16 February 2005
I woke up this morning feeling very tired - Lillian head-butted me last night and kept me awake a little bit. Her eye is still a bit red this morning. Tim said the childcare worker told him that if she has runny eye today, she may not be able to attend the childcare today - they are worried about conjuctivitis I guess. Tim said she had a little bit of runny eye when she woke up this morning but he cleaned it for her and put a little bit of eye drop in her eye. I'm hoping that she'll be ok there today.
After Tim took Lillian to childcare, I was anxiously trying to get ready. I have an OT home visit today and I think Jacqui will take me to Highpoint Shopping centre to practise getting on and off the escalators. It's one of my goals to be able to get on and off the escalators safely. My timetable says our appointment is scheduled at 9.00 a.m. I have cleaned up the shower stool and decided it's time to return it to MECRS today - I was hoping to ask Jacqui to take it back with her. I was ready before 9.00 a.m. and have set up the computer in the study while waiting for Jacqui. When she hasn't turned up at about 9.15 a.m., I started to wonder if she's sick today and nobody has called me to let me know. I didn't want to waste to while waiting for her anxiously so I started doing some accounts for Tim's business - I know I won't be able to finish everything before she turns up but at least it can help diverting my attention onto something else.
While I was concentrating on the accounts, I heard a tapping on the window. I turned around and there's Jacqui. I opened the door and she asked me if I was ready to go to Highpoint - just as I expected. I have never been to Highpoint before so it was a new experience for me. While we were in the car, I noticed that Jacqui didn't have a disabled parking permit on the dashboard. I panicked a bit as I didn't bring mine with me. Jacqui assured me that there shouldn't be any problem with parking and it won't be too far to walk. I didn't have my AFO on so it was a bit more difficult to walk faster. The hinged AFO helps me lifting up my foot more easily so I can walk a little bit faster than when I'm just wearing the ankle brace. I told Jacqui that I haven't got my AFO on and she said Fiona actually reminded her to check if I have it on - it can correct the way I walk so my brains learn to walk properly. I told her that I'm just taking a break from it - I walked quite a bit in it on Sunday and yesterday and the arch of my foot was getting a blister from wearing it.
We walked up to the escalators and surprisingly, I didn't have too much problem with it. She accompanied me to get on and off the escalators a few times and the last time, she got me to do it by myself. I was ok with it. I found it a bit easier to step on with my left foot and get off with my right foot first. After that, she asked me if there is anything I need to get while we're there. I couldn't think of anything except the Clinque skin lotion that I alwys use. She told me there is a Myer store there so I thought I could just go and get that. We walked a fair bit but couldn't find the store. She's in a hurry to go back so I told her not to worry about it. On our way back to the carpark, we walked passed a bookstore. Jacqui wanted to show me the book "What to expect the toddler years". She knows I have the author's other book "What to expect the first year" and she thinks it would be good for me to get this one just to get some ideas about Lillian's development. I didn't tell her that her last idea about "Hug a Bub" was disastrous - now Lillian absolutely hates being held by me. She hated the "hug a bub" and every time Tim passes her to me she thinks I'm going to put her in the sling so she would start crying. Jacqui thinks I should have some play time with Lillian. She asked if it would help to get someone to be there a few hours a day so I can play with Lillian - I presume she means a nanny or a personal carer. I had the personal carer here a few times last year but she was really getting on my nerves. She would sit there and watch me while I was doing my exercises - something I found really annoying. Since our house is quite small, I don't think there's breathing space for me if I get a nanny or a personal carer. I know she has good intentions but I felt like telling her that you cannot learn parenting from a textbook so just let me figure it out myself. The book looks interesting enough so I bought it anyway. She told me to bring it with me to our next appointment. When we got home, I asked her to take the shower stool back - this marks a new phase in my recovery.
Steve, a friend from work, came to visit me in the afternoon. When I first started working there he was assigned to be my 'buddy'/mentor and we worked pretty well together. He commented on how much I've improved since he saw me last time (a few months ago). It's always good to catch up with some office gossips. The audit I was working on before I become sick is still going. Steve thinks it's cursed - all the people who worked on it had something happened to them - I had a brain tumour removed, another guy had a major operation on his stomach and has almost died, the audit leader's wife had a stroke a few months after the birth of her baby, and finally, Steve fell over before Christmas and broke his nose. It's a bit spooky to look at it this way.
