30th September: Permanent resident!

Sorry I missed the blog yesterday, I was househunting in the Vale and stayed over last night. Have good news to report, I have found a house that we both like and although it needs some modifications, it is very achievable. Just need to sort out the finances etc. Joined Simon first thing this morning for his physio session where I am learning to assist him. Then watched him in the gym where he was standing using just a hand rail, and then miraculously, he shifted his right leg forward one step! He could not put his weight on the leg, but there was distinct movement from the hip. Hooray for Simon. Zapped in to work then back to the hospital for lunch. He was happy sitting in the sun and quite chatty.

Then came home to fantastic news that Simon's permanent residency visa has been approved! I phoned the news through to the hospital, he is going to be so excited. So many milestones achieved today, I am beaming.

Love Marian x

28th September: A visit from Henk

A hectic start to the day with a plumber and a rubbish skip arriving before 9am. The plumber needed to clear a blockage in our drain and he was really having trouble, I feared that he was going to start digging under the house. However, after two hours of pushing and shoving he managed to clear the problem and all is well. A bit expensive but he didn't waste time and refused all cups of tea. Then Gerry and Rachael turned up to clear a great pile of bricks into the skip - this was filled to the top within an hour and we had to order a second skip. Our back yard now looks a lot tidier, and the pool man returned this evening to finish cleaning.

Went to the airport to collect Henk - flight delayed, so had to leave him to find his own way by taxi to the hospital. He arrived just after five and spent a pleasant hour with Simon, they were chattering away and making each other laugh a lot. Henk was really impressed with Simon who was having a terrific speech day. I think it helps when he gets different visitors, they come in with new stories and this engages Simon, he seems to switch on parts of his brain, it certainly triggers his memory.

Henk shouted dinner for Shirley and Me at the Seacliff Hotel this evening. We got there just in time to see the last glimmer of light on a calm, shiny ocean. No dolphins performing for us this evening, but I did get to show off one of our finest beaches. Thanks for the dinner and great company Henk, and good luck for your presentation tomorrow.

Thanks for the email from Andy Kouronios, I read this to Simon this evening, he was really delighted.

Simon's doctor gave us the green light for a full day out on Saturday. Really looking forward to this. We will probably have lunch in Glenelg after the ceremony, then back to our place for a peaceful afternoon.

Today's photo is of Simon working left-handed with his speech pathologist.

All good, Love Marian xx

27th September: New potatoes

Up early pottering in garden, managed to pot on a few things, then decided it was time to investigate the potato patch. In my experience, potatoes should flower before you can dig them, but this variety I have planted doesn't seem to have any flowers. I dug up five mini spuds and saved them for Simon's supper. There is nothing like a new potato straight out of the soil. I reckon in a couple of weeks they will be a decent size. I will also have broad beans ready to eat next weekend. My brocolli is rubbish, only the slugs are getting a decent feed there.

Collected Simon at lunchtime and brought him home to a bacon sarnie. It was chilly so we stayed indoors watching a DVD of 'The Secret' an Australian detective drama. It was pretty good, although both Simon and Shirley dropped off to sleep and may have missed part of the plot. Simon wanted to stay home for longer, but I did not have a doctor's permission to do that so we had to go back to rehab at 4pm. Next weekend, I hope to spring him at 9am on Saturday in time for my citizenship ceremony at 10am in Glenelg. That is going to involve a bit of racing around in my posh frock. Then I hope we may be able to spend the whole day together.

Henk arrives tomorrow and we are looking forward to his visit. Fingers and legs crossed for the Hammers tomorrow.

Love Marian x

26th September: AFL Finals

Househunting this morning, arrived at the Vale with a wheelchair to check accessibility. The one I saw was very unsuitable, a wicked slope up the driveway and no access to the bathrooms. Gerry was with me, he will help me make alterations if we do find a good place. I will see some more next week. Also popped in to see the girls, their furniture has arrived from England, it is box city in their lounge. Great to see them getting settled.

Picked Simon up at lunchtime, home just in time for the start of the AFL Final (Australian Rules): St Kilda vs Geelong. We watched this at our neighbour Jan's house, with a bunch of friends plus some barbecue grub. Simon was engrossed in the match. He had a dollar on St Kilda winning by 10, my dollar was on Geelong by 20. Geelong got it by 12 in the end. We had to watch the final quarter at the hospital - it was a good game, and I think I've understood some of the rules now!

I returned to Jan's later in the evening and polished off the white wine, hence writing this blog on Sunday morning. Simon comes home again this afternoon, looking forward to a nice peaceful day.

Love Marian x

25th September: Simon's journey to Flinders

Simon was whisked off to Flinders Hospital for an MRI scan this morning. The repat hospital called me at work to say that he was on his way - Flinders hospital is just 3 minutes from my workplace. He was a bit distressed by this experience, especially being put in a white gown and having his wedding ring removed (very necessary, big magnets involved). I got to Flinders in time to meet him and settled him while we waited for the scanner. He was in there a long time (I was not allowed into the scanner room), and I think it was tough on him. He was crying a little when he came out and said that he did not want to do that ever again. If it has to happen again I will go in with him. I have been exposed to so much nuclear stuff that it is unlikely to make any further difference to my health. Saw him back to rehab in the ambulance, and managed to rescue his fish and chips lunch.

Most disappointing today, the house at Willunga got sold this morning. I have arranged to see four other places next week.

