Winding up Round 2

Hey everyone, here we are again at the end of another session, tomorrow is my last day of treatment here in Delhi. Its been another rewarding session with big gains made in balance, I've also gained some more feeling and awareness of my legs and feet and got a little bit of movement back also. Louis "Last Minute" Rowe has just booked a flight home - 1 day before I leave.. So its smiles all round!! Speaking of leaving things to the last minute and on a much more serious note. The Stem Cell fundraiser is on October 17 and the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, Dr Geeta Shroff is coming out for a once only talk, there will be a question and answer time a 3 course dinner, beer and wine, auctions and give-aways and live music, Its going to be a great night!! I urge all of you to buy tickets and come along, Stem Cells not only help people with spinal chord injuries, but also people who have had strokes, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Diabetes, and many many other nerve and muscle ailments. Tickets through www.ticketek.com.au.

P.S. In past posts I have referred to Stem Cell injections as babies - I would like to say that this being a humorous and entertaining blog about my experience here in India, this reference is not true at all. They are not babies or Foetus' on the contrary Dr Shroff has perfected a technology that allows her to harvest her stem cells from one fertilised egg that was donated by an IVF patient of hers. Dr Shroff's technique allows this one egg to keep multiplying and therefore this one fertilised egg can produce enough stem cells to service the whole world, with not one abortion or life being taken.. So many people have the potential to get a better quality of life from stem cell treatment and Dr Shroff has the technology to do it ethically. For all those who have formed a negative view towards stem cells on a ethical basis please come along to the Stem Cell Fundraiser and be educated on the matter from the world leader of this technology.

Thanks again for reading I'm planning to return next August, but until then see you on the 17th of October at the Stem Cell Fundraiser!

Funtime

Nameste Hello. Well what a week its been in India! Full of excitement, we go back to last Friday when my mate Tenno arrived to substitute for the injured Vee. The trip to the airport to pick him up was a hair-raiser and i thought for a few minutes when the driver pulled in to fill up with petrol but was in too much of a rush to turn the car off, that I wasn't going to make it! Obviously it wasn't a big deal, no one seemed to really care and we all lived. Then on Saturday Tenno and I went out to the main tourist hangout Cannought Place, we went to the market, had a drink in a bar and lazed around for the afternoon, learning later when we got back and watched the late night news that the place was bombed 3 hours after we left! We're starting to think that maybe we shouldn't travel together! The hospital is at full capacity at the moment and 90% of us are Australians, a really good bunch of people that are making the stay here a lot easier. We are showing the Indians how we do it down under with loud sessions gambling and drinking (non-patients only). Rest assured all the fun is not detracting from the serious business of waking up my bottom half. Since my last update I've had another increase in balance, which makes the walking with crutches a lot easier and the foot movement when standing just with a walking stick can now be recognised as an actual step! Again its all very frustratingly slow and some days are much better than others but we are starting to wind it up and next week i'm guessing will be filled with procedures and big injections to fill me up before i get home saturday week! Go Doggies!!

Hump Week

So here we are already in the middle of the trip, and things are really starting to get going inside of me. On Monday morning I went across to the old hospital for a procedure, I was told that morning it would be the big double whammy Hey Big Johnny!! A dose of the dreaded lumbar puncture notorious for its killer headaches and at the same time a 3 day catheter drip notorious for its span of 3 days. So I had a cold shower and pumped myself up for a few days of pain then laid down for a few hours waiting to be called down to the OT. Its something I've been through now many times before so I new what to expect and was more excited than nervous going into it, the ward-boys came up and put me on a stretcher and we made our way down to the small narrow lift, the old iron doors were pulled open and I was carefully pushed in. In the operating theatre Dr Ashish Verma (Guest Speaker at The Stem Cell Fundraiser) was waiting and ready for the action. A heart monitor was put on my finger and the beeping commenced.. and very quickly got quicker and quicker. I was rolled onto my side and squeezed up like an accordion as Dr Ashish washed my back ready for entry. Entry came in a few pricks of needles to numb up the back, then came 15 minutes of rumbling around, bit of poking and prodding, little bit of cutting and threading, then a touch of tape to tie it all up and were done.. There were no immediate reactions and as i laid there for a minute afterwards I couldn't help but feel really really happy, a smile came to life on my face and i was extremely content, like I'd just slipped into a nice hot bath after a long days work... aaahh sedation.
As was taken back to my room and soon fell asleep. Easy Done. I woke some time after with the headache, which was soon eased again with the prick of another needle, which I could actually feel go in on the side of my bum cheek! Anyway cut another 3 days short and here we are feeling on top of the world. In physio today I was a lot more balanced standing up, my legs were stronger and felt somewhat lighter than before.. it feels as if the concrete that they are set in is getting a few big cracks in it... A few more big hits I think could knock some hefty chunks off. So I've already told Dr Ashish I'm ready for another big one.. Bring on the babies!!

The Stem Cell Fundraiser - Get Involved

The Stem Cell Fundraiser
October 17 Melbourne
www.ticketek.com.au

Aint Got Shoes For This Road

One week in and unfortunately there is very little to report in this fight against the consistently inconvenient paraplegia. The week has been quite an easy one, spent settling back into the groove of early mornings, physiotherapy and injections, and it was topped of nicely with a small one day procedure on Friday. Physio is basically the same routine as last time, except now with a lot more floor exercises such as crawling, kneeling and balance work. I'm now able to extend my leg approximately 120 degrees in a relatively powerful movement although the full-back of the Old Xav's 3rds isn't under threat its progress. Progress is being made also in walking with arm crutches and with a walking stick, in which I was able to drag my foot forward a good 5 inches before loosing balance, again its not much but something I wasn't able to do last time around.

As this will be a short and sharp session we are planning to have a procedure once a week, with a double-banger towards the end to ensure that I'll be full of the super-juice when I return home to watch the Dogs win the flag. So I will hopefully have something more exciting to write about in the next installment, in the meantime Northcote social Club this Friday the 5th.