How I am Going

So our goal this week was to have Cory sit on the edge of the bed and like most goals, Cory is smashing things out of the park.
Not only was he able to sit up on the edge of the bed with Nicola and Aileen supporting him  on Tuesday, he was able to be transferred into a wheel chair on Wednesday via the hoist and then via the slide on Thursday!!

On Wednesday the 10th exactly 14 days from when Cory had his accident, his amazing physio and OT team had him sitting up and moved via a sling and hoist into a wheel chair!

He was able to remain in this upright wheel chair position for about a hour. During this time he actually left the ward and went down to radiology to get further X-Rays on his spine and also on his left knee which has been causing him some pain. (These have since come back as all clear, so no further skeletal issues that we know of).

The progress just kept on coming on Wednesday with Cory even doing his own intermittent catheter for the first time. This is another massive step in the right direction and just gets him that much closer to some form of independence.

(No Picture Supplied)

Wednesday was an unreal day receiving a message from Scotty Cranmer who is one of Cory’s favourite riders from Youtube, who recently sustained a major injury himself and is smashing goals all the time, even now back on the bike about 15 months later! (Thanks Scotty) then the evening was a blast with our favourite Mens BMX racer Anthony Dean along with Dale Percy dropping in for a great visit here in the hospital, Cory was absolutely stoked, but probably stayed in the wheel chair for way longer than he should have, even know we had him as far reclined as we could possibly make it, he was extremely tired by the time we got him back into his bed.
Anthony dropped off a couple of cool gifts, but it his presence was the ultimate present for Cory at this time.

The puzzles and games have been a great time filler for not only Cory, but also for the hoards of visitors (and some of the staff). Cory has now mastered the Rubiks Cube and has set a time of 2:05 minutes to complete it!

Thursday was a real slow start, skipping physio and his morning routines just because he was so tired from Wednesday. We have certainly learned to try to slow him down a bit, which is a good thing I think. It is kind of weird to see how energetic, strong and fit Cory was only 2 weeks ago, to now being in a point where he struggles to sit upright for more then 5-10 seconds un-aided. The combination of drugs and immobilisation also play a massive part in him tiring so easily.

Cory finally got to have a chat with Peter (our Spinal Team Psychologist) today, there are going to be some really high and some really low moments through out this journey, but I am really thrilled that there is someone outside of the family and friend network that Cory, Jeldi, Shona or myself can talk to about our feelings and how we are really going.

Speaking of Family and Friends, it is so good to still be getting friends travelling from so far to come and support Cory (and us) we really loved having Chad Guerin (Max and Mehgan) and the Rodwells up to visit us today, sorry we had to cut our visit a little short as we had Physio and Therapy to crack on with 🙂 And Thanks so much to Scott and Casey (Scott you need some rest brother!) and Tracey, Blakey and Ermani for your presents and presence 🙂
It was great to Have Jeldi up in Perth with us from Sunday til Wednesday, it would be so good to be able to have her up here with us all the time. Love you chicken, you are a bloody little trooper, cracking on with your day to day job and catching up with friends. (Thanks Cheyana for coming up and seeing us and keeping Jeldi company for a few days too 🙂 )

Despite our slow start to Thursday and having to ask our friends to leave, Cory was still able to make awesome progress with Nicola and Aileen returning in the afternoon to to have another go at the mornings plan.
Cory made it into the chair on the slide board instead of via the hoist and while he was in there, they arranged for a passive bicycle to be brought up!
This excited Cory probably a little too much and he expelled so much energy trying to assist the passive cycle, that we had to return him to his bed via the hoist once again.

Things are ticking along really well with Cory’s progress at the moment and it is hard not to get excited with yet more movement returning to both legs and also to his left foot, not sure what is happening with that damn right foot at the moment, but we are super positive that some movement will return as there are some small flinches from time to time when he trys to move it!
It has been amazing to have Fliss and Gary here as much as they have been here, both of you guys have been an amazing support to not only Cory, but also to Shona and I. We truly do appreciate it guys.
For thos of you who don’t know, Gary and Felicity are the ones who started the GoFundMe page for Cory. Shona and I are not the type of people to ask for handouts. I guess sometimes you are just too proud to ask for help, but the truth is, we have no idea what Cory’s future entails in regards to expenses. We have only just sent off to BMXA to start the process of claiming insurance, we have zero and I mean zero idea of what this insurance covers.
From the very first ambulance ride to no income, to getting back home and potentially needing to change cars and modify the house, we hope that we don’t incur too much expense, but we just don’t know.

Well for until the next time guys, thanks so much for caring enough to read Cory’s update and we would love if you could share his story around. As Scotty Cranmer messaged Cory, pretty much all Spinal Injuries are different, but the hardest part is this first part both physically and emotionally. Cory has been overwhelmed with the amount of positive messages he is receiving via his message function on this website and also via his facebook page (Cory Crombie #1545 Racing)

#corycrombiecan
#muchlove

The Crombies

 

ps. apologies for the terrible grammar and spelling mistakes….

