The week started rather socially with an outing to a fundraising event for the Puffin Magic Foundation on Shark Island which was a screaming success despite some patchy weather. Following a rather early exit from the island and not wanting the power chair to become bogged, James and his trusty wheelchair wingman (from Ryde Rehab Centre, Josh Clift) decided to try and catch the Super 14 match at the local Rose Bay RSL (assumed to be wheelchair friendly given the senior status of the clientele at venue).

Within minutes of entering the Club, their trustee carer, Martin Gribble, came running down the stairs and with a beaming smile exclaimed “you guys have got to get in the lift and come upstairs. There are two dozen half naked ladies wandering around covered in body paint.” Josh and James were happy to declare that they were part of the inaugural NSW Body Painting Competition. Needless to say, photos will be posted on the website and Saturday was one of the all time days since the accident.

On the medical front, three important tests were conducted at Royal North Shore this week and we await results in the next couple of days to confirm no ligament, bone, tendon or nerve damage in the left shoulder, and that all previous blood clots have now disappeared. Happy to convey that James can now consistently get his left hand to his mouth, albeit still struggling to grip items with his fingers but we are all working on it!

Apart from the intense physio and hydro, James has been watching people’s hands this week trying to mimic any movements from undoing seatbelts to tying shoelaces.

In recreation this week, ‘Wii’ tennis was introduced and thoroughly enjoyed but could really feel it in the shoulder the next day. So that is it for this week and look forward to reporting further developments next week.