Filthy weather in Adelaide today, you poms don't know what rain is. So much that our drains are overflowing and now I have to get a plumber to clear some sort of blockage. Have ordered a skip to take away the rubbish from our back yard, then all set to go on the market. Tell your friends, beaut place in South Brighton, hardly lived in because we were always at work, nice swimming pool.

Today's picture is a little dark; this is Simon being loaded into the ambo for his return to rehab.

Love Marian x

24th September: A standing ovation

Simon's ward had a fire drill this morning and he was evacuated. Quite a performance I think, and this threw out all the therapy sessions. We grabbed a coffee then had lunch together before a meeting with the Doctor. This was a very helpful meeting and Simon was able to ask quite a lot of questions. Most tellingly, "when will I be able to go back to work?". The Doctor was able to recount a story of a previous stroke patient who had been a lawyer and had returned to work part-time after about a year. He said a lot about Simon being so young, that we are in poorly charted territory; most of the research data is based on much older cohorts. Simon was energetic in explaining that he wants to work hard and get home, we talked about the possibility of getting home for an overnighter quite soon.

After this, the occupational therapists helped me to load a wheelchair into my car in readiness for a house inspection tomorrow. Honestly, the weight of the chair was too much for me, I could not get that in and out of the car by myself, so I am going to have to find a technical solution for this. It doesn't help that I am carrying a small injury from last weekend's activities, I've pulled a muscle in the upper left quadrant of my abdomen which gives me a sharp pain from time to time. Gerry will help me get the chair out of the car tomorrow.

Simon has a busy day tomorrow, he has to go in the ambulance to Flinders Hospital for an MRI scan. I will meet him there before going off to see the house at Willunga. Shirley will be on standby at the Rehab to rescue Simon's fish and chips lunch (he was mortified at the thought of missing this).

Managed to knock out the materials for a short-course on negotiations today, then disappointed to find that I have only four students to teach - will have to scale back some of the group activity. Flinders got evacuated again this afternoon due to power outage. Everyone sent home early, hooray! Being serious, not good for anyone who is disabled on the campus. I am becoming acutely aware of these access and egress problems.

Just took a call from Henk who is arriving in Adelaide on Monday. I will grab him from the airport and take him to see Simon. Then he has promised to shout dinner for Shirley and me. I have in mind a beautiful seafront hotel where we often see pods of dolphins, I am wondering about the possibility of Simon joining us and will work on that idea. Henk is also keen to see the Barossa Valley, I will book him a tour on the 'pi** bus' from Adelaide. I once took Frank on one of these, he was legless after the third winery, and there were nine in total!

More advice needed on cats and glucosamine. Does it make them drink more water? Skippy has been very thirsty. I worry about diabetes. If I have to inject the cat everyday I might need to resort to Gail's jacket sleeve tactics!

Today's picture is of Simon with Rachael, Gerry, Margaret and Raina having a picnic in the day room. Now do you see why I could eat Raina?

Love Marian xx

23rd September: Glucosamine and the cat

I smuggled some Glucosamine into Skippy's food this morning and he ate the lot! Thank heavens, I was worried when I saw Gail's hilarious posting. If it is this easy he will be living up to his name in no time.

Found Simon sitting outside in his wheelchair this morning, he had obviously gone 'walk-about', and is doing quite a lot of that now. There was more good news on the physio front, Simon is to be allowed to stand up to get on the shower chair and the loo, so no more lifting in the gantry. This really encouraged him, the gantry is a wonderful invention (pictured here) but it makes you feel so helpless.

I shared another therapy session with Si this morning, this time we looked at his digital scrapbook (the journal). It was quite interesting, there were a lot of photos of him in action, in the gym, the OT room, and relaxing with family. There were some good snaps from our wedding anniversary. Funny thing is that Simon always hated having his photo taken, now he seems to pose for the camera at every opportunity! The journal also has some data on his recovery showing various assessments and the level of improvement over time. Personally, I think this is potentially a powerful tool if used well. When I asked Simon what he had thought of the journal session, he said it was OK, but he would rather have been working (i.e. writing, reading) and thought it was a low priority activity. I will give them that feedback.

The ward held their monthly BBQ again today, Simon got two helpings of snags and burgers. Margaret and Gerry joined us for lunch, and we talked a lot about buying houses. I am going to see one in Willunga on Friday with Gerry (who is a retired builder); the hospital are loaning me a wheelchair to test the access to the house. I can even get Gerry to sit in it for a proper simulation. If we like the look of it, we will take Simon up to see what he thinks. I will try to see two other properties on Saturday morning.

We briefly spoke with one of Simon's doctors today, he is going to set up an MRI scan at Flinders in a couple of weeks time so that we can find out more about what caused the stroke. The doctor wanted to know if Simon was claustrophobic because of having to go into the tunnel. Simon said "no" while I said "yes". A brief debate ensued at the end of which Simon declared that he was categorically not claustrophobic. Another major change.

The dietician phoned me this morning, we discussed the menu problems - very often they only have chicken on the menu and Simon won't eat this. She is arranging for either fish or an omelette on 'chicken days' from now on. Most of these developments arise out of our team meeting yesterday, so this was very productive.

Mel and Pen came to blitz the house this afternoon, it looks fabulous. Thanks girls, and thanks to Rachael for the lovely shepherds pie.

Back to the hospital for the evening shift, Simon was in very good spirits when I left him. I think the news that he may soon be discharged has really lifted him.

