~*Casey & Camera Update*~

Is back!! Casey has healed well with the antibotics and is back to her usual self again, which is good to see.

I have been busy researching on Digital Camera's and what I want in a camera. I do like Sony and Canon in that order due to good quality and pictures. I have even created a spreadsheet with the specs I'm wanting along with some Canon and Sony camera's. I rang my Insurance yesterday to find out how much they would give me. They said my Song DSC-P71 Camera is worth $387.57 minus my excess fee and I get $228.50:( What a loss!! I payed heaps for my camera, it gets stolen and I only get the above amount back, so I will have to fork out the rest for a nice decent digital camera.

~*My cat Casey got in a fight*~

awww my poor baby, Casey (cat) was attacked by the usual ginger male cat right near the door Friday night. Casey came around to the door looking scared, normally the door is open for her to come in but I had it shut. I didn't even go and open it for her, as I was talking to my friend who was here. Next minute the ginger cat had jumped on her and I couldn't move in time as my chair was in standyby mode, but I yelled to distract the cats, but it didn't work.

Casey came in and went off to my room like she normally does after getting hurt. Casey had come to me when I called her and I grabbed her tail and she hissed at me, and I saw a spec of blood on my hand. errrr here is anohter vet bill coming!! Later I went down to my room and saw some dripped blood on the carpet, it seemed alot of blood to us, so I was now worried.

Next morning which was Saturday I rang the vet as I knew they were open till 2pm. The vet that normally comes down to my house to see Casey, was off and the other vet couldn't come down I couldn't get her there either. I just wanted to make sure she was ok and wasn't going to get any abceses (sp). I kept Casey inside all day Sunday while I was out.

Today I rang the vet and he came and saw Casey, and checked her over and found the spot with Casey screatching in her meow cat way, never heard her like that ever, scared me abit. Casey has an open wound..bite in her tail and that is the sorest part, she may have a bite in her leg too, but she been through enough with the vet. You could see she was real sore. The vet gave her pain relief and injection of antibotics too. Now I have to give her some antibotics, starting from tomorow via paste, given via a syringe type tube via the mouth, so I hope I can get it in her when she's on my lap LOL

Now for the vet bill

~*Digital Camara Gone*~

A few hours after the people had left, after cleaning all the mould, I had noticed my Digital Camara was not where I had put it (ready for me to take to the v8 Supercar racing). So I went on a hunt for my camara and couldn't find it. I thought when I get in my manual chair tonight I will go through the trolley the camara was sitting on and make sure it's not been put in another trolley shelf.

Last Sunday which was Easter I went out with my family for the day and took my digital camara with me, in my bag. I hadn't used it, so it stayed in my bag all day. Later that night I checked the digital camara's battery to make sure it had enough power for the following weekend so I can take it to the V8 Supercar Racing. The batterys were ok, so I put the camara into it's camara bag and put it on top of the trolly, where it normally sits.

Tuesday came around and the people came around to clean the mould off the walls, there were three of them. The guy was doing the lounge and I was in the lounge all the time except at the end when I went and checked the other rooms to see if everything was back to normal. The guy had to move the sofa to get to the wall, then he moved the trolley where my digital camara was sitting on top. I helped him move some other things and put them on the sofa, he moved the trolley and got to work. I was still in the room watching music on tv.

After it was all done one of the lady's asked me to check the bathroom and bedroom to make sure everything was back where it should be etc, so I did that. Now at this point is where I left the lounge.

Back to the lost digital camara, I still couldn't find it and this was really strange. Dad had dropped the van back on Wednesday night, so he too had a look around, even in places I couldn't get too. He pulled out the sofa and had a look to see if it had fallen there. Nothing. It feels awful, as I could have put the camara somewhere and it's just not coming to me. I rang my Tenant Manager and asked him to contact the people to see if they had accidently picked the camara up with the other things. I also found the lady's cell ph# and rang her and asked her the same thing (not wanting to accuse them) and she said she will get back to me. She rang me back to say she talked to her boss and her boss said I should get my tenant manager to come help look. I told her that I've had my dad look and I'm just checking with everyone who's been at my home over that time etc. I even think, she said that she still hadn't asked the guy who cleaned the lounge, but she did say that he wouldn't do that, to risk his job. Who knows, he might not be trusted!

