Week 38 and it's coming up to Christmas……..

Well to all the other quadders out there (I include Mr Jaccobi) ignorant sod…. seasons greetings to and may your deity to whatever persuasion you might be. Live long and prosper ……..

Well, just to keep you all up to date it seems I am doing ok. Physically R o M is good, I am back to doing most things I used to do if not slightly impaired. My Physio says I’m never going to run again, we will see about that. No golf either apparently? Walking downhill is still difficult, people must think I pissed but hey what it is, is what it is. Stairs are difficult and getting up from a low seat fooking painful.

Went to see James Blunt on the spur as you do, ticket was good sadly not enough room for my legs to stretch out. you quadders out there will know what I mean. I was willing the people around me to get up and gigg about but did they, Fooking no. I lasted an hour and a half before I had to get up oh the relief……….

One bit of very good news, my claim….. The old dairy company on whose property I came a cropper…… have admitted liability. So now, it’s not if, but how much. The accident has cost me personally around £15,00.00 so if I get the back plus the lawyers fee I’ll be happy. A bit extra would be nice for all that discomfort and disruption to my life. So we shall see……..

So Happy Christmas my Quadder mates…… see you in the new year…….

oh another big disappointment in my life…… Charlton Athletic…..

Its week 29, and all is well; I hope……. 13 Otober 2014

Posted on 13/10/2014 by Mark Darcy

Well its been awhile since I last posted shame on me, but life has been hectic and stressful. 

So how am I getting on, well as far as the injury is concerned ok, had my 6 month check up at the hospital and have been discharged from their care. So now it’s just me and my Physio. 

I have good ROM and the strength is coming back all good, I wished I could say it was all good.

Stairs still present a problem, I can go up much easier than coming down and still have to hang on to the rail for dear life. Went to the cinema for the first time three weeks ago, it was ok walking up the shallow steps to my seat; but fuck, going back down in the dark that was scary. Oh on the going out and about Lynne and I went to see the Bodyguard at the Adelphi Theater in London oh that was good. I had got the tickets before the injury, so the day arrived 28 August 2014. We had Royal Circle seats second from the front, well if it had not been for the guys sitting in the seats to my right doing a no-show I would have been buggered. But I laid myself out over three seats very lucky, no point doing the lottery now. So going up and downstairs is doable but ungainly.

Walking have not used sticks now for at least two months, Walking on the flat is ok I look a bit pissed, up hill very good; downhill is a not so good. But getting better. If someone had told me I would still be struggling to walk down hill I would not have believed them. But it could all so be much worse.

So I can walk, swim, do the bad thing, too bad women. Drive go out and socialise, go to poo properly, shower and ride a bike…… so I am nearly back to normal in a way. I can only run and jump in the swimming pool don’t think I’ll be playing golf for sometime, but hey on the balance of things it’s all going well.

Work, well I went in for a meeting to discuss my return to find out after five months they had found out how to do it without me or rather realised how much I cost. So it was, redundancy for me. So now with the help of my ex employers I have set up for myself. Chauffeur Me Launched on the 1 October 2014, providing executive transport to the corporate sector. You can find me at chauffeurme.biz, I’m building the website myself so don’t expect too much.

So there you have it for now, My legs work to a fashion but I have to take on board they never going to be the same again. Maybe I’ll get up from sitting one day and not feel it, I live in hope.

Its week 20: and people never fail not to suprise!

I’m starting week 20 today, and in the words of my Physio I am doing very well. Mind you I have to question whether Hayley, that’s my Physio is all the ticket? She got on a coach, went all the way to Huddersfield to watch Bournemouth’s first game of the season.

Mind you they won 4 nil so maybe she got lucky, there is no worse feeling than going to an away game and coming back 260 miles with that losing feeling.

Mind you my boys had a decent result at the weekend,  1 all, away to a newly promoted side, not all that bad. To my quadder brothers in the states, Bournemouth play, along with my boys (Charlton Athletic) in the second tier of English football or rather soccer to you guys.

Your really going to have to get used to calling it football not soccer, if you want to play a world sport. And by the way you are getting better. Your football (which I love by the way, come on the Bournemouth Bobcat) is not football.

Football is when you kick the ball with your feet. Which only happens in American Football at kick off, punting, extra after, and field goal; so calling it football is a bit rich. I have to say I am looking forward immensely to the Raiders Dolphins game on 28 September at Wembley which I have tickets for.

