Feeling Loved

Making a habit of letting time get away from us at the moment, I told myself 12 days ago that I would make an effort to post up more often and keep you up to date a little better… but no…..

Sorry…

Again Cory has been super busy and making so much progress that it is hard to believe that only 47 days ago he had absolutely zero feeling or movement from his waist down and our expectation was for him to remain that way permanently! For a long time we have been trying to help others in the BMX world to get involved in some mental training. We spend thousands of dollars on equipment, gym and physical conditioning along with physical coaching, but rarely do we see people investing in the mental space of their children. I have zero doubt that the time and effort that we have put into mental coaching has paid massive dividends in Corys’ “Road to Recovery”. I hope that we are able to assist some other younger kids both inside and outside of our sport to do the same in the future.
On Friday the 2^nd of February Cory stood and balanced for 27 seconds completely unaided! Although this does not sound like much (7 seconds longer than previous), for us it was amazing, whilst Cory’s response was “It’s nothing I haven’t done before” haha.
Intensive Rehab has not been something Cory has really enjoyed, but he still managed to get 3 lots of 5 minutes walking on the treadmill in the Lite Gait harness system. Although the rehab team facilitate his movement, he is gaining more and more control over his legs and feet in the walking position and starting to take some of his own weight as he does so.

Later in the day Cory also had another PI 1^st (Post-Injury), he was able to transfer himself from the wheel chair to the car! This means that an out of the hospital area trip was soon on the cards, infact mere hours later a good friend and Cory and Jeldi’s business mentor Ben took us out for dinner at a local burger joint in Subiaco. It really was quite and eye opener going through the whole wheel chair/ car logistics and then the restaurant wheel chair access. Hats off to all those carving the path before us!

Although Friday was another great day, it was also a sad day with two of our favourite Spinal Team Members Dr Divya and Dr Katherine leaving us to take on other roles. We are so sad to see both of these lovely Drs leave us and we just wanted to say a massive thank you to both of you, your help and pleasant demeanours have been very much appreciated by all of us. Best of luck in your new roles and we really hope to see you again.

Saturday was a pretty interesting day, the Starlight Team were pretty amazed when Cory completed the Rubiks cube in just 50 seconds, so they decided to make a video for the Starlight TV Channel. It was pretty entertaining to watch Captain Silly (one of the Starlight Captains) trying to figure it out, in the end he pretty much gave up and got Cory to solve it for him while they filmed it to make it look like the Captain had done it too, but not well enough to make you believe he had done it….

Nanna and Poppy arrived along with Great Nanna Phyllis and we headed down to the Satellite physio room where after a few limbering stretches, Cory showed off his standing and four point kneeling skills to them.
The afternoon was spent chilling out in the park across the road from the hospital with Fliss, Nanna Liz, Uncle Greg, Aunty Naomi, while Cory’s cousins Tabitha, Abigail, Alex and Georgie had a great old time playing on the play equipment and in the water feature of the park.

Cory even transferred onto one of the swings where he and Fliss enjoyed a bit of sun and fresh air for a change.

Sunday Cory’s best mate Chad came to visit again this time with his Dad as well as Max and his Mum. Chad and his Mum have been absolutely amazing coming to visit Cory every week since he has been up here and always lighting his day up with their lovely nature. They ventured back over to get some fresh air in the park before heading back up to the MegaZone. The week finally caught up with Cory after they left as he fell asleep in his recliner back in his room. Fliss and Gary came back up to visit in the evening, with Fliss once again missing out on meeting Chad. Maybe next time Fliss.

Monday the 5^th and rehab is back in full swing after a pretty easy weekend. I-Rehab worked him really hard with the treadmill and then the Rifton Tram and he really wasn’t too happy. Cory has not really been enjoying the Intensive Rehab as it doesn’t feel natural the way that they facilitate the movements and the Rifton Tram is quite difficult to walk in in the sense that it is a little bit all over the place as it wheels along. It is also quite difficult for him to do the I-Rehab so early in the day with no limbering stretches conducted before hand.
His normal physio session was next where he got to do some of the stretches and get his range back and loosened up a little.
In the afternoon Cory met his new Drs taking over from Divya and Katherine. Dr Jane and Dr Renae who only just started today with the team.
Cory and Mum went for a St-Roll down Hay St for about 45 minutes before returning to the room and doing a few of Cory’s puzzles with the girls from Radio Lollipop.
Tuesday Cory was asked by the Hospital team to be part of the taste testing of the menu for the new Hospital, I think that he is becoming part of the furniture here….
Went down to his physio session with Christina where he stood for way longer than he had before and this time, Christina got him to do some ball work to help build his core and trunk strength back up. It was absolutely hilarious as Cory was bouncing and throwing the ball into the rebound net, before attempting a “jump shot” and collapsing onto the plinth behind him as he exclaimed

“I forgot I can’t stand”

We have a lot of people that we need to thank for supporting us and it is crazy to say that 3 of our biggest supporters have come from people we hardly knew!

Cory’s best mate Chad Guerin and his Mum Meghan who we had previously met only a couple of times have been absolutely amazing to us, also Kristy Borczuch who we had not even actually met prior to Cory’s accident (except a brief 5 minute chat per chance at a market stall 8 months ago). Kristy has been such a warm and lovely person to have keeping in contact regularly and sending so much love and hand made gifts. Thanks Kristy, we can’t wait to see you when you and Rick come to visit 🙂

And last but definitely not least. Gary and Felicity Mann, you guys have been such an important part of Cory’s journey here, it is hard to put into words how much of a positive and pleasant impact you guys have had on all of us during this journey. Gary and Fliss have been up on average I would guess, around 5 times per week since we got here. Although Gary sometimes (always…) struggles to get Fliss to leave at the end of the day hahaha.

Thanks Gary & Fliss, you guys are awesome people and we have loved getting to know you guys better 🙂

That pretty much gets you up to date til the 6^th of February, I will get you the next few days in a few more days and I will endeavour to keep you a little more up to date.

Til next time
#corycrombiecan
#muchlove

The Crombies