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Influenza paralyzes midwife

  • My visit home

      13 February 2017

    I have been home over the weekend ( Friday and Saturday nights) which was very pleasant.

    All the plums and white peaches are ripe on the trees. I pottered around in my electric wheelchair inspecting the garden, but find it very frustrating to be unable to lean down to pull out any weeds.

    My poor husband was kept very busy looking after me, and even made sangria out of the white peaches!

    I have had to extend my time frame for coming home permanently as it takes time to organise everything, and there is a huge amount to organise. I have a hospital bed at home already, but need caregivers for at home, therapy sessions at St John of God, and more equipment at home. I am hoping to get my own therapy/exercise equipment and of course we still need our own van for transport.

    Christian has bought me an electric Lazy Boy off Trade Me - it is very clever and can stand me up!

    One of the things that I am trying to master is to transfer from a bed to a chair with the help of my therapist or a machine called a Sara steady. Once I am at home this would mean that I could get into a toilet chair or my wheelchair with the help of just one caregiver.

    This update comes to you a day early as my editor/daughter/secretary Stephanie is on holiday in Fiji!

    Have you seen all the monarch butterflies around?

    Keep smelling the roses!

    Regards,

    Chris and temporary secretary sister.

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  • Graduated Discharge

      7 February 2017

    Hello Everybody,

    This week has been about planning my graduated discharge... It means I will start transitioning home. The goal is to be at home, full time within 8 weeks. I've been talking with my charge nurse and occupational therapist and they are going to get me some transfer aids and things like that. I'm feeling as though it's the right time for me to go from SJOG. I've been here for a year now and I'm looking forward to spending more time at home and especially with Christian.

    Leaving St John Of God will be bitter sweet. It's a beautiful place and during my time here I've made some good friends and the staff have been so kind. They have looked after me through the ups and downs of my health journey. There have been times when I didn't want to leave my room or get out of bed and the staff have got me up through the tears and helped me to progress. I've worked hard to get stronger and survived 16 months of disability, depression and rehab.

    If there's one price of advice that I could give my past self, it would be to listen to my body more. I knew I was burnt out but I kept pushing on and working hard, then all of a sudden I get a nasty illness and am one for the unlucky 1 of 100,000 people to get paralysis from Influenza... It just happened to be me and I think it hit me so hard because I was run down and burnt out.

    If you think you are working too hard, my advice would be to stop, to rest and sleep well, eat fresh home cooking, do something creative and learnt how to say 'no thank you' or 'that's not possible right now'. Make time for yourself and for your loved ones.

    Here's hoping to see a few of you round for a cup of tea and a chat! It wont be straight away but I'm working on it!

    Don't forget to smell the roses,

    Chris

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  • Sad, Happy and Proud

      31 January 2017

    I was very fond of Benny,

    He had real character, he would go for rides on the hospital trolleys and would walk through my room and take shortcuts out my sliding door. Benny didn't walk around people's rooms to the automatic doors, he walked through the rooms. He was a social cat, he made his visits each day and shared his affection and love of people, he would purr and jump up on the bed, everybody loved Benny.

    At 16 years old Benny got cancer of the nose. He was euthanized at the vet on Wednesday last week. We tried to stop it and sign a petition but they said we could get another cat so we didn't...

    Benny had a lovely funeral and we flew the New Zealand flag at half mast.

    Oh a brighter note, my daughter Natasha and her bearded boyfriend came home from Italy! I hadn't seen her for 8 months and it's wonderful to have them home for 6 weeks before they return to Italy.

    I am currently working on standing with a frame during my physio sessions and am slowly getting better at that!

    Keep smelling the roses,

    Chris

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  • I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden.

      24 January 2017
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    Hi Everybody,

    Today was a busy day, St John of God took a selected few residents to see The Buskers and then have a stroll in the botanical gardens :)

    I love fragrant flowers, it's one of my passions! I trained as an aromatherapist a dew years ago and was able to incorporate that with my Midwifery. The weather was a beautiful 24 degrees and it was really great to get away from the hospital and into the botanical gardens.

