Update as of the 14 th October 2012

Hi everyone,

Well since I last wrote, I have been learning more re using Facebook and I am slowly but surely starting to get to grips with how it works. Feel free to check it out as there are photos and videos, plus more about to be added this week, it is under my name, “Phil Thorn”just incase you had forgotten who I was.

What’s been happening in Philly’s world lately, I now have a small set of steps in my garage, sadly they lead no where!! My Dad very kindly made me these steps with even carpet on them so I will have to make sure when the hovering is done that they get done as well, as any buildup of dust, etc could hamper my efforts and I will everyphathiase effort again. At present I am only using the bottom step o work on and I am managing not to bad with my right leg in getting it up o, a little more difficulty with my left leg as my left side was affected by the Strokes, but after a good talking too and a good swing of my leg I can launch my left foot onto  that lovely carpeted bottom step. I am working on balance and posture as I do this as  it is all about posture as you nover know, the garage door could suddenly open and one heck of a hot chick called Ju could walk through and man, I want to look cook as when that hakpens. I have done a lot of step work at the GYM in the past and balance work but to now have my own set of steps, words escape me as to what that means!!! Thanks Dad you’re a legend and I so appreciate all that you and Mum have done and do do for me.

The You bike is another place I head to these d’s as I can cycle any time of the day or night, any weather and now that my riding partner has brought me a fan, I can now be cool as while cycling as well. I have clocked up close to 640v km’s now since I received it almost a month a go as I count to three hundred with the rotations of the pedals, I can click over 1 km, hint, hint. All this work is slowly helping to build up my hip and lower trunk areas, a new look Phil is on the way.

I have just started a course through the Arts Institue here in Taita Hutt City, this is one day a week on a Friday, “Sandstone sculptring”and I emphathise the sculpturing part, not carving”please don’t get me wrong, nothing against carving at all”. The course runs for seven weeks and I am working on creating a sculpture of Bilbo’s sword called the “Sting”from the Hobbitt movie.I have a replica sword that Wingnut productions have kindly leant to me, as the sword is quite thin in parts and sculpturing it out of Sandstone with areas being rather thin, will mean it will be rather brittle and much tears and wailing would be heard from Philly should this happen. I have worked with my tutor and other learned people like my wife and riding partner to up scale the size that I will sculpture to one and a quarter times the original size or for those with a mathematical brain, 1.75. Neil my riding partner is planning to take video footage of the sculpture in progvress and load this onto my Facebok page, so you can check it out from next weekend hopefuknowledgely. The plan is all going well, one it is completed and a stand created to mount it on, we will auction it off “sob sob”so as to raise funds for the Lake Taupo venture,”what is it about this Lake Taupo thing Phil, you seem driven by something”, it’s called a dream. So possibly later this year or early next year we will put it on Trade Me, “I am not everyeferring to myself in saying put it on Trade Me, I’d be lucky to get a dollar”, the sculpture and see what happens.

Well tomorrow we as a team are off to see the Avanti guy in Levin and to trial a low rider plus get some videee footage to load on Facebook for those of you that are interested.The one we will be trialing tomorrow is only propelled by arms, so I will have to somehow disengage my legs as they will be itching to get pumping, I tell you after lots of down time in a chair, one’s legs are busting like crazy to get a move on like the lady in the Special K ad on TB.

Have to go as I neeed my beauty sleep for tomorrow if I am to have video footage taken,I will need to make sure my hair is parted just right and those teeth are sparkling and clean, no mornieg breath please. Remember, if you are climbing any stairs in the near future, it’s all about posture and you just never know who might walk past and go WOW, that is one cool asdude or dudette, just a few wise words from philly before he heads tobed.every

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

'To achieve great things you not only need to act but also dream,

you not only need to plan but also believe'

 

Update as f the th October 2012

Hi everyone,

Apologies to those that have endeavoured o connect with me via Facebook, I am slowly getting there, having a little diffivvulty as my eyes seem to be failing me these days, yeah right Phil, who you trying to kidd, myself as always. Anyway, I am getting there and plan to do a What’s on my mind entry tomorrow and friends have some video footage they are planning to load on to Facebcok as well this weekend.

The You bike www.youbike.co.nzis getting a real good workout pretty much every day, I have now put on just over 500 km’s since I recied it just under three weeks ago and it is certainly having a good impact, I have to make sure that I still have a good balance of exercises that I do as I find my lower back and upper legs have been getting extremely tight, it must be all the Scottish coming out in me, Jula used to cal me Colonel Ckink so that must be the problem.