Just hope I can get into the seat….. I find it amazing how Americans take English childrens games and turn them into sports; netball and rounders spring to mind. The day is coming when the London Monarchs will play in either the NFC/AFC East, and I can not wait to take some scalps.

Anyway less of the digression.

The exercises are paying dividends I seem to be getting stronger day on day. Found a pool at a local hotel with steps and a rail in to the water so, I am swimming most days. Its really cheap 20 quid a month and no membership, there’s a hot tub, steam room, sauna no Swedes sadly and gym with all the latest machines; a real find. I am walking 3 to 4 miles a day with out my crutches (I take them with me just in case). Bournemouth is very hilly so its quite a feat.

Heard from the lawyers last week, apparently I need more pictures of the spot I fell as there is a minium depth of 2.5cm anything below that is deemed by the law to be not dangerous. So I’m going to drive up there on Thursday and take photos with measurements. Will post next week.

Not heard a dicky bird from work. Sent in new fit note saying I can drive now, but the silence is deafening. I feel mentally ready to go back if not totally physically.

So that’s it for this post, its going to be a week of swimming and walking, Cross Trainer and my stair exercises. Oh and weight loss I have got rid 6lbs so far, so my target is 1lb a week. Should be easy I don’t think……

Week 18, I am getting bored

I am now in week 18 of  my injury recovery. And I have to say I am bored. But the recovery is going well, my exercise program is on track. I have now been able to start to put some resistance on my cross-trainer, so I must be making progress. I discovered I was doing the squats all wrong, thought they were too easy. I am having to do them against a wall to keep my back straight, the difference is dynamic. The pull on the knee and the quad; ouch.  

But all the other exercises are going well. Today for the first time I walked outside without the aid of my crutches. I have not needed them inside for some time now, but have a little more confidence to walk outside without them. But of course then there are the hills, and the proprioception. 

Had an amended fit note so hopefully should be back at work soon. I think I have got to the point where I am 50% back, so can apart from sit on my toilet; most day to day stuff is ok. The next 50% I think is going to take time? And as they say, time will tell! 

By the time I have posted next I should be driving again, so I am feeling extremely positive about my injury and life. By the 15 August I have to get myself to London, have lunch at The Opera Terrace in Covent Garden and then get myself into theatre seat, now that might be tricky. 

The past few weeks I have been making new Quadder friends, so a shout out to Don Williams and Mike Maclellan. It seems Don is 18 months a Quadder, and Mike had his event on 19th June this year. It makes writing this blog worthwhile as other Quadders seem to like it. Once a Quadder always a Quadder it seems.

I am beginning to think we should have a Quadder Convention, Las Vagas springs to mind. Watch this space. 

Week 16: It's Now Frustrating, 21 July 2014

This past week has been frustrating! I have started the strength part of my rehab and its going really well. From a fat zero on my cross trainer when I first started, I am managing 2 miles in 10 minutes. Not an Olympic record but not bad progress in a week. 

In fact, I am not that far off my normal pace for 45 minutes. So the frustration is I'm getting on well and need to translate that into getting back to work. I can drive a car, walk 3 miles, with the aid of my crutches and feel like I have made good progress. My physio is going well, I am down to one session a week just for soft tissue work. So I am happy but frustrated. So this week has been very much groundhog day, with a heavy dose of exercise..... There is not much else to report this week apart from my frustration. Going to see my GP on 30th to see if I can get my Fit Note amended. So I can get my life back into some sort of normality. 

Week 15, The strengthening begins

This week has been an extremely positive moving forward week; but one full of frustrations. Monday was groundhog day, have to wait till Tuesday to see my Physio so we can get on with the strength work. Range of movement is coming along, but the strength in my quads has completely gone. And of course theirs those pesky little Proprioceptors,  Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement. It is provided by proprioceptors in muscles and in joints. It is distinguished from exteroceptive, by which one perceives the outside world, and interoception, by which one perceives pain, hunger, etc., and the movement of internal organs.

