Author: LT

Before Mum had a stroke, she left Single Street for a few weeks for a holiday and is now faced with the prospect she may never come back. With the move to Townsville looming, Mum got permission to leave the hospital for an hour on Saturday and to come home. Ben and Max had outdone…

In 2013, Mum had a knee replacement and ended up in Mater rehab with Matthew Ames – a quadruple amputee. Mum was very inspired by Matthew and his wonderful family. After all, as bad as Mum’s knee replacement went, it was nothing compared to what he had endured. Matthew’s family recently released a book called…

The Townsville General Hospital accepted Mum as a patient today so her move is now confirmed. We’re waiting, as before, for a bed and a transfer flight so no news yet as to the exact date. As we all remember well, getting Mum transferred from Mornington took a week or two. Getting an air ambulance…

The Science Weekly podcast recently did an interview with Norman Doidge about the implications of neuroplasticity and his new book ‘The Brain’s Way of Healing’. Although there’s not much new here, it’s still an interesting discussion of neuroplasticity and he also specifically mentions strokes. Link to the podcast here. And take a tour of the other…

Mum’s had a couple of really productive days in physiotherapy this week. Progress may be slow but it’s been very noticeable. When Mum first transferred to the Prince Charles, she needed three physiotherapists to help her stand and couldn’t shift her hips the way she needed to. She also tended to collapse at the end…

It was a strange feeling; offputting. And both Max and I felt it although we couldn’t quite talk about it. Mum had had a right hemisphere stroke and she had normal post-stroke symptoms – fatigue, headache, dysphagia, insistence she could walk if only the Doctors would let her, left side neglect and an inability to recognise…

Mum was chuffed the other day when a nurse referred to her as the hardest working patient in the unit. So I thought I’d document exactly what a day in the life of such a hard working patient looks like. I surprised Mum and Dad Saturday night after arranging with the ABS to work out…

Like most stroke victims, after the stroke Mum was left with difficulty swallowing. This difficulty swallowing is known medically as dysphagia: dys meaning bad or disordered, and the root phag- meaning “eat”. So literally “bad or disordered eating”. Since dysphagia is so common after a stroke, it’s one of the first things a stroke patient is…

Mum is now an iPad girl and this iPad girl in this iPad world has asked for some more photos to be put on the blog for her to view on her iPad. I’ve obliged of course and here’s a selection of extra photos that relate to recent blog posts on her rehab, OT, speech…

Dictated by Genny, written by Max. A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others – Frank Morgan. There is a real change of pace on the weekends – no therapies (or “T’s”) means there is time to unwind and relax before another big week…