Today in the GYM n the low rider bike, my Physio had it set to hill setting without my knowledge and I wondered why it was a little hard going, I had my arms on my legs helping themcalong a bit and I managed 6.0 miles in an hour which is ot to bad for me, I am keen to try the down hill setting sometime as I reckon I could almost triple that or more, my have a few problems navigating with my cane at that sort of speed. Poor person having to write an OSH policy for that, need a ring binder.

My good lady Ju has kindly enrolled me in a Sandstone sculpturing course starting next Friday the 12 th Oct at the Arts Institute in Taita where  will be working with a tutoe to create a sword, a replica of the sword that Gandolf used in the Bobbitt movie and we have been given a replica sword to help with my creative skells. The plan is to auction the completed sculpture possibly on Trade Me at the completion of it to help raise funds for the tandem bike and the planned ventures, so I keep you updated and my riding partner plans to take video footage from time to time as the sculpture comes to life and post it on Facebook.vc

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

'To achieve great things you not only need to act but also dream,

you not only need to plan but also believe'

 

Just pasted the 4 year maek, since I entered this crazy amazing world.

On Wedneday the 26 th September it was four years ago that I entered the world I now live in along with my family. It seems a world away from where I t today, I lay in a Coma on life support in Dunedin Hospital[s Intensive Care Unit this time four years ago with my life very much in the balances. Every hour my lungs had to be drained due to huge amounts of liquid building up on them,. I stayed in that Coma for three weeks and my family were advised to make preparations to say Farewell to me,due to so many people praying for me, the amazing grace of my Heavenly Father and the amazing efforts of the medical staff at Dunedin Hospitals ICY, I am here today and having made some awesome gains.

Following the Coma due to being stuck down by Meningitis, I was laft paralyzed from the waist down, also had differculty with my left arm at the time and the series of Strokes that I had while in the Coma left my left side of my body a lot weaker than my right side. Along with this I was also left deaf and bling clinically and confined to a wheelchair, although that took time to eventuale as I was confinded to a bed for quite sometime to start wit.  Communication was very challenging back thenusing a series of foam letters that people would hand me to make up words.To begin with I couldn’t even communicate myself as I had breathing tubes going directly into my throat as my mouth and throat were so badly swollen. If I needed to communicate with anyone at that point they would give me a pad and a pen and I wrote on it. From that they could see that I had good spelling and my brain although pretty rocked around by what it had been through was ok. I also had a jet engine in my head with Titinius that I lived with day and night until I iad the implant operation on the 26 September one year later in 2009 and then the Coclea attached and switched on in early November 2009 which helped reduce that noise. There is much that I could write about those  early days, many people to thank for such amazing kindness.Our world as a family was rocked to the core and turned upside down andshacken for all it was worth. I was not a pretty sight in those earlier days,, lost all the life in my facial muscles, had a scary as voice. The kids used to say I sounded like a troll. Enough said, today I celebrate the love and devotion of my amazing as family for hanging in there with me, believing against all odds and never letting go of that small glimmer of hope. In the book of Hebrews in the Bible it says; “Snd hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor to our souls, connecting us to God Himself behind the sacred curtains of heaven,”We have found that verse to be total truth and our God has slowly but surely helped restore the broken and shattered pieces of our lives. It has taken a lot of hard out work I might add as He has extended His grace more and more. I said to God right back in the early days not knowing at all what I or the family were in for, that I would give it my very best shot, work as hard as I could and if it took me out as a result, so be it. But God has a plan and a purpose in everything and as muvh as  I have struggled majorily at times, physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually, I can look back and see the amazing hand of an amazing God on my life and my families. You will have read many of the updates that I have done at times and have an idea of the gains that I have made in the past four years and will continue to make by Gods amazing grace.

I have known  what it is to have no strength at all, physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually at times, but when I am weak He makes me strong and His giory can be displayed the most.Faith in my Heavenly Father is a massive part of my journey and I would not be here today without Him that’s for sure. As a celebration of four years up, Julia and I shared a special lunch together, later in the day I walked at my set of parallel bars setup in our garage 125 time forwards and backwards which is the most I have done at anyone time at the bars, later in the evening I did an hour and a half on my You bike which I have just clocked up 330 km’s on in just under two weeks of having it dropped off.  Before I sign off, I always had a favourite song from the day I bowed my knee and accepted the Lord Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour, I never relised how massive an impact the words of that song would play out in my life, here they are;

“Jesusj, lover of my soul, Jesus I will never let you go, You’ve taken me from the mirey clay, set my feet upon a rock and now I know, I love you, I need you, Though my world may fall I’ll never let you go, My Saviour , my dearest friend, I will worship you until the very end.

