December 23rd 2014

Well the last three weeks have been extremely busy for Gerard. The electrodes were fitted to his diaphragm and it has been a case of building up the strength in the muscle, so it has been quite tiring. The team are thrilled with how he is progressing, starting with 3 X 15 minute sessions, then going to 6 X half an hour within a week. Last week he was up to an hour session 4 – 5 times a day and yesterday was promoted to 3 x 2 hour sessions. It makes it easier to transfer Gerard in and out of bed and get out onto the balcony as there it less stuff/cords/tubes/vents that need to go with him. They even went up to level 7 to check out the Polar express Christmas decorations in one of the wards up there. There has been a passing parade of specialists and interested parties from everywhere (even one from France) as Gerard is only the 11th person in Australia to have diaphragmatic pacing fitted and we understand that he is the only one with this and a pacemaker. So all of the nurses and team are interested in watching him breathe! At this point he is able to drink with the pacer on and is learning to speak with it. It is a different mechanism to breathing with the tracheostomy and vent and he can only try this out when the tracheostomy team are available, so it is taking a while. (a bit frustrating as it will be great to head out for a coffee) They haven’t tried him eating with the pacer yet. I guess that will happen after Christmas when the staff return from their break. Gerard’s room has been decked out for Christmas, complete with tree with flashing lights and Christmas Carols on the IPod. So far we haven’t caused any power outages! Max and I plan to head in to spend Christmas day with him and will take in lunch, presents and some special goodies. Another different Christmas for us! At least we will be all together with Zac joining us via Skype in the afternoon. At this stage it seems that Gerard will stay at the Austin until mid January when they have built him up to at least two hours at a time on the pacer. He is happy (ish!) to stay where he is until it is all sorted out. Thank you to everyone who has visited. We all really appreciate your time. The Doodle Calendar has been redone to take us through to the end of January if needed. http://doodle.com/gfwicwp7k6aweg4m Gerard is still heading out for scans, tests, etc so if we know that you are coming we can let you know if he won’t be there J We also just wanted to take the time to say THANK YOU again for all of your support which has come to us in so many ways. Merry Christmas to you and your family and best wishes for a Happy New Year and a relaxing break. Love Sue, Gerard, Max and Zax xxxx