I rang the Police in the weekend to see if they could come out and do a police report, but my local poilce station was closed and the other Branch wouldn't come out. I rang the local Police station this morning, they asked me to go to them to do the report and I told the lady, I can't as I can't get into the station as it has steps and I use a wheelchair. She then told me to come to the back of the station, then ring them on my cell ph to say I'm outside. I said it's a week tomorow, she said that's ok, anytime this week you can come up. Tomorow is another public holiday too so I can only get up there when the weather is fine.

~*V8 Supercar Racing*~

I went to the V8 Supercar Racing yesterday and it was awesome a part from the crappy weather of wind and rain which left me with wind burn I think My brother and I sat in the disabled stand which was up on top of a hill so we could see the whole track almost!! Great place for the disabled stand and it was covered and had a lot of room which was good. They had two disabled porta toilets by the ramp too When I used the toilet, I had to reverse back out to swing my footplate a side to be able to transfer, as there wasn't enough room for the chair to move.

The v8 super cars sounded awesome at the start as they roared there engines then skidded off to a good start, I loved the starts hehe.. Think the first supercar race was 30 laps and this is where John Bowe lost control of his Ford on his own and crashed into the safety barrier at 220+km and a peice of wood off the safety barrier flew off and hit a photographer's leg, which is now broken The race was stopped while the safety fence was repaired and this took an hour. The race then started again with no pit stops this time as they were all done and Mark Scaife in in HOLDEN won!! YEA!!

Check out the news on this accident here

Before the last supercar race, they had some other cars racing and Formula Fords so that was kewl. I missed a drag car doing some smoke burn outs, but the I saw the smoke as it came up to the top of the hill hehe where I was, looking at all the neat Holden stuff and trying to get some freebies.

The last and 2nd supercar race started abour 4.30pm and it was a great roaring start, aww the noise of those v8s...you gotta love it... 50 laps this time and it had its spills and slides and safety cars coming out. Mark Scaife in his Holden Racing Team car WON!!! YEA Holden won again!! This means Holden has won 12 times at Pukekohe race track.

Mark Skaife on the way to his win at Pukekohe see here. aww I love the look of the red and white Holden Racing Team car with it's lights on heheh

Picture taken from here
New Zealand's Greg Murphy was the man I wanted to see win, it be his fourth win here at Pukekohe but he got in a crash on the first race on Saturday which almost totaled his car But they techs worked on it all night and he raced and got a massive cheer from the crowd Check here I bought a Murphy hat too

A Porsche GT3 flipping over the safety fence into the srowd..here

Next year will be HUGE as it's the last time it's going to be at Pukekohe, then we have the Street race in Hamilton which will be kewl to go too

~*Mould*~

I live in a small Housing NZ flat, it's 2 bedroom and open planned living room, dining room and kitchen. I've been here for about 7yrs now and love it, although I do get lonely. But I have all my online friends to chat too.

Mould, yep, I have mould growing in my carpet under my couch. The mould is almost the length of my couch too, it's discusting!! It stinks when the couch is moved too. I guess I'm used to the smell now since I'm living in it I have mould on the wall too where the couch is, mould above my bed headboard going up the wall and onto the ceiling and some in the bathroom and laundrey. During the night, I wake up with streaming watery eyes and a blocked nose from this mould. The mould everywhere, mainly the lounge is now a Health and Saftey Risk.

Lounge


Above headboard of bed



I have informed my tenant manager at Housing NZ sometime at the end of 2005. When she came to do the 6month house expection, I told her to pull the couch out, she said I just have a peek and so she did. I then showed her the mould in my room and told her how it is affecting me at night etc. She noted it all down and I said the carpet needs changing, and she said yep. She said I can choose the colour carpet out of two colours LOL so I said good. She also got a guy to come out later that day to look at the outside where the water wasn't draining. Basically the water is coming down the slope from the Golf Course to my flat and has no where to go. The mud on the side of the flat is also blocking the vents in the bricks. This all means the flat on that side is so damp and wet causing problems. He said they would need to remove all this mud, put a drain in on this side of the flat and down the back of the house and hook it up to the main drain, to drain it all away. They are also going to have to prevent the dirty mud from going into the drain.

Nothing had happened since all this talking and looking at what was causing the problems, yet the guy said it has to be done before winter I emailed my tenant manager again with 3 things that were discussed and needed doing. The gutters were done, but nothing else. She then moved to another Office in another area I rang her and said what is happening, she said I'm not doing anything with my clients now, contact the office.