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

'To achieve great things you not only need to act but also dream,

you not only need to plan but also believe'

 

Re Facebook, please bear with me.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

'To achieve great things you not only need to act but also dream,

you not only need to plan but also believe'

Hi everyone out there,

I’m assuming that you are still all out there as I haven’t seen or hear you for quite awhile, something strange has taken ahod of me and I find myself crooping around in the dark with noises I am trying to figure out. Get with reality man, what are you on this morning, seems that I have been sniffing to much clean fresh air with all the lovely weather we have had lately and my rancslider door often found wide open to embrace as muvh of it as I possibly can.

Anyway, just letting you all know that I have signed up with Facebook under my name and I have alredy received a number of notifications re people wishing to be my friend, so I am feeling very loved today. Please bear with me as I am learning the ropes and it will possibly a littlw while before I get to grips with how it all works. I plan to do an entry or What’s on my mind update possibly later today on Facebook and I have asked a friend, “found a few of them and had to pay them to be my friend, yeah right
 to help me with loading some photos on to my page, so hopefully very soon. I will also update you on both this Blog and Facebook re new technology I have been working with and hopefully will be up graded to prior to Christmas, plus lots of other suuff that is happening in my world and my families as well.

Thanks for thinking of me, praying for me and connecting with me. My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do, the mountains are His, the valleys are His, the whole world is under His smile, My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do, that’s true, for you. So you better believe it and continue trusting Him for whatever you are working through at present, never, never stop believing that He can do more than you can ask or even inmagine in your life and through you life if you will only hang in ther with Him.

You bike.

www.youbike.co.nz

Towards the end of 2008 as I lay on my bed in the rehab centre in Dunedin following being stuck down with Meningitis on the 26 September which left me both deaf and blind along with being paralyzed from the st down, I was trying to work out how I could get my legs moving again. As I tere, I came up with the idea of a bed bike, I said to myself,,, “my arms are still working erill, why can’t I use them to somehow propel my legi around”and so I dreamt up a ststem where by a hand bike was connected to feet pedals via a belt driven system.

I asked the Physio’s in the GYM at the rehab centre if there was anything like this around that I could possible get my hands on, they said there was nothting like that around. When my brother Clem came to visit me from Wellington, I told him about my idea and asked him if he could build me one, he went away and got a mate to build one in his garage and had it sent down in bits to reassembled when he next visited me several months later. It was a pretty mbasic setup and with the help of staff at the centre they managed to get me into it as my poor legs were so heavy and stiff and achy. Well I managed to get it working and for a short while it worked very well but I broke the Velcro straps holding my feet in place within a short time.

Well since that day till now, there have been a further three more bikes designed and built till the one we currently hve now. It has been refined by a number of engineers and had input form a number of people within the rehabilitation sector. The be now can be used in a wheelchair of on a bed, has adjustable height, a built in computer for read outs. My brother entered it into a competition here in Wellington caleed; “Grow Wellington”and this was for home made inventions, there were 1500 entries and the You bike made it into the top 50 inventions. It was originally nick named; “The Phil bike”.

In a few weeks time it is to be showcased to the world at an expo for rehabilitation in Germany, from there it makes it’s way to the USiK to be showcased to a large GYM franchise and from there to LA to be shown to another franchise. It is an incredible story suuounding the whole design and development and my brother Clem deserves a lot of credit for believing firstly in the idea and taking it to where it now sits. I believe the idea came from my Heavinly Father as there is nothing around like it at all. There is something a little similar, but requires two people to set it up and weights 52 kg’s. Check out the websie I have put on this blog and make your own mind up about it.I cant wait to hear some of the stories that will come as a result of people using it and the impact it will have on their bodies. Not only will it be a great tool for people in wheelchairs and the likes, but also for sports people recoverying from injuries and even for general exercise as it really give you a great all body workout.

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

'To achieve great things you not only need to act but also dream,

you not only need to plan but also believe'

 

My dream of riding the Great Lake circuit.

Just recently, we came to know one of our beighbours who has moved here recently from Nelson with his wife so as to be nearer their daughters. One of his daughters pasted onto him a copy of the article that was done on us as a family re the Open Day for our new home. He also Googled my name along with Hutt City and read up about my story, all of this rrally impacted him and as a result he has connected with us and is now a major supporter to me. He even came across with character references for himself and references that we could contact should we so desire which is totally out standing of him.