After Tim took Lillian to childcare, I was anxiously trying to get ready. I have an OT home visit today and I think Jacqui will take me to Highpoint Shopping centre to practise getting on and off the escalators. It's one of my goals to be able to get on and off the escalators safely. My timetable says our appointment is scheduled at 9.00 a.m. I have cleaned up the shower stool and decided it's time to return it to MECRS today - I was hoping to ask Jacqui to take it back with her. I was ready before 9.00 a.m. and have set up the computer in the study while waiting for Jacqui. When she hasn't turned up at about 9.15 a.m., I started to wonder if she's sick today and nobody has called me to let me know. I didn't want to waste to while waiting for her anxiously so I started doing some accounts for Tim's business - I know I won't be able to finish everything before she turns up but at least it can help diverting my attention onto something else.
While I was concentrating on the accounts, I heard a tapping on the window. I turned around and there's Jacqui. I opened the door and she asked me if I was ready to go to Highpoint - just as I expected. I have never been to Highpoint before so it was a new experience for me. While we were in the car, I noticed that Jacqui didn't have a disabled parking permit on the dashboard. I panicked a bit as I didn't bring mine with me. Jacqui assured me that there shouldn't be any problem with parking and it won't be too far to walk. I didn't have my AFO on so it was a bit more difficult to walk faster. The hinged AFO helps me lifting up my foot more easily so I can walk a little bit faster than when I'm just wearing the ankle brace. I told Jacqui that I haven't got my AFO on and she said Fiona actually reminded her to check if I have it on - it can correct the way I walk so my brains learn to walk properly. I told her that I'm just taking a break from it - I walked quite a bit in it on Sunday and yesterday and the arch of my foot was getting a blister from wearing it.
We walked up to the escalators and surprisingly, I didn't have too much problem with it. She accompanied me to get on and off the escalators a few times and the last time, she got me to do it by myself. I was ok with it. I found it a bit easier to step on with my left foot and get off with my right foot first. After that, she asked me if there is anything I need to get while we're there. I couldn't think of anything except the Clinque skin lotion that I alwys use. She told me there is a Myer store there so I thought I could just go and get that. We walked a fair bit but couldn't find the store. She's in a hurry to go back so I told her not to worry about it. On our way back to the carpark, we walked passed a bookstore. Jacqui wanted to show me the book "What to expect the toddler years". She knows I have the author's other book "What to expect the first year" and she thinks it would be good for me to get this one just to get some ideas about Lillian's development. I didn't tell her that her last idea about "Hug a Bub" was disastrous - now Lillian absolutely hates being held by me. She hated the "hug a bub" and every time Tim passes her to me she thinks I'm going to put her in the sling so she would start crying. Jacqui thinks I should have some play time with Lillian. She asked if it would help to get someone to be there a few hours a day so I can play with Lillian - I presume she means a nanny or a personal carer. I had the personal carer here a few times last year but she was really getting on my nerves. She would sit there and watch me while I was doing my exercises - something I found really annoying. Since our house is quite small, I don't think there's breathing space for me if I get a nanny or a personal carer. I know she has good intentions but I felt like telling her that you cannot learn parenting from a textbook so just let me figure it out myself. The book looks interesting enough so I bought it anyway. She told me to bring it with me to our next appointment. When we got home, I asked her to take the shower stool back - this marks a new phase in my recovery.
Steve, a friend from work, came to visit me in the afternoon. When I first started working there he was assigned to be my 'buddy'/mentor and we worked pretty well together. He commented on how much I've improved since he saw me last time (a few months ago). It's always good to catch up with some office gossips. The audit I was working on before I become sick is still going. Steve thinks it's cursed - all the people who worked on it had something happened to them - I had a brain tumour removed, another guy had a major operation on his stomach and has almost died, the audit leader's wife had a stroke a few months after the birth of her baby, and finally, Steve fell over before Christmas and broke his nose. It's a bit spooky to look at it this way.
posted by Teresa Liu at 4:10 PM
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