RATHER QUIET DAYS

23rd and 24th June 2010

I realised today that I forgot to mention the Wests Tigers fantastic win over the Raiders on the weekend, that is twice they have beaten them this year. I so vividly remember the wonderful day that I had watching them win in their first clash, what an exciting day that was and of course the highlight was meeting the wonderful Benji Marshall, I have my picture frame with the photographs of that day that Mark the camera man gave me hanging ever so proudly over my bed.

Although I have still experienced dreadful pain I have taken on a new totally positive attitude and have set myself a new goal for the next few months and that is to strengthen my upper body so that I can compete in the shotput, javelin and discus at my sports carnival at school on 10th September, I am going to talk to Rhiannon, my terrific physiotherapist and see if she can help me achieve this new goal.

When Nana and Pop left on Tuesday night after dinner, which by the way they absolutely loved my Mars Bar Slice and have since said they wished they could have taken some back with them, well when they left I started to cry, if I could have run, I think I would have run after their car so I could give them another hug. It was a special time having them here with us and I gain strength from having them near me.

Jarrett had physiotherapy to find out exactly what damage he had done when he was racing and he was quite relieved to discover that he has a Grade One Quadriceps strain, he did the right thing by slowing down in the race and it meant that he did not make the injury worse, the injury will take approximately two weeks to recover, he has already started on exercises to help it. He hates not being able to run, it is so frustrating for him because he is so dedicated to it and enjoys it so much. He said he knows how I feel and he is only off for two weeks!

After Jarrett had physiotherapy we went home and I wrote letters and answered emails which I had fallen behind with because of the pain and difficulties I had with my hand, not being able to use it. I spoke to Briana on the telephone, she was so courageous about her surgery and is doing well. Then Nalani had physiotherapy, wow, I think we virtually live at physiotherapy, she has been given the all clear to begin running again which she is pleased about, she is able to compete in the ACT Club Cross Country Championship in two weeks however she will not be at full fitness.

The rest of the day I spent resting, playing Upwords and helping Mum with change of address notifications. Nalani went to school to see what her rankings were for her exams and she was so surprised to find she was top girl of the class in PE and fourth top in Human Movement, she was also in the top fifteen in Maths and did extremely well in English and Psychology. I am so proud of her because it is difficult for siblings of people who have cancer to cope with things too, she is inspirational to me.

Our new oven arrived and was installed today, how exciting, I will now be able to continue with my cooking, I have missed doing it, I think the first thing I will make is some shortbread, I know Jarrett loves it and it will hopefully cheer him up following his injury.

Last night I had a sore throat and the sniffles when I went to bed and it took me ages to fall to sleep between that and the pain that was shooting through my body. However this morning I woke and I felt much better than I had in days, the pain was still there but it was no where near as horrific as it had been. I was amazed and began to think that maybe today was a turning point, a step forward and hopefully I will have some more good days to follow.

When you are in less pain it feels like you are light and full of life so I rode the exercise bike with a new enthusiasm today. I rode for eighteen minutes and twenty seconds and did four kilometres, I felt really proud of my effort today. Next I played Upwords, then Disney Think Fast, watched The Frog Princess again and typed up the footy tips for this week. It was like a new door had been opened today and I was walking through it with my head held high, smiling like a Cheshire Cat.

The School called to say that the sibling of a person in my Grade has chicken pox, so it was decided that I will not go to school tomorrow, just in case there is a chance I come in contact with it. We also had our meeting with the Head of Middle School Curriculum today and we discussed next Term. Not having my hearing aid tomorrow so I can get used to it is a drawback as now not getting it until 30th July means I will have to get used to it whilst at school. I am going to do a Monday afternoon to do double English every second week and a Thursday afternoon to do PE and Integrated Studies every second week. I am hoping that I will be able to cope with this and if I can then we can extend some other days perhaps later on in the Term. At school they sold fifty four of my books so that is more money we have raised for Brain Tumour Research.

My peripheral neuropathy is still causing problems but I guess as each day goes by it is just something that I have to adjust to and learn to live with and I know that as part of it I will have good days and bad days and it is important for me to really make the most of the good ones.

'I believe that everyone is a special star that shines, but how brightly we shine depends on how beautiful we are on the inside'