Love Marian x

22nd September: Simon's team meeting

Si was up, neatly dressed and ready for his rehab team meeting this morning. The room filled with around 10 people plus Simon, Shirley and me. It was like a board of study. We heard summaries from each team: medical, nursing, physio, occ therapy, and speech plus our social worker in the chair, and had a chance to ask most of our questions (a long list). The outcomes were very useful and we now have an idea of the future. Most importantly, his doctor felt that Simon may be ready to leave rehab in about six weeks. Whether he returns home at that point depends on whether our home is suitable for him. So now I have a race on my hands to find a house and sell this one as soon as possible. I have made a start and am going to see a place in Willunga on Friday. I will take the wheelchair with me to see if it is accessible, and what kind of changes we would need to make. The layout of the house is relatively flat, and I have a good feeling about it. The rehab staff have offered to begin training me on lifting and transferring to and from the bed, the car etc. They have agreed to assess him for a powered wheelchair, also to arrange for him to see an opthalmologist. I also suggested a dental check but Simon piped up and said "no, no, not that", you are a coward Shurv. However, it demonstrated that he knows his own mind. I could not persuade the physio to get him into the swimming pool, but will keep pushing for this. Simon participated in the meeting, and thanked everybody at the end. Just after the meeting his Doctor spoke with me privately and said that he might be permitted a small amount of alcohol from time to time. I kept my face straight. After this meeting a spot of lunch for Simon, then more physio. When I got back to him this evening he was having a well-deserved snooze in the chair. He was surprised to see me since he had told me to take the evening off. I couldn't, it makes me fret. Took him a nice dinner and got him to eat all the veg again. I ate his hospital dinner which was lamb curry, not bad actually.
Mel and Pen are coming to blitz the house again tomorrow. They are great girls. They are waiting for their own furniture to turn up from London, then their place will really look and feel like home.
The final word concerns Skippy, our vet says he has a spot of arthritis developing in the back legs and needs glucosamine. I went to the health food shop and bought a bucket of it for $40 (20 quid for you Poms), the lady in the shop uses it on her dog and swears by it. So I am hoping to persuade Skippy that this is good for him, I will try smuggling it into his food tomorrow. Wish me luck.
All good, love Marian xx

21st September: Raining ice-blocks in Adelaide

After a beautiful three-day spell, Adelaide turned into the stormy City overnight. It has been raining buckets, and in places hail stones as big as golf balls. Untold devastation, cars with a thousand dents, trees and power lines down, roads flooded, and numerous road traffic accidents. It was a bad day to be on the road, which I was almost all day. Managed to arrive home eventually, unscathed plus a pair of new shoes. I considered buying wellies but thought that might not be a good look for the citizenship ceremony. Simon approves of my new shoes, but categorically stated that they should never again be worn with grey socks!
Shirley spent almost all day at the hospital with Simon while I was on the road. There had been an incident this morning and Simon was very upset, threatening to leave the hospital. Shirley couldn't make out what had happened. Eventually, the speech therapist got it. Simon had been left shivering in the shower for an hour. The nurse responsible has apologised. Despite the negatives in this story, there is an upside: Simon is prepared and capable of making complaints, getting them heard, and actioned. Good work, Simon. He also performed what he smilingly called a couple of "stand-up" routines today. His jokes have improved.
Mel went for a job interview today, and gave a good account of herself. I think the company would be very lucky to get someone with her skills and passion for her work. The travel business is not the best to be in just now, but things are picking up and soon they are all going to need good people. By January, I think we will see a lot of labour market activity - people who have been holding tight, jumping ship when they spot an opportunity. We used to call this the "January jump" and the explanations for it are only partly economic, but the economic ramifications are far-reaching (lots of multipliers). The poachers will be standing by waiting for a heap of 'free transfers'. Who will be the losers in this tournament? Those who did not do right by their staff during the 'great recession' (which never really happened in Oz but was oh such a wonderful excuse for 'restructuring'). I enjoyed a long conversation with a potential Phd student today and realistically selling him my University as a place that treats people well, and takes the trouble to give personal attention to students and staff. Flinders rocks, tell your friends, send your kids.
Simon's facebook error continues to generate hundreds of replies, finding friends who still did not know of his condition. Thanks to everyone who has been in touch. We are looking forward to seeing Henk at the end of the month. Henk, I will ring when I get a moment. Simon insists that I take you on a sight-seeing tour and that he is coming with us. Hold onto your hat.....
Love Marian xx

