The Taff’s came to town..
Monthly Archives: September 2013
About my chest- Monique’s opinion!
I’m surprised that you even have close to 2 litres volume. Think about it- that highly sensitive vascular lung tissue was hit with high impact force, then scratched and likely punctured to hell by multiple broken ribs, then left to try and function in the absence of a supportive rib cage, then full with infection that clogged whatever pore spaces were left. The fact that they functional at all is really a medical miracle. Even your lungs are special! Dr. Monique Dube
Lungs.
Had a bit of a shock yesterday.
They measured my lung capacity.
You put your mouth around a cardboard tube and exhale as hard as you can.
You may have done this, definitely if you’re asthmatic ( as I am sometimes )
‘Normal’ is 5 to 6 litres of air. Mine was previously 5.75 litres.
Now, as a result of a good rib and lung battering, no exercise, or pushing myself aerobically, it’s a tiny 1.6 litres
That’s less than the cat, I reckon.
That means that any form of aerobic exercise will be bloody hard at the moment!
Very sobering! I’ve been taking VERY deep breaths ever since to try to stretch my lungs!
I wrote this as a response to a friend whose uncle suffered a similar accident to me a few years ago. This man canoed in the Olympics for GB I re read it and thought it should be my blog entry..
‘ Life is full of surprises. I never thought in my wildest nightmares that this would happen to me, like your Uncle a guy sort of defined by physical achievements. I’ve found out the hard way tho that somehow I’ve managed to befriend enough people along the way to fill bloody Westfield shopping centre!
The hospital waiting room seems always to have a well wisher in it for me…
So it would seem that to all these people the physical stuff was not that important after all, but our friendship was.
Life’ll go on, I’ll try to get back to doing as many things as I could before ( my Nelo boat I think is history for me…unless it can be fitted with BIG outriggers! ), but I’ve realised that at the end of the day, love makes the world go round, not skiing, cycling or paddling
Great to hear from you.
Russ
Good morning Russ
Morning Russ I just wanted you to know that every morning as I’m sure like most of the world that is addicted to their iPhone … The first thing I do is lie in bed fiddling with my phone ( yes my phone !! ) Anyway your blog is the first thing that gets my attention and not a day goes by where I either shed a tear or laugh out loud . Keep up the good work you are truly Inspirational …… Thinking of you Nicola k Xxx Ps Tele is on the war path regarding the thousands that have now seen the very non sexy pant picture that was posted …that made my day :-))
If the link doesn’t work search for ‘Afan comedy cycling in Wales’ Russ 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGBu1xT0p9c&feature=youtube_gdata – Video Tube for YouTube – iPhone/iPad Sent from my iPhone 7 prototype. I filmed this last year. My buddy, Chaffey. Hit the link or copy and paste it into google So funny.
What a difference a few days make.
All my visitors are telling me I actually look like me again.
Some saw me last when my death was the most likely outcome.
I’m happy to say now that that eventuality is behind me and I’m being reintroduced to society.
In the picture I’m sitting on the pavement at a Starbucks in St Johns Wood. It’s the first time for 3 months that I’ve felt the sun on my skin properly, and been sat comfortably in a wheelchair . Believe me, that feels like an amazing double to me.
I enjoyed the taste of coffee for the first
time since the crash too.
My awesome buddy,Dan White and my gorgeous wife shared the experience with me. I couldn’t have wanted for 2 better people to accompany me on this breakthrough moment.
My physios are telling me that I’m doing things in ten minutes that people often can’t do in 4 months. I’m not sure whether that’s a reflection on the other patients or me!
Either way, the mastery of mobility, balance and coordination continues.
Pain control is getting there too, with constant tweaking by the doctors. Apparently full control can take years… Lets hope not in my case. Pain greatly detracts from the pace of progress, trust me.
I continue in my efforts to rebuild my upper body, trying to be inventive with the hoist above my head as a pull up bar… The physios and I have different opinions of the merits of that particular exercise…
The reality is that I am right 😉
I am still taken aback daily by the emails I get from people that I allegedly inspired in my past life. Believe me, I must have done it by accident, as I’ve never set out to do so!
My specialist told me today that it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll regain much below the waist. That’s not great to hear. He said tho that nothing is certain. Personally, I am prepared for the worst, but as I can definitely induce some leg twitching I think it’s far from certain that
I’m totally written off.
The staff and physio team here are really great and I’m making big strides. One of tomorrow’s objectives is to learn how to put my own pants on, def a handy skill going forward…..
Bowel and bladder control are another hurdle. Self catheterisation pictures WON’T be appearing on the blog.
Drank both white wine and ( from my buddy Frank Casali) a great red tonight, and I think my palate is showing signs of recovery! Small steps ….. Tequila may be years away..
Great to see Toby, Andrew and Lisa today, Emily, emma and Jack yesterday too. I’ve probably omitted people and sorry if I have. I’ve always had a rubbish memory!
This morning I was awoken by the nurse turning on all 8 of the lights in the room, followed by the insertion of 2 large suppositories.
I’ve suggested that tonight’s nursing team try a gentle kiss and a whispered sweet nothing instead.
I m not betting on it actually happening, and praying that its not one of the male nurse team that thinks his luck’s in.
X
What feels like my first taste of ‘normality’
My other daughter, Lily, doing something I could never do.,