I have a new tenant manager now and I went to the office on 6 April to meet him and dicuss the mould problem, having photos in my hand of the mould. He was quite embarressed that it was at this stage and nothing had been done. He came around the next day and had a look at all the mould areas and looked at the carpet. He said that the whole flat will have new carpet and this will be an URGENT JOB!!! Finally something's going to happen He was really nice, talked about DVD's I liked too, had some interest. I also asked him if he can orgainse someone to come clean the mould off the walls as my carers can't do that and I have no one else, and he said, yes I will see what I can do.

Today: I just had three people come clean all the mould off the walls!! WOW this is awesome, it looks all clean in those areas too. I feel really happy that this has been done and will thank my tenant manager. Will find out when the carpet and outside willbe done..these will be big jobs, lots of furniture moving

After living here for 7yrs I think I've finally got a good Tenant Manager So once all this is done, I can move onto the other little things I've asked to done over those 7yrs.

~*Happy Easter*~

I had a pretty good Easter:) I went out for lunch with family at Mission Bay and it was nice. We walked along the waterfront and went up to Massey Point. I hope you all had a good Easter too.

Six-Wheel Revolution

Features Sampler
From the print edition of New Mobility October 2005

Six-Wheel Revolution
By Mark E. Smith
When it comes to innovations in mobility products, the influences on our lives are often subtly profound. For Jenny Smyth, a 32-year-old Web designer, the latest innovations in six-wheel power chair technology have fostered independence far beyond what's promised in glossy manufacturer brochures. "My six-wheeler allows me to now get into my laundry, and even turn around, which was a shock, as I didn't even think that it was possible," says Smyth, who has used a six-wheel power chair for 11 months.
Smyth's everyday success with six-wheel technology isn't unique, with users of all ages and lifestyles enjoying the benefits of the most important trend in power chairs to evolve into the mainstream mobility market over the past five years.

This was taken from New Mobility here

To read the whole Article, which is pdf format, click here - coming soon

~*Happening Things*~

It's been awhile since I blogged something interesting, so here I am. I really enjoyed watching the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia over the weeks it was broadcasted on TV. The Men's and Women's Hockey games were very tense to watch, very close games. It was even better to see the last GOLD medal go to the New Zealand Netball team, what a game that was!!! Way to go KIWIS!! I also enjoyed watching the closing ceremony and all the fireworks..

I bought a Hydration Pack the other day and have attached it to the back of my powerchair. It's better and easier for me, than having to carry a watter bottle everywhere. The tube of the hydration pack is just long enough too, this was one of the problems I had, when finding a good pack. As when ablebodied people wear these packs, the tube is just long enough to go over there shoulder and reach there mouth, as for my situation, there needs to be a longer tube. It's not perfect but it works.

I have a new neighbour too, she seems nice. My neighbour before moved just before Christmas to Hamiltion, his home town.

~*Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006*~

I watched the opening Ceremony last night and it was awesome! Loved the fireworks all over the city and the whole thing really. Today I've been watching some swimming, rugby and others sports from the games.

Jusr watched the Final Men's 200m Butterfly swimming event and BURMESTER Moss from NZ got GOLD!!! Yeah!! This is New Zealand's first GOLD Medal..wahoooo..more gold to come!!

~*Pasifika Festival*~

I went to Pasifika today with Mum and Dad and it was pretty good, it was my first time at this Free event.

Pasifika Festival is on every year in March, when it is the South Pacific's largest Pacific Islands community event. It is the only day you can visit Pacific Island villages without leaving Auckland. You will see, smell, taste, feel and hear the uniqueness of Auckland's Pacific Island community. Be entertained by everything from contemporary arts and music to traditional food, handicraft and cultural performances. Immerse yourself in the total Pacific Island cultural experience at Pasifika.

It was really crowded too and I couldn't get near many of the stalls or food stalls which was frustrating for me as I too wanted to check out the stalls, to see the different things/food in the different villages. My neighbours are Fijian and they were in the Fijian Village, but I didn't see them. One thing I enjoyed heh was eatting Half a Pineapple filled with chopped pinapple, watermelon, passionfruit and topped with ice cream, this was so good and was also a huge seller for the Fijian Village.

I enoyed seeing Nesian Mystik singing, that was a huge bonus to watch them sing live and I was fairly close to the stage too. Nesian Mystik sang about four songs then Adeaze (2 brothers) came on and sang too, both these bands are NZers. Here are some photos of Nesian Mystick...
From where I sat

.....::Close up::.....