He found out about a dream that I have always had tucked away in the back of my mind for sometime in the future and he too has always wanted to do the same thing, that is to enter the cycle ride around the great lake. Lake Taupo in the centre of the north island of New Zealand held each year in November, the ride is 160 km’s and we are planning on entering next years fide using a low rider tandem bike. My new riding partner Neil, now comes to the GYM almost every day of the week to workout with me and also to assist me as and when needed.

Several weeks ago we cisited the Avanti guy in Levin who deigns and builds these low riders for disabled people, they are amazing bikes to say the least. The ones that he designs and builds sit about 100 mm abve the ground, are 700 mm wide and are 3.5 metres long with #ea7 speeds and are designed for the person at the front to steer and pedal with their feet and the person in the rear to pedal with their hands. He also designs them with an electric motor if so desired, so if you run out of steam, you can flick the motor on and be propelled along, I said we won’t need that but we could use the motor to power a small fridge for a few cold drinks along the way. I have always been keen to do the ride using both my arms and legs, the Avanti guy had never designed a bke to allow one to ride like this but is keen on the challenge and says it can be done.

We are now in the process of endeavouring to fundraise for this bike as you  realize they ar,’t the chepest, but so worth it as he is going to design this one so as our kids can also use it and ride with me and it will also be able to be used on a beach with extra wheels that can be fitted.

Ther is now a dream team as I have nicknamed them setup to make this dream a reality and to fundraise, one event already planned is a movie fundraiser in December for the feature presentation of The Hobbitt that Peter Jackson and his team have been working on the past two or so years, there will be spot prizes at this event. A DVD of the journey that I am on will be shown, plus a speech from myself as well. I will post details re the event on my Blog very soon should you be interested in purchasing tickets to this. My riding partner is also taking footage of morkout that I am doing in the GYM and once the bike arrives hopefully around Christmas time, footage of us training together on it using the river trails.

Due to my hearing re conversation still needing more gains, we will be working on an idea of seting up a touch pad on the steering bars at the front and I will have pads attached to certain areas of my body that a pulse can be sent to indicating the need for braking, free wheeling, etc. The plan is to create a film with all the footage taken prior to the ride and the ride itself and the final 100 metres of the ride as I over take Neil on the homeward straight and hopefully put together a motivational film.

Very soon a page is too be setup on Facebook to cover the journey from here on in with the design and build of the bike, training, fundraising, etc, so I will post details on my Blog as soon as we have this in place.

This ride is a way for me to return and give glory to my amazing Heavenly Father for all that He has and continues to do for me and my family.

The following year being 2014, I am planning a bigger ride, this will be from Cape Reinga in the north, to Bluff in the south, I plan to raise up a team of support riders who will partner with me for certain legs of the journey as I make my way south. I have already had people say they are keen as to be a rider and sone of you maybe keen as well so let me know a little closer to the time.

I plan to do this ride as a way of bringing more awareness to Meningitis and its affects and also to fundraise for research and development of potential cures for the desease. I would like to end up in Dunedin at the ISIS rehabilitation centre where it pretty much all started from.

You maybe keen as well of know people who would be keen to assist along the journey with accommodation for the riding team and suppoet crew travvelling along with me, so again please let me know. I will be posting details on my Blog of the contact person for all the arrangements re this planned venture, so keep an eye out.

The You bike that I now have setup in my studio is going to play a huge role in my training se,sions for these rides and helping to build my trunk and hip muscles up. In my next Blog I will broing you up to speed with the You bike and details of where you can check it out further should you so desire.,

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

'To achieve great things you not only need to act but also dream,

you not only need to plan but also believe'

 

Update as of September 2012

Been a little while since I sent an update, apologies for that as life seems to get busier and busier.

I am continuing to make good as gains with my body as I press on with my rehab programme and continue to believe good things are instore for the future for the family and me. We are now well and truly settled into our lovely new home after moving in at the beginning of June. You will see some updated photos of the house since moving in on my Blog. The freedom that comes with this amazing home, is truly awesome, I am free to move about as I wish in and around the house and the family are free to come and go as they need to as well with the aid of a call button that I wear on a chain should I need help or in an emergency it connects with the duty manager at Laura Fergusson Community. I now also have a cane to assist me with navigating my way around the home and I have also learnt the route from home to the GYM at Laura Fergusson which I attend most days and I navigate my way there on my own using my cane. It is around 100 metres across to the GYM from our place, up quite a rise and along the board walk following the garden. I have also learnt how to navigate my way across to the new Abilities Hub Complex using my cane and in the process of learning more routes as well, so one day I can escape.

