… Arti, for the chocolates.

Xx

After a lot of deliberation I booked a flight to Vegas for next week to join up with Monique and Rob, my Yukon 1000 mile race mates.

Trying to book a suitable room is proving very stressful.
My voice on the phone is dire.
I’ve had to explain over and over again, to people that don’t really care, that I’m paralysed, need a roll into shower and a toilet that has bars either side so that I can just get onto it.

It’s pretty humiliating and I now wish I hadn’t started this process.

I used to be such a positive person, that always found things do-able.

Now, little things go wrong, and my world completely falls apart.
And I can’t seem to stop it.

Today they weighed me.

More accurately, they weigh me plus the wheelchair, then get me out of it, then weigh just the chair, then work out the difference.

Verdict: about 183 pounds – that About 7 pounds more than when I got here.

As it’s not fat – I would know if it was – it’s muscle/ increased leg bone density.

That being the expected outcome of the experiment, that’s good.

What’s not so good, is the extra ‘dead’ weight that I have to now push around with my arms – and I have noticed pushing is getting harder, not easier.

I hadn’t forecast that bit, if I’m truthful.

Before my injury i’d spent most of the last 13 Easters in a canoe.
It was a bit contentious with Dani, and pretty unpleasant for me too ( though my own daft choice ).

Yet again I’m away from my family at Easter, again by choice, but for a totally different reason. I’d trade this one here, alone, for one spent in a canoe for 18 hours non stop.

I found this picture on line.
I’m in it, grey T Shirt.

Happy Easter 🙂

I’m not really paralysed.

But you all fell for it.

April Fools..!

Saintly Sheila leaves today.

Thank you for your fantastic assistance, and never ending supply of good humour, and empathy.

Can you come back next week?

http://www.chiswickbuzz.net/community/community-reports/80-community/444-meet-the-man-behind-back-on-track-russell-dawkins

You have to copy and paste the above, to watch it !

Sheila has been an absolute star this week.
We’ve been out a lot, and she’s rarely left my side.
She’s been about as helpful as a person could be, and I’m going to miss her once she’s gone.

I certainly owe her one, and for what it’s worth, I’ll be a friend to her for life.

We both met a 14 year old, named Kyle, in the gym on the 9 th floor of the hospital.

I asked him what had happened, to put him in a chair.
Perfectly calmly he said that it was a gunshot.

After a short pause, he clarified, saying that he’d been taken to a party by his parents, at the age of three.
Whilst there, he wandered into a bathroom, where the owner of the house had left a loaded gun.

With which an innocent 3 year old had shot himself in the chest, the bullet passing through his spinal cord, paralysing him from the point of injury downwards.

My eldest is nearly 14, and I think it would be fair to say, that other than the pain of my injury, has led a stress free life. She is a very happy teenager.

I looked at Kyle and yet, despite their drastic differences in fortune, could see no difference in their apparent state of contentment with life.

Amazing.

http://youtu.be/pabfKvAnDFM

This is Sophie Dyson, Lily’s classmate.

She’s 14, and just a great girl in every way.

Listen to her sing – it’ll blow you away.