20th September: Skippy and Simon reunited

This was a remarkable day for so many reasons. After painting the front fence, I set off to collect Simon from rehab. We had decided to eat lunch at home where he tucked into steak and salad (more veggies, hooray!). After lunch I asked Simon what he would like to do. "Go to bed" he said, "Ok" said I, foolishly. I had seen Si get in and out of bed at the hospital with only one person helping, and he really convinced me that he could do this. You can tell that in this we succeeded. The next few paragraphs are missing because they don't belong in the public domain. We have a TV in our bedroom, and later, would you believe it, the Australian women's netball team were on. Simon was on cloud nine. Then even better, Skippy, finding Dad in his natural environment (bed) was reunited with Simon at last. Here they are in the picture. Once again, I am appalled by the state of my house, we have never got around to fitting wardrobe doors!
At 3pm, with an hour to go before our taxi ride back to the hospital, I persuaded Simon to try to get out of bed and back into the wheelchair. I got him sitting up, both feet on the floor, wheelchair ready to slide into, but two problems: i) wheelchair higher than the bed and, ii) first the mattress and then the bed began to slide away from us. He was lying with most of his torso on the bed, feet on the floor, gradually slipping towards the floor. I called the paramedics, and spent a very anxious twenty minutes using all my strength to stop him from falling completely. Shirley arrived after about 15 minutes and helped me by standing the other side of the bed to stop it from moving. Then after 20 minutes the paramedics got here and were brilliant. They slung a couple of belts round him, lifted him to a stand while I shoved from behind, then turned him into the chair. They kind of guessed what had been going on.... If I hadn't been so stressed and exhausted, I might have died from embarassment. Simon's taxi arrived just as the paramedics were leaving, an excellent driver called Abbas, over 40 with his own disabled wife travelling in the back. That's how I like them, mature drivers with a sense of passenger-preservation.
On arriving at the hospital, the staff were asking us "how was your home visit". We will never tell them.... Of course, they may very well have found this blog, in which case, I declare it as a work of fiction and that all similarities to persons living or dead are entirely coincidental!
Love Marian xx

19th September: Facebook error

If anybody received a facebook invitation from Simon today, sorry guys it was one of those errors. He clicked on something and an invite got sent to his whole email address book including a number of government departments! Very embarassing. You can probably tell from this that we were at home again this afternoon. My day began briskly with a walk to the petrol station, I thought I would just swing by the car and make sure it hadn't been pinched before I bought a gallon of petrol. Still where I left it, I thought I would give it a try. The blighter started, so I drove at 10km per hour to the petrol station and glided onto the pump. A spot of grocery shopping then back for an appointment with an officer from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (great respect for these guys, I used to be one). Our household had been selected for the disability survey (quite randomly). The survey is computer driven, and our household proved to be a real test for the survey design. There were a number of points where the guy said, "ah, you can't give that response". Essentially, it was not set up with the idea of somebody who is recently disabled, requires a great deal of carer support, but is mostly in hospital. It took an hour and 15 minutes, and towards the end I was looking at my watch pointedly needing to pick up Simon for his home visit. Well, I hope it does soom good, even if only to demonstrate that the survey instrument needs some work.
Simon looked good this morning, nice close shave and one of his best shirts. He got out of an occupational therapy session because he saw me arriving and said "that's it, I'm off". We spent a little time outside, taking in the rays, then in for lunch and home. Saw the end of "The Watchmen" then a sit on the verandah and a twirl around the neighbourhood. I have discovered that although pavements have ramps at the kerbs these days, every household driveway (including ours) is a challenge because they create a camber, so I am constantly wrestling with the wheelchair listing to one side. I am going to ask next week about an electric wheelchair, we have a family meeting with the team on Tuesday. In fact our list of prepared questions is very lengthy.
Finished up with an episode of Supernatural, I am finding this more predictable so less scary now. Back to the hospital for dinner, we were very early thanks to a fourteen year old Korean racing driver. These young chaps have a bit to learn, when you drive fast you have to jam on your brakes often, and poor Simon gets thrown forwards then backwards in his chair. Very uncomfortable.
Simon comes home again tomorrow afternoon, I hope for a 55 year old driver with a light touch on the gas.
Love Marian xx

18th September: Out of petrol

Simon survived his party and managed to get up and go this morning. Just as well the physio turned up just after breakfast. When I arrived he had already done half a day's therapy but had missed his shower. I put that right quickly, Simon is no shower dodger. Had a good chat with him before lunch about designing assessments, then left him with his new DVD player running, he has sussed out the controls already. The batteries do run down quite quickly, so I will see about obtaining a spare one. Knocked out some tute notes this arvo, and had a stab at learning to use an online-survey tool. Not keen on them, but useful for very basic data collection.
I had promised Simon a chinese take-away this evening, but they don't open until 5pm which is too late for Simon to eat (has to be synchronised with medications). At 4pm I hit on the idea of going to the Shopping Mall's food court, collecting a load of Chinese and Indian food, then running back home with it to put it through the microwave and into an insulated container. I knew that the petrol in my car was desperately low but thought I would chance just one more kilometer before stopping for fuel. 400 metres shy of the house it conked out. So I abandoned the car, ran the four hundred metres with the take-away, microwaved and packed it, phoned a cab, and arrived at one minute to five. Thankfully, it was a very nice take-away. Getting home was almost as eventful. Thank God it's Friday.
Simon will come home for his visits on Saturday and Sunday. We are expecting nice weather. At some stage I have to quiz him about what he remembers about his expenses etc in order to do his tax return.
Not sure if I mentioned that my citizenship ceremony is being arranged for 3rd October. Soon be the real thing.
Love Marian xx

17th September: Our wedding anniversary

Off to work first thing then on to see Simon at lunchtime. We swapped anniversary cards, they made me cry a little. Shared a coffee then Simon was whisked away by a therapist. Thankfully they allowed him a little rest in bed this afternoon. Shirley and I arrived this evening to find him still in bed and desperate to get up and ready for the party. It was dinner time for the other patients so we had to wait a while keeping him entertained unwrapping presents. We had a lovely silver photo frame from Shirley. Surrepticiously my family arrived and colonised the dayroom. Margaret had cooked up a storm, a beautiful buffet, replete with all the condiments. Thank you so much for all that hard work, Margaret. We took the liberty of bringing champagne and some beer. Simon shaved, put on his best shirt, and made his entrance ten minutes late... We had a lovely evening with the family, plus a couple of other patients who joined in happily. We were entertained by Raina, our two year old niece, she loves opening presents and was delighted to help Uncle Simon to unwrap his. Also to blow out the candles on his chocolate cake (twice). Simon tucked into his buffet with some gusto, even more so the champagne and beer. The nursing staff were very understanding about this but said that they would like to use the lifting machine to put him into bed this evening on account of him being so pissed! You can rely on Ozzies to be direct and honest.