In the GYM I now am walking at point eight of a kmph on the treadmill on the rise and fall mode and did forty minutes straight  the other day. It was just over a year ago that I started using the treadmill and managed five minutes on flat mode at point four of a kmph and had to stop at least three of four times in that five minutes for a rest, so some big ground has been made. I do an extensive amount of work around balance these days at the parallel bars on the wobbly board, steps, Swiss ball, mat work, etc. I also put in hours and hours every week at home as well, getting up most mornings around six am or earlier to do a workout prior to breakie, becaue I heard that the early bird catches the worms and I am keen as to catch any worms I can. I now have my own You bike in my studio”I will go into detail in my next blog abou the You bike”and I have been doing two or more hours a day on it, this past week I have pedaled just over 200 km’s on it using my arms and legs. It is my p;an to start venturing out again very soon using my walker as people are avvvailable to walk with me.

Re my technology, I am currently working with my tutor from the Blind Foundation on learning how to use the internet so I can become a competent surfer, I now read news from the NZ Herald site, I have learnt how to access the NZ radio guide so I can check out radio stations to have playing on my laptop so as to help my hearing skills with the Cochlea implant, I can Google stuff, so watch out, I might Google your name. I am about to learn how to use internet banking and also how to use Facebook and setting up my own page, so if you are keen, I can chat via Facebool real soon. I am desperately in need of having my equipment upgraded which the Blind Foundation are endeavouring to do for me at present, a new laptop of my own with a Braille input output Bluetooth display with a Jaws screen reader programme, also my Braillenote has pretty much croacked it and last week I was trialing the latest Braillenote Apex with an I phone. The Apex are neat little units, a lot more simline than my older model and half the weight, builtin wireless, with a list as long as your arm of features. All going well, I wil have one of these with an I phone prior to Christmas and I am so excited about that as I will have the ability to text whoever, not like my current unit and a portable unit that I can email from, access the net from and prepare documents from along with having a”Face to face conversation”with anyone via a small keyboard they type to me on and I read of the Braille display. If you are keen to kearn a little more about these Brailebote units, etc, you can visit Humanwares website; “www.humanware.co.nz

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

'To achieve great things you not only need to act but also dream,

you not only need to plan but also believe'

 

How house is a very, very fine house.

Our house is a very, very fine house, with tow kids in the yard, life msed to be so hard, now lifes path has changed because of you!!! The ws are so true for us as a family, this amazing new home of ours that we have been blessed with, is a very, very fine hous. Life certainly used to be so hard and life's path has changed because of so many of you that have blessed us incredibly!! Thank you so much for giving in so many ways. It has his incredibly humbling being on the receiving end of all of this and that has been a journey in its learning how to  receive and be blessed along withendeavouring to bless you all in return through ourdetermination andcommitment to each other and our faith in our amazing Lord "god.

We are  now pretty much settled in our new home, it is such a warm, cosy place, there is so much space for moving around in my chair and the kids are so happy to have their own rooms and a bath to now enjoy. It is so awesome to have my own bathroom to now enjoy on a daily basis as I have showered in different bathrooms for the past almost 4 years and to now be setup with every thing "i know it is, is so, so cool.I am writting this sitting at my new desk in my studio area of the house and with the ranchslider door right next to me and the lovely breeze coming in along with a little sun. From here I can make my way directly into the kitchen where there is an area setup with a slightly lower bench that I can cruise up to and prepare drinks for myself and others, breakie for the family and then cruise back and do the dishes and cleanup. It is my plan to play an active role within the kitchen as time goes by. Once returning that my feet, it will make moving around the kitchen a lot easier, but there is plenty of room for my chair and others within the kitchen working area.