A fair bit has changed since our last update on Cory’s Birthday.

We are making progress and hitting a few milestones at the moment, he has had some pain meds being slightly reduced (one of about 8 different concoctions), his catheter being removed, getting more mobility and saying goodbye to Ward 5C, it has been a massive few days.

On Saturday night Cory was moved from ward 5C and moved up to the adolescent ward “7 Teen”, while it is an awesome step in the right direction and nice to be in a place a little quieter (no screaming babies) it is really sad to have to say goodbye to all the awesome nursing staff that have been so lovely to not only Cory, but also to Shona, Jeldi and I. I am absolutely amazed at how much some of these wonderful people actually care, we have even had staff members from other departments (that had attended to Cory upon admittance) swing by, out of their way just to say hi and see how he is going!

Thanks 5C

7 Teen has been really good so far, Cory has only had 2 nurses til now and both have been so lovely. 7 Teen is a lot different to 5C in regards to a little more freedom, with lots of teens roaming the ward and there seems to be some really nice friendships between some of the other patients, I know that in time when Cory has some mobility (a wheel chair) he is going to really enjoy being able to chill out with some of the other kids here and maybe even head out to LiveWire to chill for a bit in a different surrounding.
A big plus to moving to 7 Teen is that he now has (and hopefully keeps) a room to himself and a half decent view outside.

With his catheter now removed he is on to intermittent catheters until hopefully he is able to retrain his bladder to work, this is really uncomfortable for him and something that we as normal functioning humans just take for granted. There is a lot to take on for any 15 year old and Cory is just amazing us every single day, the way that he just simply accepts what needs to happen and gets on with it.
So what does that mean you ask? Well basically since Cory’s spinal cord is damaged, neither his bowels or bladder can function normally, this means for example that every time he needs to pee (every 4 hours because he cannot tell himself) he has to have what is called an intermittent catheter inserted to drain his bladder, then removed again until the next 4 hour pee break…..
You can imagine how uncomfortable and daunting this would be for an adult, but Cory has just taken it in his stride.
We are unsure at this point if this is something that he will have to do for weeks, months or the years to come.

Days, weeks, months…… obviously not being able to move more than a half arsed roll at the moment the days are pretty long for him, so he needs things to do. Fliss (once again) has been able to keep him well and truly entertained even in her absense. Fliss was extremely thoughtful when getting him a birthday present last week buying him a couple of puzzles to keep his mind occupied. He has mastered the Snake Cube and still working on the Rubiks Cube!

With each round of physio Cory is gaining more range with his legs and he is also gaining more mobility so there are a lot of positive signs. He is now moving both legs at the hips and knees. With assistance from someone holding the weight of his legs he is able to move his knees in and out and to move his lower legs to probably about 30 degrees.
He is also regaining more movement in his left big toe, but unfortunately he is still unable to control his right big toe, although there is a flicker of movement every now and then, so we have a lot of faith that he will also regain this movement in time. Although he really has very little movement or strength in anything below his waist, we need to be mindful that we are still only 11 days post-op and there is bound to be swelling still in his spinal cord which will restrict some ranges and motions.
Time is what he needs and a whole lot of support from us and his spinal re-hab team.
It also helps having Fliss on board as a physio… hahaha

Along with more movement, Cory is also getting more sleep, this is thanks to the “Pain Team” getting his meds nicely balanced out and him not having such a roller coaster ride in pain. He is also now able to start having one of his regular meds halved and he is not requiring any on demand pain killers. This allowing Cory to get a good night sleep, which in turn helps Shona and I to do the same thing.
PMH has been unreal and even provide a reclining chair in Cory’s room so that we can be right by his side 24/7.

Our goal had been to have Cory sitting up on the edge of the bed by today, but he has been making so much progress that we probably got a little ahead of ourselves and we had to just take a step backwards, we will hopefully try again in the next few days but it is going to take as long as it takes for him to get comfortable to be sitting up on the edge of a bed, after all, it is a long way from where he has come in the few short days after being cleared to even have his head elevate above the level of his toes!

We are absolutely loving all the support that is coming from the community both internal and external to the BMX family and we are getting to the point where we will be ready to take on a few more visitors, but please remember that Cory has a massive schedule of Physio and other “medical” requirements, plus he tires quite easily, so please let us know when you plan to come so that we can see if you will be able to come in.

We really appreciate the hard work being done by so many individuals and clubs on Cory’s behalf, it is certainly not something that we have expected.
Although we could not make it to the Southside fundraiser and we will not make it to the Bunbury or MaD fundraisers, we are aiming to be trackside for Nationals.

Again guys, thanks so much.

#corycrombiecan
#muchlove

The Crombies