Journey

Over the last week the Gardiner males have fallen like dominos.  Currently 3/4 of them are out of action recovering from injury.  It is so unbelievable it is almost a comedy.  I am less than impressed.  I am considering placing a public notice in our community newspaper, the Moa Mail, offering them free to a good home.  Sean is still recovering from hernia surgery.  He is uncomfortable, bruised and occasionally in pain.  He is still moving about slowly but has returned to work.  On Monday afternoon Rory had a fall.  Instead of getting himself up off the couch to standing he reached for the walker to pull himself up.  The brakes were off so it simultaneously rolled away and tipped under Rory’s weight.  He fell heavily onto the floor twisting his left leg under him.  He was in quite a lot of pain on Monday night.  He still has pain on the outside of his knee and his foot is swollen with impressive purple bruising.  Rory’s knee and ankle have been x-rayed.  Fortunately there are no fractures.  The Doctor at the medical centre was shocked to see his fibula bone was missing.  I was too.  It was the first time I had seen his left leg on x-ray.  There is only a stub of fibular bone at the top and bottom.  The middle was sawed off and used to re-build Rory’s left lower jaw.  Rory has tubular bandaging on both left knee and ankle.  He can only just stand and shuffle slowly around the house with the walker.  On Tuesday morning Sam dislocated his kneecap at work.  Sam has joint hypermobility.  His joints are more likely to get injured if they are overstretched and dislocate.  Sometimes the soft tissue in and around the joints can tear.  Fortunately Sam’s x-ray showed no bone damage.  He is booked in for an ultrasound and to see a specialist.  This is not the first time one of this joints has popped out then in.  Football is usually the culprit.  Premier league football is a very physical game.  The men utilise and yield a lot of power on the field.  It is hard on the body.  We have tried to get Sam to think about what his body could be like when he’s 40 if he continues to play football, but you can’t tell a 20-something year old anything.  Football is also one of his loves. 

As the three Gardiner males are largely exempt from duties Colt and I are holding down the fort.  Well I am and Colt is helping.  Colt ran cross country at Inglewood Primary on Monday and got 4^th.  He was happy with this.  He could have come 3^rd but he told me he had to walk for a bit as he got very red and felt like he was on fire. 

Even though he has been wheelchair bound Rory has had a couple of enjoyable days out this week.  He spent some time with Jonny on Tuesday and he went to a movie with Natasha yesterday.  We have also attended a specialist appointment with the Dermatologist.  Rory is at high risk of skin cancer because of high dose radiotherapy so she checked his skin.  She also looked at the extensive purple stretch marks which Rory has developed due to chemotherapy and the steroids he has taken.  I was horrified to see them develop.  They add insult to injury given everything he has been through and the changes to his appearance.  I was really pleased to hear her say they will fade so he will be able to wear shorts and t-shirt in the summer without being self-conscious.