I also saw David Wikaira-Paul (he's Tama off Shortland Street) singing too and he wwas really good. It turned out to be a 'very' hot sunny day and I didn't go prepared so I got really sunburnt on my face and arms. I heard on the news that it would rain and it would be increasing over the afternoon so that's what I prepared for!! Typical NZ weather changed, but it was worth it for the day out. Overall it was a enjoyable day out.

~*Show Your Ability Roadshow*~

Show Your Ability Roadshow is a one day show in six different places in New Zealand. Invacare and Hatfield Mobility are supporting the Show Your Ability again this year. Pulling together suppliers of rehab and home healthcare equipment. It's an event where occupational therapists, phsiotherapists, Needs Assessors, ACC case managers, and Service Co-ordinators can meet and try out NZ's disability equipent. Also there for Jenn to view equipment and try some powerchairs.

I was at Show Your Ability Roadshow today, which was really neat, lots of new and updated equipment to see and hear about. Invacare's stand was right near the door and it was a huge stand with some new powerchairs to see and try out. I didn't try any of them, but did see how the New Standing Dragon Vertic powerchair working. Invacare also had a new powerchair called the Adventure Alber.

Standing Dragon Vertic Powerchair



Grant Demoing the Standing feature
Link to PDF brochure for Invacare Dragon Vertic

Adventure Alber Powerchair - Good outdoor chair

Click here for more info on the Alber

Invacare also had the TDXA powerchair there which isn't a new chair. It's made at Invacare in Australia and the TDXA has Rollerchair seating on it, comes with 4 pole motors and Dynamic controls.
TDXA powerchair with Rollerchair Seating


This is the Typhoon
with Electric Tilt/Recline, Seat Lift and elevating legrests

Ok that is all Invacare's powerchairs.

Now here is something a bit different, it's called
The Explorer
Great for sand, farms and area's a normal powerchair can't drive on

WOWZERRRSSSSSS

~*Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony - Invacare TDX5*~

Great to see Vancouver Mayor Sam (a quadriplegic) waving a 16-foot Olympic flag in the ceremonial hand over at the end of the Turin Winter Olympics - using his TDX5 with a special attachment.

Vancouver Mayor's Special Flag-Waving
Device to Help Quadriplegic in Handoff - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022202716.html

Here is a picture from the closing ceremony (taken from the Olympic website http://www.torino2006.org).



What a special moment for him:)

~*Speedway*~

I went to Speedway last night with my brother Ben and it was a good night. We found a good spot to sit at this time. It was the Sprint car championship tonight and I was going for Allan Wakeling (Kohan car), the car in the above picture and he won too!! The sprint cars were doing 30 laps and he started near the back, then was in second spot. Half way through the last lap the USA guy leading the race lost some control over his car on a corner and Wakelling (Kokan) took the lead and won the race LOL you should of heard the crowd roarrr. I went into the puts to have a look at the cars half way through the evening and at the end of the night I went onto the race track with a friend of mine also in a powerchair and we drove around abit. Ben and I then went through puts again before heading home.

Photos taken from http://www.springsspeedway.com/index.sm

~*I got a New Toy*~

I finally bought myself a new toy it's the Iriver T10 512 MP3 Player and it's so kewl!! I got it cheap too as I bought four!! LOL My brother Ben decided against the IPOD Shuffle since the Iriver had more battery life and the FM feature and a few other things he liked about it, which the IPOD didn't have, his wife Ang wanted one too, so we asked around for some good cash discounts on 3 Irivers. We got one, then my sister Anna wanted one too (she did want a IPOD Nano at first) so now we were looking for four of them. We got a great deal and I picked them up yesterday. LOL I was coming home with 4 Irivers heheh felt good too.

I had a play with my new mp3 player and it's pretty easy too use, light and small and it's red, not pink like some people say...think they are colour blind. Ben came over after work wanting to play with his new toy too and he was really pleased with how easy you can get around the settings and how compact it is. It was Ben's birthday on the 12th so he got his as a present. Anna should get her's today or tomorow and she can't wait.