    This week I've been looking at vehicles and have found a possible winner!!! it's a Toyota Raum. It has sliding side doors in the back and a separate passengers seat that swings out for me to sit on and then retracts back into the car. The boot is nice and spacious enough to fit my wheelchair...and a picnic basket... and a few bevvys! I'm trying not to get too excited to soon but find myself imagining how nice it would be and planning picnics ;) Everybody's generous donations have really meant a lot to me <3

    I hope the rest of NZ is getting beautiful weather and that summer is here to stay!

    Keep smelling the roses,

    Chris and Typewriter Stephanie.

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  • Summer has arrived!

      17 January 2017
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    Hello everybody,

    thanks for reading and to those who donated and shared.

    Much appreciated :)

    This week, among other things my sister Nicky and I went to Mona Vale. The gardens there were beautiful and the scones were to die for, especially when you have jam and cream on top. I can recommend that you go there, they have a very nice restaurant as well.

    I've started back with hydrotherapy at Rolleston pool, which is physiotherapy in very warm water and when you don't have gravity you can kick and splash and move and take steps! it's amazing.

    Stephanie my favorite daughter and her partner Andrew took me to my son Remy's place for a lovely roast lunch and I saw my daughter in law Romy and my grandchildren Celine and Dom. Dominic has put on so much weight that I can't hold him anymore, my arms are still not as strong as they used to be.

    I was expecting to be home for summer, however late last year we had a family meeting and it was decided that it would be the best thing for me to do some more intensive physio here at St John Of God. I feel alright about it because if I don't and I go home, I could slip backwards with my physical abilitys... it's scary not knowing what your future will be. Nobody really knows what their future will be but I know I won't be the same as before I got sick. I would just love to be able to drive a car, go on holidays without having to be disabled or disability friendly. I want to be able to walk and run and swim and dance. I would love to be able to even just go to the toilet independently.

    Anyway we won't think about all that right now! And I will keep working on getting strong.

    Long may the sun shine! I was out reading my book outside a few moments a go and ate 3 strawberrys from the resident strawberry patch that I have carefully been looking after these last couple of months.

    Keep smelling the roses,

    Chris and her Minion (Stephanie)

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    • 17/01/2017 by Susan

      You are looking good Chris I would like to visit if I can. The kids are good

  • Happy New Year

      10 January 2017

    I hope everybody had a nice break and that you all had some lovely family time!

    I'm a bit black and blue... I went home for a few days and I managed to fall out of my bed, and have developed some interesting bruises on my arms and back... My husband Christian was sick so he slept in the upstairs room and I was in the downstairs bedroom. All was well until I needed to pee! So I rang my husband who had is his phone on silent... so I tried the land line... no answer...so I rang the hand bell...And still NOTHING. I made a plan to get the catheter bag (my wee wee collection device) - I would simply lean over and get it off the shelf, but that was not to be! Once I had lent over I realized I had leaned too far and there was no going back... I held on for awhile trying to problem solve but it was the middle of the night and I knew my arm could only hold on for so long. Down I went! Then I found I could reach the catheter bag much better from the floor anyway...

    A while later I heard Christian coughing so I rang the hand bell like crazy and he came running down the stairs to save me! But he couldn't save me because you need two people to lift me back into bed, so he gave me a pillow and a blanket and I pretended I was a backpacker traveling Europe and embraced my fate on the floor!

    In the morning my son Remy came over and between them they got me up on the bed.

    I returned to St John of God earlier than originally planned and rested up. I was able to have a lovely dinner out on Sunday night with friends and family.

    This week I will be focusing on trying to stand in the hoist.

    Please hit the share button please peeps and spread the word that I will be updating you all on my journey every Tuesday, starting now!

    Keep smelling the roses,

    Chris and her editor/daughter/secretary aka Stephanie

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