Back to the presents, Simon got a portable DVD player, a new fleecy jacket, and a garden gnome painted by Raina in what might be described as 'Picasso Style' - it is priceless. I took a bunch of photos but find I am really not very good at this, so this was the best I could come up with: Gerry, Simon, and Jamie - 'three wise men'.

Love Marian xx

16th September: Simon comments on a paper

A very wet day in Adelaide, I have been soaked through twice and now discover that my shoes let in water. Despite this we had a good day. Joined Simon for lunch and a coffee, he seemed a little tired but the coffee perked him up quite well. This evening I took him fish and chips (overdid the order on the chips, enough to sink a battleship), then some nice cheese and biscuits. Half hour of TV, a phone call from David N (thanks David sorry to cut you off), then Simon's student arrived. We stayed in the TV lounge where it is quiet and read the paper that he and Simon have written together. A fascinating topic on how to rescue the archives of low lying nations in the Pacific region. He is going to present this paper next week and I think it will attract a lot of interest. I read the paper through to Simon, and he was commenting all through - mainly identifying new parts that had been added, approving of these, suggesting some minor corrections. I couldn't help throwing in my own two-pennies worth. Simon then talked about looking for publication opportunities and to go for a good journal. Our meeting lasted about an hour and Simon was fully engaged. I am very proud of him. Still gushing with pride, I arrived home late and found a dozen red roses with a card from Simon for our anniversary tomorrow. We are having a small party at the hospital tomorrow evening, I will take pictures.
Love Marian xx

15th September: Talking cybernetics

At work early this morning, then off to join Simon for his speech therapy session. It was great, we had more blind guessing games this time Simon had to look at a photograph of an object or subject and use his hand to describe this with a gesture. Personally I thought it very dangerous to do a session on gestures with Simon, I have seen some distinctly rude ones! He approached it with enthusiasm and between us we did really well. We were roaring with laughter at some of his mimes, and it transpires from one of his gestures that he knows very well how to do the ironing but has always told me that he can't do it..... That's it Shurv, you've got the job. We also did a session on drawing, this was really impressive, he is able to cartoon with his left hand, and it is better than I could produce with my good hand. His picture of a cat was spot on and sophisticated rather than the naive doodle that I would come up with. The best moment was when he was asked to look at a photograph and said "that's grotesque, lardy", I couldn't guess what this could be: a monster? It was a picture of a very large lady lying down on the floor, I think doing pelvic floor exercises. When I saw it I agreed that it was very gruesome.
At lunchtime we had a swift discussion about the teaching of cybernetics (I have to give a lecture on managerial control soon), it was incredible and we cooked up a fiendish exercise for my students to attempt to devise a cybernetic system for some activity in their everyday lives - of course they will fail in this attempt, but that is where we will extract the reflective learning. I got a bit carried away and wondered whether it was possible to achieve reflective learning before the experience has occurred. Nonsense said Simon. Not so sure say I. Many times I rehearse activities in my head before the event, and I learn something through that process; not sure what. Now I need Tom Bourner to sort this out for me. Sorry, Tom, no retirement for you, you started this....
Took sausages and veg for Simon's dinner tonight. Once again managed to get him to eat some greens and carrots. He gave us the news after dinner that he had a muscle 'tick' in his right leg and arm. This is an indication of potential recovery in the limbs. I hope and I pray and then pray some more. We talked about writing papers together, and reviewing some papers for journals. Simon was excited about that.
We are looking forward to a visit from one of Simon's students tomorrow evening, and then our wedding anniversary celebration on Thursday evening. An eventful week.
Love Marian x

14th September: too much information

Simon declared this morning that he didn't feel so well, and I could not fathom what was giving him trouble. I came to the conclusion that it was just a "Monday" feeling. Margaret joined us for lunch at the hospital, indeed she kindly brough lunch, and for coffee afterwards in the secret garden. He perked up a lot, and even slightly embarassed me with his topic of conversation which was distinctly personal. Anyone else but Margaret would have said "too much information, Simon"! His speech was very good today, and he was explaining that he had been refusing certain medication, perhaps the sedative, and that this was helping him to be more communicative. I am joining the speech therapy session tomorrow and looking forward to that. A nice chat with our social worker this evening, just back from her hols in NSW where she enjoyed the snow. Being European I am over snow (especially the British type), but I can see why Australians love it. The social worker is going to try to arrange the full team meeting, our list of questions is growing daily. I write them down on scraps of paper as Simon thinks of them, must turf out my handbag and retrieve all of these tomorrow.
We had a nice card from Heather which made Simon smile, he likes the idea of being the regenerative doctor. Also very pleased that Henk will be visiting us in September. Then news that one of Simon's students will visit him on Wednesday with news of his imminent conference papers. Simon was very energised by that. It is great that the visitors are picking up, thanks for the effort guys, I know that many of you are experiencing your own trials at present. Have you noticed that everything gets blamed on the GFC. I heard that kids are turning up to school and using the GFC as a reason for not doing their homework! In my day, we blamed the power cuts; us kids loved the miners...
Love Marian xx

