I suppose in order for you to see where my life is going it would be a good idea if I told you how far I have come over the years to get to where I am today. Just getting out of hospital was a challenge… mum said when I came round from my “COMA” it was like “the lights were on but no one was home”. It was only when mum said to me: “I bet you can’t touch your nose” and I did, and then mum made it harder. “Can you touch your eyebrow, can you touch your teeth.” The nurses came in to watch. My road to recovery was just beginning!
In the process of learning to talk, my Auntie Hazel held a balloon against my face and mouthed bbbbb,mmmmm to try and get me to speak, eventually it worked! I said my first word but I can’t remember what it was … LOL. But the hard work wasn’t over yet: I still had to learn to walk- that meant Physiotherapy with Reggine and Anna. I had to relearn how to hold my head up, then sit up, eventually it progressed to walking – through the metal bars – up and down, up and down. Wearing an AFO (ankle foot orthoses) on my leg daily – my dad had to fight my leg to get it in – i had to push down, it was stiff and tight due to the damage in my brain. The only way you knew it was down properly was if you saw the sock underneath. It was“A total nightmare.”
The Saeboflex arm splint was also horrid, I had to pick up yellow squishy balls – like a robot arm LOL. I remember chocolate waterfalls to make my arm relax. I also remember Guy’s Hospital in London for Botox injections to loosen my arm, and the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London for surgery on my left arm as i did not like it being crooked /bent/tight, that’s also where I met 3 famous celebrities, Matt Baker, Nadia and Brian Blessed on children’s City Hospital! After the surgery it still remained tight. Finally I had the full arm Second Skin which although was tricky at first to get on worked ok! I still wear one today just on my wrist to make me feel better about myself.
Michaela did my Occupational Therapy which helped to remember my left side – I was on a two year waiting list for OT until mum wrote to Tony Blair – Prime Minister at the time. Shortly after, Downing Street rung the Conquest and OT was made available! Speech Therapy with Sarah Norman as I could not stop interrupting LOL and also to help with my pronunciation . With all this therapy I still had to go back to school………