Thanks to the team that were involved with the build, thanks to the volunteers that came from around the country to help out. Thanks to the amazing efforts of Christian Camping New Zealand and Jenni for heading up the whole fundraiing side of things. Thanks to the planning team, my brother and his company "Pinecone" for their efforts, my Dad and Mum for their amazing support, my mother and father inlay for spiritupport, my good friend Andrea and family for spirit amazing support. Thanks to the team at Laura Fergusson Community and Sue in partticular. Thanks to the legal team, Kensingtoswan and also to the Blind Foundation for their suppot. Thanks to my amazing Babe Julia and our super kids Brooke and Harrison, you guys rock my world big time and I am a very blessed man for sharing my life with you all. It has truely been an amazing journey of God's amazing grace out poured to us as a family."i never got to see the house being huilt, I felt it and smelt it, tactial plans were made for me to feel so I could get an idea of the layout of the whole home, also a 3 d model was built as well and I also used my hands to feel around as the home grew through the building process. My new cane camae in handy so ow could start to discover the size of each room and the height of the ceilings and exterior ea even checked out the plastering on the ceilings when it was being done to make sure it was up to standard. Yeah right Phil!! I played an active role in the design of the place, the kitchen, bathrooms and exterior, also putting in my ideas re the colour scheme, etc. Even thought I cannot visually see my surroundings, I love to imagine it in my head and that goes for places I visit as well. I love to get a description of my surroundings. Many thanks to Allan for your support and the prayer of blessing you prayed over the home before we entered on the Open day. Thank you so much to this that shared the very special day with us on June the 2 for the Open day. It was so very cool to walk with my family on the day right into our new home using my walker. The hours of hours of rehab are paying off and thanks to the team that has and continues to work with me in the GYM' at Laura Fergusson and to my amazing God for daily strength and grace to forge onward.

Please accept this as a personal thank you on behalf of our family for all your generosity and love out poured into our lives. The journey continues and is still challenging at times, but by God's grace and your support we look forward to a bright and blessed future together as a family. I will return to my feet by Gods grace in the not to distant future and the sky is the limit to what can and will be achieved for God's glory. To God be the glory for the things He has and is doing!

It is my plan to do weekly enteries to my Blog now that we are settled into our new home. The will be in relation to the jouney and amazing stuff I have learnt and discovered along the way. Insights that I have had as I have journeyed with my amazing God and my amazing family. I will tell you about a new venture I have setup with my puppet called "Charlie Wonka" and whereat he is up to. So keep an eye out, I will also endeavour to send photos as often as I can as well, please send an email to me from time to time and say Hi, just incase you don't have it;  philly.wonkathorn@gmail.com

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

'To achieve great things you not only need to act but also dream,

you not only need to plan but also believe'

 

Outside our new home – we are almost there!

 

 

Our peaceful repose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our amazing bodies part 3

I may have mentioned this in an earlier entry, just before
exiting Hutt Hospital back in mid 2009, I could not support
myself sitting up on the side of my bed, even holding the arms of
a chair while sitting was a challenge, along with this I suffered
huge amounts of pain & discomfort re my bottom due to a pressure
sore received during my stay in Dunedin Hospital. This had to be
dressed often by a District nurse after exiting hospital & at
time saw me bed ridden for a few days at a time so as to allow it
to heal a little more! At times it has been like sitting on a
jagged rock & every bump one went over increased the pain &
discomfort up another notch. Added to this was my lower back
with muscles not supporting me like they should & causing me to
wobble around in my chair & also due to my main trunk muscles not
supporting me due to weakness & that they had wasted away, this
caused a lot of downward pressure right onto my pressure sore.
This gives you a small glimpes in what life was like for me & I
used to plead with careccgivers at times to let me lie down so as
I could ease the pain in both my bottom & lower back. Not only
that, I was struggl really badly emotionally & would flop onto
the bed & try & wish it all away.
One has to learn to come to terms with where one is at before
endeavouring to move forward other wise you are building on sandy
ground & when you start to move forward, your emotions & feelings
& mind will cripple you if you don't deal with stuff & some of it
can be a little messy when it comes to dealing with what life has
dished you up, but God has placed within us amazing mechanisms
for dealing with trauma, pain, loss & a host of other things &
not only that, He has also placed release mechanisms within us as
well.
As I slowly came to terms with where I was at, I had to start to
work through the grief cycle, like I said, it can be a bit messy
at times & it is a load of rubbish the saying that; "men don't
cry" My tear ducts have run out of tears at times & I have found
I can't even find the ws at times to express the pain, hurt,
loss, lonelyness, grief that I am working through! Unless you
have been through a similar event in your life, there is no way
to describe it & for people to grasp even a small amount of what
you are going through. As one works through the cycle of grief &
allows a door to open to a dark room full of painful feelings &
allows ones mind & spirit to work through each one, it is a very
challenging experience I must say!! God gave me the strength to
pickccup each of ? boxs of feelings from that room & carefully
unwrap them & with the help of people He put across my path I
worked through them & emptied a mumber of boxes. There were some
boxs that I did not fully complete & returned them to the shelve
again & as time has gone on, I have had to return to deal with &
finish cleaning out the rest of ? boxes. I have felt incredibly
weak at times as I have worked through stuff, emotionally &
mentally, but I have felt the strength ofmy Heaven Father & His
amazing Holy Spirit guiding & comforting & encouraging me through
the must unlikely of people & through His precious w the Bible.
Our amazing bodies have been designed so incredibly to be able to
cope & deal with massive trauma, loss, pain & grief & through it
all if we allow Gods spirit to guide us through this mineccfield
of shattered hopes & dreams, we can be totally healed
emotionally, mentally & through this physical healing can take
place as well, rather than ending up a bitter, angry, lonely
person that denies themselves a future & a purpose & reason for
being alive on planet earth.
With Gods help & His amazing Holy Spirit, open the doors & the
boxes within & as challenging & scary as it may seem, you will
discover so much more about yourself you never knew exististed &
the release & freedom & healing that will flow into your life as
a result, will amaze not only you, but ? around you. Your
Heavenly Father is waiting paitently at the door waiting for you
to open it & He with His amazing loving compassions, faithfulness
& tender mercies will do the very best job of helping you deal &
work through your boxes of isues & will never leave you nor
forsake you & is the best councillor this world has ever seen.
He doesn't just help you to open the box with whatever is in
there for you, but stands beside you & guides & comforts you as
you work through it & berings complete healing to all the
contents within it. You will one day stand back & look into that
box & all you will see is the smiling face of your amazing
Heavenly Father & His Son the Lord Jesus. Discover today what it
really means to be free & discover the amazing future you will
have, not only in the place He is preparing for ? who love Him
but right here & now as well.

