All posts by Russ

Paolo.

Events

header_bot.jpgWhilst in Portugal I saw Paolo, my buddy who has run the local water sports centre for 18 years.

For 15 of those he has seen my canoeing endlessly around the lake. I’d always stop for a chat with him.

He  told me he’d been fired, but didn’t know why.

He’d heard of my accident in the summer, bursting into tears. Dani said.

He found it hard seeing me last week, I could tell.  He said ‘but you can still canoe , right ?’

I explained that without use of abdominals and back muscles, it wasn’t so straightforward ..

Mid conversation it again got too much for him, and he turned and walked away, shaking his head.

Today

Events

Christ, that Trike is hard work. 

Grass is like wading through quicksand. 
Hills up bloody hard, down and so easy to tip out the front. 
At 20kg it’s no Superlight dream machine, but as a way of getting fit and strong  whilst doing something, it’ll do. 
After yesterday my neck is horribly stiff, so only an hour on it today, and that was enough. 
My leg and back spasms are increasingly plaguing me, especially at night. 
The distasteful part is that they squeeze my bladder, making me ‘leak’. I have to sleep on an absorbent pad just in case. 
The not knowing if I have, or if I’m going to is mentally unpleasant. 
I hope this can be sorted out, I really do. 

Sunlight.

Events

It being fairly overcast, we started the day watching ( half of ) Life of Pi, in bed. 

I sampled the newly adapted bathroom, finding I couldn’t get near the basin because my knees wouldn’t go under it ( what did we pay the private Occupational Therapist for ? ) and the wheel in and transfer onto flip down shower seat was very wobbly for me to sit on, having no core muscles to keep me from falling off. 
Thank God for the installed handles. 
There was however no hot water, the taps having been installed incorrectly.. at least I couldn’t feel how cold it was, opting just to wash my lower half in there..
Never mind, apparently taps adjusted now. We’ll see tomorrow.. 
I know that the lovely ‘Lakeside Services’ will sort it all soon. 
I must thank them for their Welcome Back Alive hamper, and also thank the lovely Judy and Chris for theirs too. Having kind, helpful people at every turn makes this tough adjustment so much easier. 
Then I saw sunshine. 
And felt the warmth from it on my bare top half. It was about 15 degrees, and that was just about enough for my lily white skin, I reckon. 
I then tried the loaned Mountain Trike, pushing the mile or so to the beach, involving a bit of road, and what seemed like an awful lot of sandy track. 
What took me 6-7 minutes to run before now took me about 40 minutes, with arm power only at my disposal. 
I got to the beach though and saw the sea. 
Who, seeing me in Toulon, in June, would have counted on that? Not the medical profession, for one, I hear. 
I pushed back, already exhausted. 
There’s a 30 metre fairly steep incline option as a short cut. 
They told me NOT to try anything adventurous for a month or so on the Trike. 
Not being very clever, instead i asked Dani to film me coming down this hill. 
There’s a great video of the first 4 seconds, prior to the thing tipping over and me flying out (sadly not captured for YouTube). 
It didn’t hurt – well it wouldn’t would it?
But I was more than a bit worried that landing on a path of sharp stones would have cut my bum and legs, which now don’t heal properly and could require hospitalisation if only moderately bad. 
In the event it seems I’ve gotten away with it, though 3 passers by had to lift me back into my Trike. 
Lesson learnt? 
That’s 2 ‘bike’ rides in 8 months, and 2 crashes, one very nearly terminal. 
Maybe I should give it up?
I don’t think I will though.