13th September: A visit from John

Simon was delighted to see John turn up at our home today, armed with a couple of crownies and some wonderful CDs that he had burned. One of these is called "Educating Simon" an introduction to country music of the early twentieth century. Nice one John. They had a nice chat. Simon was keen to hear all the gossip from work, John was very diplomatic, don't worry guys! You can see them here in our front room, must work harder on composing these pictures, our dining room table is mayhem.
Apart from John's visit we got stuck into a very long film about superheroes, the Watchmen. I liked some of it, but the gory scenes were very nasty. Because it is such a long film we had to leave it about 40 minutes from the end for Simon's return to hospital. We will pick it up again next weekend. Skippy lurked around for a bit, and did briefly stand on Simon's lap, he is gently coming round to the idea of Dad and his machine.
Got up at the crack of dawn woken by riotous birdsong; the birds are all flirting with each other outrageously and they seem to compete for bandwidth first thing in the morning. Skippy is beside himself; "which one shall I chase first?". I got out into the garden by 8am (by which time Skips was exhausted and had to go back to bed) and got a lot done: lawns mowed, palm fronds cleared, potatoes earthed up, and some pesky lawn edging installed - much trickier than I had bargained for. It is all looking lush and green just now, and the spring flowers are bursting onto the scene, but I know that in a matter of weeks the heat will take its toll and we will be struggling to keep all but native plants alive. Gardening in Australia is very different - if you don't want it to grow it will grow like a thug! I still have to re-work my bricklaying job, along with a hundred other small projects around the place.
Simon enjoyed home-cooked stir fry this evening but had a bit of trouble manipulating the noodles, in fact he was fairly covered in noodles at one stage. "Call me noodle Si" he said.
Love Marian xx

September 12th: Smart new clothes

Sorry I missed the blog yesterday, I went up to McLaren Vale and spent the evening with my nieces - rather a lot of Shiraz was consumed! I stayed overnight and slept like a log. I had a bit of a spending spree in The Blokes Shop (yes it is called that) in McLaren Vale, and found some beaut polo shirts, a warm fleece, and some nice trainers. I bought a size smaller than usual and they all fit well. You can see him here in his beloved garden (note the bougainvillea against the fence) wearing a smart R M Williams polo shirt. It was around 28 degrees today, but despite wearing shorts he wore the fleece all day.

Picked Simon up on my way back from the Vale (very scary drive from the Vale, raging cross-winds), we now have vouchers for the access taxis, and I paid just $14 for the round trip, just as well since I spent up big time in the Blokes Shop.... Simon signs his own taxi vouchers each time we travel. We had a nice afternoon at home, first a spot of lunch, then a walk along the road where we found a garage sale in progress (these may be unique to Australia, you put all your unwanted kit out in the garage, place a sign in the street, and a hundred scavengers appear from nowhere). We were amongst the scavengers today, it gave a purpose to our walk. Simon fancied a second-hand jacket, it was nice, but sadly it was too small for him. He also rummaged through the books. Then back home for a couple more episodes of Doctor Who culminating with 'doomsday', a spot of music and it was time to return to the hospital. I took lamb chops, baked potato, and some home cooked fresh veg in a flask. He ate the lot, it is the first time I have managed to get him to eat vegetables in a month, so mighty pleased with myself. The trick is to get them really fresh and dust them in lemon thyme and parsley with a little butter. Strawberries for afters then a spot of TV and off to bed for Simon.

We spoke with Barry O'Grady at lunchtime, it was great to hear from you Bazza. We are looking forward to your visit to SA late October. Also read a wonderful cheery email from David McGladdery, cheers for the music Dave, Simon really enjoyed the Blockheads.

Simon told me that he could feel the right side of his jaw today, and there is distinct movement in the right shoulder. I am not imagining that.

Simon has been engaging his nurses with his music and one of the male nurses this evening told him he was going to bring in a CD for him that he particularly liked - Spanish acoustic I think. He is doing very well getting in and out of bed on the slide-board, and I can see a time soon when I will be able to manage this with him alone.

All good, Love Marian xx

10th September: 26 degrees in Adelaide

Today was a classic South Australian beauty, twenty six degrees, a light breeze and clear blue skies. I don't think Shirley believed me that we have great weather here, but now she has finally experienced some. I considered a dip in the pool but faltered!
Mel and Pen took the lunchtime shift with Simon today, they arrived armed to the teeth with goodies from the deli, and this evening I took some home-cooked grub. Simon has been quiet and not very interested in talking the last couple of days. I believe it is due to some drug that they are giving him, it must be too strong. I will talk to his doctor tomorrow about that, I would rather talk Simon through his problems than suppress his ability to talk altogether.
Managed to zip through some lecture preparation this morning and a student's research paper this afternoon. Also spoke with the council about the citizenship ceremony. They are going to try to fit me in to a private ceremony in October, I spoke to a very nice person who turned out to be the mayor! I was desperate to see Simon this evening having missed by lunchtime fix. People have been exhorting me to take a day off from visiting, but the truth is I miss him.
However, I'm going out tomorrow evening for the first time in several months. After our hospital visit I will drop Shirley home then drive up to McLaren Vale where I have an appointment with a tasty glass of Shiraz. I'll stay over with Mel and Pen at Hardy Avenue, then go pick Simon up for his home visit. I'd forgotten about having a social life. Must put that right.
Love Marian xx