Our amazing bodies part 2.

Further to my last entry, as we learn to have paitance & continue
to hope & believe, God allows healing to take place in all areas
of our body. More often than not, He works u our attitude & our
outcclook on life & as that comes into a place where we no longer
reside in selfccpity land, bitter land or angry land, this has a
flow on affect to the rest of our body! I believe that healing
has to start within our hearts & minds & that is done by opening
God's w the Bible & as it says in the book of Psalms, "Thy w is a
lamp to my feet & a light to my path" In doing this, it causes
our minds to be renewed & transformed & then daily strength that
is given from our Heavenly Father is channeled to the needed
areas of healing required in ones body & not taken up with going
to the previously mentioned lands. It is amazing how a spirit of
gratitude & healing can bring so much healing to ones physical
body. It says in the book of Proverbs in the Bible; "A merry
heart doeth well like medicine, a broken spirit saps energy"
Again I have found this to be true & often we have to start by
focusing our attitude on a daily basis within our minds to the
world around us & within ourelves as well. As we endeavour to do
this & this can be very challenging at times when you are
struggling with so much going on both physically & emotionally,
it will in time with Gods amazing spirit working within us,
travel to our hearts & become with very part of our being. When
healing starts to come to both our heart & mind through Gods
great grace, it is amazing what one can accccomplish.
Our amazing bodies came with an instruction book for daily living
& daily care of the body. More often than not we choose to make
our own decisions in life as to what our bodies should do & also
turn to mans knowledge of how to take care of it & also the
direction we should head in life with it. Man is pretty clever &
has discovered huge amounts about the human body, but God our
Heavenly Father is the maker & designer of the human body & why
wouldn't you consult with the manurfacturer & His instruction
guide before ? who have only studied & experimented with the
human body.
Technology & medicine have soared in the 20 this century & huge
advances made, but the human body & the way in which God has
designed & built it, still surpases anything that man has & will
create. The human body still baffles the medical fraternity with
the amazing way in which it can self repair & amazing miraculous
healings do take place that often stagger even the finest of
doctors. What an amazing Creator God we have & we are His
workmanship. Today is a good day to stop & say thank you to Him
for every breath that you breath & every pump of that amazing
heart within you. There is no pumping system in the world like
your heart that never stops & pumps 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
& 365 days a year & for as many years as each of us is given.
Take time to say thanks to the Creator & take time to read His
instruction book for your body & life, The Bible.

Our amazing bodies!!

