IST WEEK OF THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

14th to 20th April 2012

School holidays are always a time to rejuvenate, discover, laugh and give your brain a break from working so hard.  I have spent time resting, visiting friends, reading, playing games and enjoying some time outdoors in the glorious Autumn weather. 

I had physiotherapy this week and it was such a relief for me as my spine had been rather painful.  Kaitlyn discovered that my lower spine has twisted slightly to the left while up the top part was to twisted to the right whilst up in my neck was to the left.  She was able to release it which provided me with some relief from the pain.  I have a new exciting exercise to do and that is sitting in a chair and having someone throw a ball to me, alternating throwing it to the left and then to the right, this is a balancing exercise.  I do my physiotherapy exercises every day, it is important to do them as they assist me to stay strong. 

An exciting event from this week was the arrival of an electric wheelchair, it is to allow me some independence and also it provides more support for my back than what the manual one I have does.  Tom, my Occupational Therapist came and showed me how to operate it, he even brought me an 'L' plate to begin with, but I was not on that for very long, I quickly progressed to my 'P' plate.  The wheelchair is operated with a joy stick, similar to one you find on a game controller, then there is also a speed button, it goes from very slow to faster.  Jarrett and Nalani also got to have a go on it so that they could experience how it all worked and how to operate it, in case I ever need any assistance. 

My Occupational Therapist is an extremely inspiring person, he ran in the Canberra Marathon, he told me that at the 36km point he did not think he could continue but he thought of me and that gave him the determination to continue and finish.  I was so excited for him, running such a long distance would take its toll on a person and would take such courage and determination.  I think competing in a Marathon is very much like battling cancer, it can be so difficul, yet getting to the end of the race would be so rewarding. Just like beating cancer would be like crossing that finish line after going such a long distance.  So you can imagine that I was so honoured, humbled and quite emotional when he wanted me to have his medal, I will treausre it and whenever I look at it I will be inspired and determined.

Finally my Wests Tigers won a game and they won so convincingly, beating the Panthers 30-0, I was so thrilled and hope that they will now be on a winning streak and forge their way back up the ladder just as they did in 2005. 

It was our oldest cat Paris Birthday on 20th April, she turned 13, the vet told us that she is now a geriatric cat , as with people, old age brings a number of changes for older cats.  Old cats are often less active and their muscle tone tends to reduce, frequentlyy older cats suffer from a poor appetite as their senses of taste and smell often deteriorate, they have reduced vision and hearing, they often have an increased water requirement due to reduced kidney function, but reduced mobility and reduced appetite may result in reduced water intake, putting them at risk of dehydration,  with increasing age their immune system can become less efficient, leading to increased susceptibility to infection, they tend to sleep less heavily but more frequently and  they often have poor coats. Paris is keeping well at present and just lately she has started sleeping on my bed all the time. 

On Saturday Jarrett is racing in the Anzac Day Relays at Stromlo, it is supposed to be a lovely day and it will be terrific to watch him race. The race is not on the grass course it is on the bicycle criterion course, so it will be run extremely fast.  Last year the team that Jarrett was in won the relays, so he is hoping they can do it again.

I hope that the second week of the holidays will not go too quickly, we are planning to go up Telstra Tower to look at the spectacular view of Canberra so hopefully the weather will stay perfect for that adventure. 

Thanking everyone for their encouraging comments I appreciate them all.  With my school work load I have not had much time to work on fund raising for the Brain Tumour Fund but I am hoping that I will be able to work on a project over the next few months so that I can continue to contribute towards helping towards research to help find a cure for this destructive cancer.