9th September: New shoes

Someone had been at the sherry in the kitchen again today, Simon's lunch turned up minus the main course! In fact everyone on the ward had something missing. I had to substitute with a pie again. Simon was not displeased. He had a busy morning with physio and speech therapy. The speech session was held with the psychologist who is quizzing Simon about his feelings and state of mind. I think it was an intense session and had the effect of leaving him a) speechless b) in a troubled state of mind. Not exactly the objectives of the session I would hazard. Shirley arrived under her own steam late afternoon and caught the wrath of Simon. He is capable of tearing you off a strip if you don't understand him. I don't worry about this, I think that anger is a good and natural thing in his situation, he isn't giving up. I was late arriving this evening, and stayed even later to see him into bed. Once again, Simon surprised me. He was able to get into the bed from his wheelchair using a slide-board. This is a piece of plastic not unlike a kitchen chopping board with a very shiny surface. You wedge this underneath your bottom with the other end resting on the bed, then just wiggle yourself off the chair onto the bed using your feet for balance. I watched him do this perfectly. Brilliant. This means that he is no longer dependent on the hoist which is a horrid thing, and if you can get free of the hoist you are a step closer to going home.
I bought Simon some new trainers today, and two sets of PJs. He was looking quite smart when we left him this evening.
Love Marian xx

8th September: Horse pills

When I arrived at lunchtime today Simon was in bed sleeping like a baby, it transpires that he had been given an anti-depressant that was far too strong for him. He managed a bit of lunch, but was out for the count all afternoon. At tea-time we found him sitting up, but still obviously drowsy. The medical staff were keeping a close eye. Needless to say, he won't be taking those horse pills again.
Best news today, we have been given a book full of access taxi vouchers worth up to $30 a piece, there are 80 vouchers and we have to make them last for six months. This will cover our trips home to Brighton at weekends for around 5 months. We only have to pay 25% of the fare, so about $30 a week rather than the $120 that I have been paying. We could even go further afield, and I am considering a trip to McLaren Vale for our wedding anniversary next week.
I am deeply impressed by the SA government in funding this access transport scheme. It is neat when you see your tax going to good use. We are also grateful to our social worker for arranging this for us.
We will be at home on Saturday and Sunday afternoon if any colleagues would like to pass by. Look us up in the white pages. Simon has only seen family recently and is getting a bit fretful about that and other things (hence the horse pills).
Love Marian xx

7th September: Simon stands up

For several days Simon has been telling me that he can stand up independently and has offered to show me this. I have been so afraid of him falling on my watch, and the consequences in terms of lack of trust from the staff when I bring him home. Today, my sister Margaret and brother-in-law Gerry took the lunchtime visiting session. They took him to the secret garden, and he tried his standing-up trick on them. They fell for it, and he did it! He stood up, all by himself. Oh, my Simon, I am so proud of you.
One of Simon's doctors has proposed an all-team meeting for next Tuesday with Simon and me. I am really looking forward to this, I do not think that the teams meet up about an individual patient so often, and it will be good for us to have input and some output from that session. I will go into that meeting straight from a master's tutorial so I should be switched on. Simon seems to think that there is a problem for me being an academic with high expectations of intellectual discourse, and then switching to my interaction with him at what seems to him to be a simple level. This could not be further from the truth. I have never been so intellectually challenged than I am now. Simon's condition is teaching me so much about so many things, and I feel energised.
I had my performance review today. All good, except that I was disappointed in myself in terms of publications. Wonder if this blog might get me a DEST point?
Love Marian x

6th September: Simon meets Harry

Home again for Sunday afternoon. Our neighbour, Jan invited us round for a beer, and here you can see Simon on the patio playing ball with Harry the dog. Anyone who will throw the ball for Harry becomes an instant friend, so Simon got lots of love. Skippy, perhaps being a little jealous, came closer today and at one stage stood on Simon's lap. We gave Simon a father's day present and a card signed with a paw print. It was nice outdoors but Simon was keen to go in and watch his new DVDs, two episodes of Dr Who and the Cybermen kept him rapt.

While searching the shed for something else, I turned up Simon's headphones, he was over the moon, and when I left him this evening he was happily bopping away to beautiful stereo sound.

Love Marian x

5th September: Bricklayer's blues

Picked Simon up after lunch and home to beautiful sunshine. Simon ordered a quick fry-up (his lunch was horrible), and then elected to sit on the front verandah in the sun watching me lay bricks. I had started this job in the early morning, laying a brick border in the front yard. It is a simple thing to do but for getting the level right. I toiled away, and just as I had laid the last brick my neighbour Jan came round and said "that looks like shite marian". So tomorrow I think I will have to do it all over again. Meanwhile, Simon sat happily in the sun listening to Bruce Springsteen, and Elena McEvoy (I liked her, very sweet singer). Because he is becoming more independent he wheeled himself off down the garden path and up to the gate. I took my eyes off him for a second while I laid another brick, looked up and he was hurtling down the driveway backwards into the road. My ten metre sprint was quite impressive for an old chook. I am going to invent a hat with wing mirrors so that I can see where he is at all times!
Shirley went to the shopping mall and got Simon's DVDs; we have kept a couple back for father's day tomorrow. Our hirsuit son, Skippy Orlando, is approximately 12 years old.
The nursing staff reckon it will be possible to see the fireworks at the Royal Adelaide Show from Simon's window tonight. That will be a nice treat.
A good day, Love Marian xx

