Steak Out

Hi again. Lee here after quite a silence. I thought it was time I clocked in and added the parental perspective.

We now collect Mike on a Friday night and keep him till Monday morning. Last Friday night, brother-in-law Andrew decided he should check out Mike's computer game skills. He and Mike had a happy evening racing cars on the screen. While the noise and movement was far too exhausting for the middle aged brains present, Mike didn't seem to turn a hair. His stamina is better now and when he does have to rest, it doesn't seem to take as long to recharge his batteries.

Mike decided this weekend that it was time he practiced his new found eating technique ona good steak. Who better than little bro and Chef Extraordinaire - Phil as the inaugural chef. What a superb steak and Mike coped with it just fine, so thats another PB ( or SB - Steak Best)

The rest of the weekend, Bryce and I navigate our way through a wonderful range of old and young friends, all coming to visit Mike. It means so much to Mike to have this on-going support. Some push him in the wheelchair to seek out a coffee at a local cafe. We've decided that the proximity of our apartment to town is going to work well when Mike comes home full time. Although we don't have a vast amount of space, people can visit so easily and he will be able to get out to the city and its events easily. We'd thought we might havc to rent out in the suburbs for a few months, but have decided staying here will work really well.

Our kitchen turns out to be quite well set up for someone who can't walk well. It has benches on all sides, so Mike can be put to work on various tasks, propping himself up on the benches and edging his way around like a spider. Pity to waste accessible labour.

The walking is progressing but still has a way to go. As well as balance, Mike's having to develop a sense of direction. At the moment the hapless support person keeps getting driven into the wall. The physio uses Pilates a lot for Mike's exercise regime and I find it very interesting watching how it relates to yoga. She has a wonderful machine that goes by the ominous name of THE REFORMER. It does all sorts of great exercises that can relate to very specific weaknesses in the brain-body message system. At the same time it can provide the specific support Mike needs to be able to actually do each exercise.

So enough from me. Bye.

Lee

P.S. Mike here. Sorry, we haven't done a good job of coordinating our posts this week. If you haven't looked at the blog for a few days don't miss the post below.