19th February 2015

Hi Everyone, We hope that you are all well and settled back into the school routine. We don’t have too much to report this time. Gerard has had all of his ‘settings” tweaked on both his ventilator and diaphragmatic pacer and all seems to be going well so far. He will remain at the Austin for a few more weeks- no estimated date of leaving at this stage. He is now in Bed 12 on 3 North. He has an awesome “sip and puff’ wheelchair on trial that he can drive himself- big puff goes forward, small puff turns right and then the sips make it go backwards and turn left. He got it last Friday and is doing a great job on his driving, so much so that the physio took him out the front door and up the street this afternoon! He is like a kid with a new toy and loves it. Hopefully we can keep it. Gerard celebrates his 65th birthday on Sunday and a few people have asked me for his email address to wish him all the best. His address is todaysschoolsmelbourne@gmail.com He’d love to hear from you if you have a chance- any news about what you have been doing would be great. We have booked day leave for Saturday so we will be heading out for lunch a day early, thanks to basketball at midday on Sunday. Then we’ll pop in for dinner on Sunday to celebrate on the day in the ward.

So it’s just more rehab- OT is organising more trials of things like computers and software. They have been out to our house to make suggestions on how to make it accessible for Gerard (A new front door is in order as he won’t fit through the current one!) The physio is working with him on chair “accessories” and driving skills…. So the days are pretty quiet. Lots of time to listen to podcasts. I’m off to the Luther Year 12 meeting tonight while Max and Zac do a bit of exercise and a bit of study J Look forward to seeing you soon Sue, Gerard, Max and Zac