Proprioception is what allows someonee to learn to walk in complete darkness without losing balance. During the learning of any new skill, sport, or art, it is usually necessary to become familiar with some proprioceptive tasks specific to that activity. Without the appropriate integration of proprioceptive input, an artist would not be able to brush paint onto a canvas without looking at the hand as it moved the brush over the canvas; it would be impossible to drive a car because a motorist would not be able to steer or use the pedals while looking at the road ahead; a person could not touch type or perform ballet, and people would not even be able to walk without watching where they put their feet. So one of my big problems at the moment is my proprioceptors are shot, hence walking downhill even with crutches is difficult. My Proprioception exercise requires me to shut my eyes and stand on one leg, go on give it a go. I can manage 5 seconds and I have shot proprioception, whats going to be your excuse. Its similar to the sobriety  test they use in the US of A. 

So Tuesday came and Hayley my Physio gave me the ok to start my strength exercises. Shes coming over to supervise my first session on Friday. But I can start working on my cross trainer straight away. I have enough range of movement now to get on, I was worried I might get stuck. It went better than expected, Hayley said two ten minute sessions with no resistance. F………..ck, the first effort was pathetic.

I couldn’t get a reading from the control panel I was going so slow. But Wednesday was better, still no reading!!!! But Thursday red letter day for two different reasons. First and I imagine contributed to the second managed to register a distance for the 10 minute session not record breaking but 1.41 miles better than a slap in the face. I normally do 6 miles in 24 minutes. So Thursday 1.61 Miles, Friday 1.72 miles  and today day of posting 1.9 miles, soon to break the two minute barrier. A small step for Mark a giant leap for my quads. The second red letter thing on Thursday, I had a shower; the first since I left on that fateful day at the beginning of April. I had enough strength to push myself up into the shower, I stood for half an hour with the water cascading over me, bliss. All I need to do now is to be able to sit on he toilet. But it will come. I thought you would not want to see me in the shower, so this is just an illustration. Anyone got her number?

Friday Hayley came and supervised my other strength exercises. I do them mainly out on the stairway of the apartment block. There’s a warm up of going up and down on step 10 times, walking up and down one flight twice with the aid of a crutch. The lunges 10 each leg, then the killer “The Crouch/Squwat’, that’s painful if you did it first you wouldn’t be able to do the others. So I’ve been doing them for three days and I can see a definite improvement. I can actually feel it.

Oh other thing that happened this week not related to my injury, my daughter brought the family to visit grumpy gramps. We had a great time, by the time they had gone grumpy gramps was worn out gramps. Ah there they are….  Saturday walked over to the office, the cover had blown off the car so decided to see if she would start. Its a 4 year old 7 series BMW so it should even though she not turned a wheel in three and a half months. She started, a bit lumpy, but what you expect after that amount of time. It was amazing there was any whack left in the battery at all, I had a little maneuver around the car park; all was ok. Sat in her for an hour watching TV got out not too stiff. I think things are looking up. So that was week 15, were in week 16 so I am expecting good things in the week to come.

Week 14 and all still going well.

This week has been a good week, I can now get out and do all my shopping; that's to say what I can get in my backpack. So its lots of trips to M&S. I can walk virtually anywhere, but at tortoise pace. Been to physio twice this week, hopefully should come down once a week soon. My range of movement is improving 110 degrees in my right and 100 in my left it's catching up. Went to the office on Saturday to pick up my backpack, while I was there tried sitting in the car. Can get in ok, driving position ok, batteries nearly flat so need to sort that. Monday my OAP chair and Commode went of to charity, gave them to the red cross, hey they couldn't help me, but I don’t hold a grudge.

It's been a fairly quite week, been doing some online research for the office, trying to get a story finished for my other blog.

Got in to see my surgeon on Friday, he has given me the green light to start the physical work, which is great news. So at 14 to 15 weeks I think I am doing well. Went to the Captains Club to celebrate, it was a fine sunny afternoon. Also got a new Fit Note, apparently I can go back to work, but not to do what I'm employed to do? So that's a bugger.

Dampened a bit by an email I got from my prospective solicitor. Remember last post I said I had sent them all that they had asked for in the form of a 50 page booklet. I said in the last post bet it would not be good enough, and I was right. The email asked if I could mark the spot where I fell with an X. See picture, apparently, what I put was that not good enough, its hard to tell yourself 'I told you so.' They went on to say could I remember the size of the defect in the pathway? Note to self, remember at all times to carry a tape measure, so when you're writhing around in pain you're able to measure the fucker that's tripped you up.

Week finished on a positive note, had a great lunch Saturday at Westbeach, free wine again! Nice to be popular. And managed to get onto my cross trainer, so physical work can start in earnest. Its not me in the picture but it is my Cross Trainer, anyone got her number? Till next time.......