14th August: Simon in his new habitat

Here is Simon in his new place. We spent most of today outside exploring the grounds of this wonderful hospital. It is actually a place that was dedicated to the care of Australian soldiers who had been wounded in action, indeed the hospital continues to receive soldiers from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The nursing staff had planned to keep Simon on bed-rest today, but he was having none of that, and insisted on being out in the chair. We went to the cafe first, then back to the communal Dining Room for lunch. For congestion reasons, I am not allowed in the Dining Room. When I collected Simon from there half an hour later he declared "never again, they are so boring!". He was really adamant that he would never go to the Dining Room again. I have found a nicer room for him to eat his dinner in, and begged the nursing staff to save him a place in there from now on. I nabbed a table for him this evening, and he was much happier.

We also took a tour of the veteran's museum on the hospital campus. It has an amazing collection of stuff brought to life by the curator, David, himself a veteran of the Malaysian campaign. He took out the most delicate and treasured artifacts from the display cabinets and gave them to Simon to handle while he told their story. Truly remarkable things like intricate metal-worked objects and carvings made by prisoners on the Burma Railway out of old bean cans, and bicycle spokes. We only saw one section of the collection today. David has invited Simon back next week to show him some more. Great place, put the Repat Museum on your list of must do's if you are touring South Australia.

For the rest of the day we spent most of the time out in the sun, just sitting and talking. Simon had an appointment with the Occupational Therapist this afternoon, and he made a good impression there. Because he is so young, I think they are going to make very special efforts with Simon. I told them that he was keen to get in the swimming pool, and they are going to arrange that as soon as it is safe to do so.

Margaret, Mel and Penny visited this afternoon, followed by Shirley. He was pleased to see everyone and engaged them all in conversation. At one stage, he was laughing so much he was hurting.

While touring the grounds we spotted a guy whizzing around in an electric wheelchair, he was pretending to be a grand prix driver. Me and Simon made a bee-line for him. Where did you get the chair? How does it work? How did you learn to drive it? The racing driver is called John, and I think that he and Simon are going to be good mates. The best thing is that John talked directly to Simon, rather than looking up at me and he knows exactly how Simon is feeling. Just now and then God answers my prayers and sends these special people along. We will scout the rest of the hospital and find out where the action is, Simon is accustomed to working with young people and thrives on their company. Because we are way out of town in the sticks, it won't be easy for us to get to the shops, but I have promised to put him in an Adelaide Access Taxi and take him out and about as soon as I am allowed to. First stop will be our home in South Brighton where his cat, Skippy, is waiting for him.

Love Marian xx