Now I'll be wheeling around the streets listening to music from my Iriver

Here are the specifcations for the Iriver T10 512

FEATURES: Plays up to 17+ hours of music, 512MB internal storage, Supports subscription music services, Vivid color display, Up to 53 hours of battery life, Skip-free and sport-ready, Built-in sport clip, FM tuner and FM recorder, Voice recorder, Plays MP3, WMA and OGG music files, Enhanced 3D audio (supports SRS WOW), Fast USB 2.0 transfers, 1 year warranty.
PACKED WITH: Iriver earphones, USB 2.0 interface cable, Printed manual, Installation CD, AA battery.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP (SP1 or higher), Windows Media Player 10, CD-ROM Drive, USB Port

~*Sudoku*~

Yep I finally got into having a go at Sudoku. Mum is pretty addicted to the puzzles and while out shopping we saw some really cheap Sudoku puzzle books, so she told me how you do the puzzles which sounded not as hard as I thought, so we got two books. I have now done a couple puzzles and try and do one every night. The book has Easy ones then gets to the Harder ones. It's pretty easy to do, not much thinking and I like doing them. Check out the website too http://www.sudoku.com/

~*New Toys I Want*~

• XBOX 360 Premiere Edition:

Wireless controller, 20GB Hard-drive, Media Remote, Xbox Live Silver, HD Video & Audio connectivity

• New Computer:

Intel P4 3.2 GHZ, Windows XP Media Centre Edition, 200GB Hard-drive, 2GB RAM, 256MB Video Card, DVD-RW, 19" or 21" Monitor and all the other kewl features you get.

• Iriver T10 512 MP3 Player:

FEATURES: Plays up to 17+ hours of music, 512MB internal storage, Supports subscription music services, Vivid color display, Up to 53 hours of battery life, Skip-free and sport-ready, Built-in sport clip, FM tuner and FM recorder, Voice recorder, Plays MP3, WMA and OGG music files, Enhanced 3D audio (supports SRS WOW), Fast USB 2.0 transfers, 1 year warranty.

PACKED WITH: Iriver earphones, USB 2.0 interface cable, Printed manual, Installation CD, AA battery.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP (SP1 or higher), Windows Media Player 10, CD-ROM Drive, USB Port.

• Nokia 3G Cell Phone: I'm not sure which one I want yet, but with 3G
  

or

Oh what come's first??...decisions, descions..money..money...sighs..WIN LOTTO

~*XBOX 360*~

I've been debating about Pre-ordering a XBOX 360 Premier Box and VIP Premiere Pack for awhile now. I have never had an Xbox, only a PS1 which was good at the time. I've never been a serious game player so this is one reason why I'm debating over it at such a big cost too. But since I'm jobless and not doing a lot, I might get into playing games more on the Xbox and using it's other features, as playing games on a PC is a bit slow. I was thinking I could use the Xbox for playing games and watching DVD's (even though I have a non-multiplayer DVD Player) and also download some Arcade games. I would use my PC for my usual surfing, emailing, forums and the games I already have for my pc. I have also checked out the Xbox.com website and found two games I think I'd enjoy playing, which are The Elder Scroll IV: Oblivion and Kameo: Elements of Power.

The XBOX 360 Premier Edition Box $719.99 includes:

1. Wireless controller
2. 20GB Hard-drive
3. Media Remote
4. Xbox Live Silver
5. HD Video & Audio connectivity

VIP Premiere Pack $169.95 includes:

1. Wireless controller
2. Game: Perfect Dark Zero
3. Limited Xbox 360 Faceplate
4. Xbox 360 DVD & VIP Access to the 360 Website
5. Demos
6. VIP Premiere Card for giveaways (not sure if this is from the shop I pre-order from)

I have up till March 20th to get my pre-order in if I want it. If I pre-order the Xbox 360 and the VIP Premiere Pack for $889.95, then I get $200 FREE Surival Pack, which includes, Xbox 360 carry bag, Xbox t-shirt, Xbox cap and playable demos (which I don't really need..but it's FREE). I also get my name put into a Draw for a Plasma LCD TV. Or I just buy the Xbox 360 Premier Edition Box for $719.99, but still, that's a lot of money. Errrr Decisions..decisions

Oh I found this XBOX Song LOL http://www.ggl.com/news.php?NewsId=2106

~*My Struggle with Ulcers!!*~

I don’t wish ulcers upon anyone! They are painful, interfere with daily activities and take months to heal.
Sometime between January and March 2004 I had many mosquito bites on my left ankle from wearing nothing on my feet, had a couple bites on my right foot too. In that time I had noticed that one bite on the side of my left ankle must have got infected and had a small oval scab over it.
Near the end of April the scab looked bigger and was getting sore and I couldn’t understand why, as I thought it was a healing scab. Few day’s later the scab had a red ring around it and the scab had spread over my Achilles tendon scar.
I was at the doctor’s picking up a prescription, while I was there I asked my nurse to take a look at it. The nurse said it was an ulcer, and I asked her what she meant. After finding out, she said I would have to get a dressing put on it, to ease the scab off to see what damage the ulcer has done and how deep it was. I kind of freaked out a bit as I didn’t want to find out how deep it was. My doctor did not come and see it, the nurse informed my doctor, and he asked her to organize the district nurses to come out twice a week to dress it. I was not given antibiotics at the time.