4th September: Bopping with the Blockheads

Simon has spent part of the day bopping along to his new Blockheads CD (courtesy of Dave), it took me back to hear Ian Dury, and I smiled when I think how very disabled he was but never let it stop him from getting up to all sorts of mischief.
I began reading a 7 page email from Ken Fernstrom (God of Conferences) at lunchtime, second part at teatime and we are only on page four. Good value, Ken! In fact, others in the day room were also rivetted, you are fast gaining a reputation on Rehab A. Glad you are home and recovering from your travels, and all best wishes for your (near) retirement. Simon was very, very sorry to hear about your poor dog.
I got stuck into some course planning today, curriculum mapping for a new Business/HRM degree. I am having fun inventing whacky reflective and problem-based assessments. My colleagues will curse me in years to come. Sorry guys, it has to be done, Bourner is the genius composer, I'm just the piano player. Also prepped up my performance review notes for Monday, wish me luck.
Simon is home Saturday and Sunday arvo, looking forward to showing him all the painting and decorating and cleaning that has been done in the last week (by the Wynne family). Need to do a quick shop in the morning to get the list of DVDs that Simon ordered. By the way, if anyone in the UK could send me a Coronation Street omnibus I would love to see it, when I left Vera Duckworth was giving Jack grief about his pigeons, no idea what has happened since.
Love Marian x

3rd September: Bananas in Pyjamas

Simon was in good form at lunchtime, took one look at the tuna salad they had dished up and said "that's it lets go to the pie shop"! Meat pie consumed, we spent a pleasant half-hour in the secret garden. Simon told me he had a terrible night, it took me around fifteen minutes to get to the bottom of this. It transpires that he had been put to bed in his track suit and was very uncomfortable. He had apparently tried to tell the staff about this several times but they didn't get it. I took off to Target and bought several sets of very obvious pyjamas (traditional stripes, think Bananas in Pyjamas), I have left a pair on his bed and hope he has a cosy time tonight. After lunch Simon had an appointment with a visiting 'voice therapist'. Not sure what this is about, but Simon declared that it was a complete waste of time and that he was never engaging with this again. I am pleased that he is taking control of things.
Back to the hospital after work this evening, we brought our own lasagne which was just as well because the hospital beef stroganoff looked distinctly grey. Still no luck getting him to eat salad or veggies, must find something with vitamins that he likes.
At one stage today, Simon told me that he was scared of grown-ups. I tried my best to reassure him that all the people around him are on his side and would never hurt him. Actually hard to convince him of that given that most of the grown-ups in his environment regularly stab him with nasty needles!
Shirley had an adventure to the shopping mall today, hiring an electric goffer. Shirley has never had a driving license and is unlikely to get one given that she nearly demolished a stand full of greetings cards in Myers today! Puts me in mind of Dawn from the Librarians - most of the staff and a few toddlers have been run over in the second series. For you poms who haven't seen it, get it on ebay.
Simon had a parcel from Dave McGladdery today, 3 CDs, all good stuff. Cheers Dave. Hoping for home visits this weekend between 1pm and 4pm. Anyone who wants to pass by and see Simon is very welcome. BYOB. Contact Moira Lawler for our address and phone number.
Love Marian x

2nd September:

The Wynne family were out in force today, thanks guys. Gerry arrived this morning ready for painting with apprentice Rachael in tow. She was quickly dispatched to wash the grime off the shed door. Later Mel and Pen took the lunchtime session at the hospital then arrived at our place armed with mops and buckets and gave it a spring-clean. This was long overdue even though spring only arrived yesterday. I can now see the colour of the floor tiles. The cat is very put out about the whole thing, he will now have to go about re-marking every inch of the house to keep the monsters away. To cap it all, Mel cooked up some very fine tucker that should last us until October!
I was at work then running around picking up Simon's car from the repairers, then back to the hospital with take away fish and chips for Simon's tea. He had a fairly good day, and looked very handsome in a Lacoste polo shirt. I will take more of these in for him, nice clothes can make you feel good.
Love Marian xx

1st September: The arrival of spring

Off to work in the rain again this morning, then baking in the sun by lunchtime - spring has arrived, and we are very happy to see it. In fact the trees have been in blossom for a while now, and all of our spring bulbs are up, spuds putting on a good show, and the broad beans will be ready to eat very soon. I am desperate to get Simon enjoying veg again - he has been exposed to hospital greens and dull salads for so long that he now refuses them absolutely.
Simon's speech was really good this morning, we had a long chat over lunch and then a walk in the secret garden which is wonderfully scented with freesias just now. Back to work while Simon went for more therapy sessions, these all seem to be producing benefits, and he is certainly gaining strength.
I am not sure how Simon got out of bed this morning, but he was delighted to report that he did not have to sit in the harness all day, perhaps they are using a lighter apparatus.
This evening we had a picnic in his room, then off to the secret TV lounge for Deal or No Deal. He will be watching East West this evening, one of his favourites. Simon is acutely aware of the TV schedules, which he must be memorising because there is no TV Guide in the room or on the TV.
Thanks for the card from John Foster today, Simon smiled and said it would be nice to see you soon. He also asked to see one of his Phd students, so I will try to arrange for that to happen.
Love Marian xx