God has designed our bodies so amazingly, the healing mechanisms
He has placed within them are incredible & far out stripe
anything that man can achieve. Man is very clever in what he has
achieved with the wisdom & knowledge that God has placed within
Him. But still the human body is far, far superior than any
invention or creation that man has ever achieved & will ever
achieve.
They used to call me the hollow man as my muscles in must of my
body had wasted away due to the length of time that I was pretty
much bed ridden apart from times of physio during the day. I
could not even sit up on the side of my hosipital bed & smpport
myself holding the arms of a chair, I was that weak. I used to
say that my legs felt like bits of steel & my feet were like
rocks & quite literally. People used to try & help free up my
feet by massage & twisting them around, backwards & forwards, etc
for an hour or so at a time with not a lot of success at the
time. They used to ache really badly & I had limited feeling
from the knees down, any cuts orabrasions to the skin took ages
to heal. Slowly over a perion of just over two years as I have
worked pretty much every day in the GYM' doing a huge range of
exercises, they have freed up. My physio used to say, "It takes
every grain of sand to make a beach & I have had to work to get
every muscle back again & as I have, I have felt things slowly
but surely improving. Finally the rocksccmy feet changed & then
I suffered with really bad pins & needles in them, that last for
around 6 months or more & then it changed to a feeling of water
under my skin in my feet & now laterly they are starting to feel
a little more normal, but like I have my feet in sand & I have
sand between my toes. I used to have fat toes & my feet were
quite swollen for many months making life very difficult to put
shoes on & to buy the right shoes as well. When my legs were
rubbed below the knees they felt horrible & weird, just recently,
they are starting to feel nice to rub & I no long have swollen
legs from the knees down. The spasms I used to have in my legs
were incredible & shaking at times as well
I used to have a standing frame that I climbed into & it had a
hydraulic pump that I would lever myself up with & a tray that I
could place my Braillenote on & work on while standing. My body
would ache & ache as I stood & I could only manage half an hour
to an hour at a time in it & more often than not, it would jigger
up my back & once returning to my chair again, I would be left in
huge amounts of discomfort. I took to standing in the shower at
the house we are renting used the bar in the shower & I would
stand for as long as my body would allow & as I got a little
stronger I started to do a little work with weigh transger from
one side to the other on my legs still holding the bars the whole
time. My lower back used to cause me so much grief & pain due to
the length of time that I sit & also bad posture in my chair & I
almost had to fight with my muscles while standing at times as
the pain & discomfort got pretty bad. Over a perion of a year or
so of doing this along with the GYM' work I was doing & extra
hours I had been putting in at home early in the morning & at
night, My body has strengthened xsf & I started doing sits to
stand from my chair using the bars, leg crouchs & holding for 5
seconds & taking one hand of the bar & holding it flat against
the wall or by my side, balance work. I was also doing work in
the GYM' with slings attached to my feet while laying on a
platform & my legs were raised to take away the gravity factor &
I would lay there trying to lift my legs up for as many times as
I could, very limited in the beginning & as time went on, I
advanced to having a spring attached & I would push against the
spring to increase the workload on my legs. Along with this, I
was doing sideways walking & backwards walking at the parallel
bars & also standing on a wobbly board at the bars to help with
balance in my body. Steps were placed down in pront of me at the
parallel bars & I would attempt to try & lift my feet up onto
them. In the early days, I could not do this & my physio would
have to help lift my feet up onto the step & back down again &
often fighting against muscles that were tight as well due to the
amount of work I had been putting in.
As our bodies are designed to work in corrdination, like a cross
circuit, right arm with left leg & left arm with right leg for
balance etc, I took to the flool with my knee pads on & would
crawl for as long as I could from my bedroom to the front door &
back again. To begin with it was so hard as my trunk muscles
were pretty much non existant & it would put huge strain on my
back & spine. Right back in the early days of crawling in early
2010, I crawled in bareccfeet & with no knee pads not realising
that it would cause so much damage to my toes & knees as my
muscles & body were not supporting me as they should & I left a
trail of blood through the house & munted my feet & knees which
took aget to heal & restricted me from working on the froor for
quite a few months. I didn't realise I was hurting my self as I
had limited feeling in both feet & legs as the pain level was
right up there in regard to them as well. The frustration levels
would rise to almost boiling point at times because of the
restrictions within my body. I had to learn how to channel ?
feelings that would rise & eat into my energy leves & leave me
feeling tired & drained. I had to learn that tomorrow is another
day & to face each day as it comes & to climb the mountain of
rehabilitation with every slill that I had learned & was learning
& dig deep within myself & find the good stuff, the good stuff
called potential.

 

 

We have a roof!!!!!!

Progress on our house.

Check out the latest progress on our home! (Taken 1 Feb 2012 )