuff (it is for the best long term but still sob, sob).

Anyway, a very good day nursing wise / medically wise for Mike so he still seems in a good frame of mind. We have also started talking to the wonderful folk at www.beachrdcyclist.com.au who are doing some great work at the moment on clearway times for beach rd – one of Mike’s key goals out of this to turn the negative in to a positive outcome for other cyclists (and motorists alike).

Despite the frustrations of pretty much all the patients today with the massive sick leave a big well done to Charli, Trisha and the afternoon shift team to keep the place ticking over.

Yesterday was a non-therapy day as a few ex-patients came in to talk about ‘what is out there’. Well done to Campbell for organising and to the OT girls for cooking up a storm. Was cool to see a lot of the stuff that is out there equipment wise – Mike was very bad at blow-darts but it looked like fun, we might get some at home – but I think a shame that no therapy sessions could be fitted in. Makes it a pretty quiet week rehab-wise – 3.5 hours of physio for the week! Surely this is not enough and will be costly in the long run with less recovery or more complications, and particularly distressing for the guys in the very early stages of recovery?

Enough whinging or my head might blow off (I thought it was going to today!). Will channel my energy in to rustling up some sponsors for the michaelforbes.org jersey — the samples look awesome so if you know anyone that wants to advertise on Mike’s jersey drop me an e-mail on monica@michaelforbes.org.