Buttercup Blog

The Dr said he should not be doing Physio as the back / spine is still
in shock and needs to recover from the trauma for at least six weeks.

The Dr wants him to come back for X Rays in three weeks time.

What I find strange is that one set of Drs say one thing and the
others say something completely different. I guess we are given Wisdom
to know what sounds correct. At this stage this sounds correct so we
will rather support that he rests. As much as possible.

The theory is also that his metabolism is so high and he will not pick
up weight because his body is taking all the goodness for the
traumatized area.

So he is still 65 Kg and we hope that he will increase a little bit
soon to show his body has relaxed and that he is on the road to
recovery.

Resting his back after the long journey.

The flight and service was absolutely fantastic.

This morning we got up at 5:00. Had a shower and packed the cases in
the car. Gave hugs to Mom and Dad and left close to 6:00.

It was a bit late but I thought we were fine and hoping they would be
lenient to us at the airport. We were supposed to be at the airport at
six fifteen so it did not leave us much time.

Just as we were driving into Bellville, I felt my phone buzz in my
pocket. I thought it must be that we had left something important
behind, and it was.

A quick U turn, a massive chase and panicked pick up with a zoom off,
jumped a red light etc.

At the airport I was not sure where to go but spotted a porter with a
wheel chair. I'm sure it was not meant for us but I stopped the car
and called him over. Felt like a cheat but oh well! Then I managed to
call another porter to help with the cases and asked them to take
Joshua to the BA booking in while I gave the car back to Avis.

I forgot that Joshua had the bag with all the passports and flight
details with him so had to talk nicely to convince the lady at the
entrance to let me through.

We booked in fine and a lady took us to the Business Class lounge
where Joshua had an Earl Grey tea and croissant.

I had a shower and a cup of Rooibos and rusk.

Five minutes later they took us through all the security and passport
checks jumping us straight to the front which was great.

Then loaded all the wheelchairs into a special lifting truck and took
us to our seats.

Now we are just waiting for clearance for take off.

I am still so thankfull for the quick action and great help of
Christiaan and Robert Rabie, Gideon and all the other friends for
keeping their wits about them. If it was not for their wisdom and
care, we might have been in a completely different situation right now.

Thanks too for both Robert and Erica for their motivation and love for
Joshua and I am sure he will want to be back. I hope you guys continue
to be a blessing and that God gives you a great harvest, in more ways
than one!

So I boiled some water so we can have a good cup of Rooibos tea.

He then went to rest before lunch.

Writing in his diary now and then.

We went to bed quite early last night. Before lights out I hunted down
a few mesquitos in Joshua's room before turning the lights out.

What a funny old phrase, probably used in the days of oil lamps or gas
lights.

He might just go onto one tablet of ibuprofin with meals from now on.

If you buy me a coffee I will tell you the story about the sign.

It will take a while to heal up properly, especially if he has a bone
density problem.

Today is really hot again.

It feels like I am constantly looking for the keys and locking or
unlocking doors or gates.

Yes, your eyes are not decieving you. It is 35 degrees!

Joshua is sleeping. Best thing to do in this heat if you are not
mobile and not able to climb into the fridge or jump into the pool.

He was recommended this book by General Robert H. Rabie of the famous
Hex River Valley Commandos in De Doorns.

I have read the preface and the introduction and I can't wait for
Joshua to finish it.

He is already on chapter fifteen page 121 of 253 pages.

Today he weighs 65 kg. This is after all the blockages. We now have to
work on building him up a bit.

He is such a bean pole as it is!

I took him off the Synap Forte painkillers as it has a little morphine
type of drug in the mix and one of the side effects is constipation.

Definately not what we need right now!

So he is now only on Ibuprofen taken three times a day after meals.

This morning the Ibuprofen has worn off and his back is also stiff
from the night.

He has now had fruit for breakfast, his ibuprofen and is now lying
down waiting for the pain killers to kick in before I can help him to
have a shower.

Elizaan, the physiotherapist, is coming again at 11:00 this morning.

In fact, he is still sleeping and it is just gone past 8:00.

The Physio is coming today again at 12:00.

I gave them our UK address and only noticed the language on the
radiographers report when I got home.

Thank you Dr Van Vuuren but I don't think BUPA understand Afrikaans!

So I called the practice and asked then to please send me a translation.

He has taken six Movicon today with no action so he has to stay on
fluids only.

From: Sheyne <>
Date: 18 February 2008 08:00:15 GMT
To: Sean Rogers <>
Cc: Sarah Bauermeister <>
Subject: Questions re Joshua

Sean

I did not realize that you're on leave today. Sorry for interrupting your day off.

We seem to be flopping the telephone thing.

I only have a few questions:

1 Do you think boy will be fit to fly this Sunday?

2 Will you be able to provide a letter stating this or when you think he may be ready and what conditions or type of seating arrangement he requires for his six foot two frame. We will then send this to BUPA to arrange his repatriation.

3 Will you be able to complete the airline forms if they require any?

Kind Regards

Sheyne

From: Sheyne ;
Date: 15 February 2008 12:24:20 GMT
To: Dr Robert Dunn

Subject: Fit to fly question

Dear Dr Dunn

Thanks for all your help and for operating on Joshua.

BUPA need an acessment of whether Joshua is fit to fly.

I understand that you can state that average recovery for this type of operation is between two to six weeks.

I also understand that the airlines require the completion of a form and could ask their own doctor to provide the green light.

Based on your experience with the airline companies, do you know whether they will accept the fitness to fly assesment from the Physiotherapist?

At the moment, we can get a business class seat with Virgin next Friday. However, not knowing how the airlines operate, the risk is that when they see Joshua in a brace, they could refuse to take him. Hopefully this is my own fear and not based on reality.

The more serious risk is that he flies before he is strong enough and potentially causes more harm.

Dr Wayne May has confirmed below norm bone density and is waiting for further analysis ie Deoksipiridinolien to be completed at Pretoria labs.

To those copied, Dr Sean Rodgers and Trish Gilmour, please feel free to jump in and comment.

Any response based on past experience would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Sheyne

The session with the Physiotherapist was great. She even had him doing
things on all fours like rocking backwards and forwards.

Elizaan, the physiotherapist will come each day this week. Hopefully
BUPA will pay.

He has been walking around since then and getting up so much tires his
back out.

The Movicol is not working yet.

He woke me up at 5:30 this morning and I gave him a sachet of Movicol
and some pain killers.

He finds that he can only lie on his side in this really odd position.
This only stays comfortable for up to about ten minutes before he then
tries to lie flat on his back.

I think that he needs a pesary but I am not sure how to get him one
here at home.

I have to go to Durbanville Medi Clinic this morning to pay for the
bills of yesterdays x rays etc so might ask the Dr if I bump into him.

Reading art books in the lounge.

Poor boy has been up and in pain most of the night.

I might just go in tomorrow and do some rowing. Ouch!

We've been waiting all afternoon for a visit from Robert & Erika. Just
spoke to Robert and they should be here in about an hour and a half
only.

I so wanted to go to Blouberg to walk in the water and take some
photos. Maybe it is too windy anyway.

So instead, I am at home with Joshua sleeping, Mom doing Soduko and
Dad at his club watching Rugby and me watching the mirror and looking
for things to take photos of.