A week or two later the district nurse came over and talked to me about the history of it and how I got it and did the dressing. She arranged to get a district nurse out to see me twice a week. The scab eventually came off and the ulcer looked deep and I was in a bit of pain. I was taking Neurofen which my doctor said was OK to take for the pain.
I had not just one district nurse, but almost a different nurse each visit. This was hard as they hadn’t seen how the ulcer was before and what was being done, they just went by what was written in my chart. There was no continuity.

In September I developed an infection, this time I had two heavy infections in my ulcer called Pseudamonas and Staphylococcus A. These infections had given me two more ulcers, on the side of my ankle and my skin had broken down too. My skin and ulcers were being treated with many medical dressings, sometimes the ulcers would start looking good, then a different dressing and I am back to square one. My doctor had looked at the swab results and put me on antibiotics which I reacted too so I had to ring my doctor for something different, My Mum rushed up to the doctor’s to get the antibiotics as I needed them fast and I was too sick to leave the house. I reacted to these too and was quite sick for two weeks while taking them. I had to elevate my leg as much as I could as my leg was very swollen and at times felt like it was going to explode. I said to my doctor that I need more pain killers as I had finished a bottle of 96 Neurophen capsules. As the pain was still there and getting worse I was given Paracetamol but to take it only when needed.
Over this time the pain at night got so extreme I was crying in pain, having to sit up with my legs hanging off the edge of the bed due to the pain and pressure of the oedema in my feet and legs. I also found it very painful with the pressure of my ulcers against the mattress. There were times I wanted morphine or something stronger for the pain. I dreaded going to bed at night, knowing how much pain I was going to be in. This went on for three weeks to the point I couldn’t take it anymore. Paracetamol didn’t work so I rang back and I was given Codalgin which helped a bit.
My brother luckily had finished work for a few weeks and could come and stay with me and sort something out to reduce the pain at night. He put pillows under my leg so there was nothing against the ulcers and got up in the middle of the night a few times to recorrect the pillows and get my leg in a comfy position. After the first two nights, I was managing to get some sleep and having less pain, it felt good.

The ulcers were not healing, my skin was almost raw, was red, sore, swollen and still infected with Pseudamonas. My Mum had arranged a private appointment with a Wound Care Consultant. We discussed why the ulcers were not healing, what treatment options I had. I made my decision to get help from her. I needed to change my doctor to one in the same IPO as the wound care specialist nurse so the cost of dressings would be covered. The following week I went to the Medical Centre and the Wound Consultant told me the treatment plan. I was to have compression bandages done every day for two weeks to get the oedema down plus full elevation of my leg. The plan of attack was to get the oedema down, then treat the infection, then treat the ulcers. Two weeks later my leg oedema had gone down almost back to normal size and the infection was starting to get under control. The infection was treated with Iodosorb cream which needed changing daily. Four weeks later my ulcers were under control and healing was showing. After having nine months of treatment from the district nurses to 4 weeks of treatment with success is a huge improvement.

I developed an ulcer on my right leg near the ankle as I had banged my leg on my wheelchair and had some pressure there too, while the left leg ulcers were healing. We treated the new ulcer with Iodosorb and a batch of antibiotics for a while as I had a couple small infections of pseudomonas. I was using a compression stocking on my other leg now while skin was healing, so we started using a compression stocking on my right leg too as there was a little oedema there too. This took a couple months to heal and did in time for me to go to Australia in April 2005.

I am wearing compression stockings every day now on both legs to help the skin heal back to normal, this will take 12 months. Wearing the stockings will also keep away any oedema and help circulation. Ulcers and pressure sores are similar so I have to watch out for pressure on my legs too. Be aware of any scabs, pressure sores and red sore areas as you don’t want to deal with what I had to go through, with a lot of pain and exhaustion.

Ulcer Being treated by District Nurse: note swelling of leg

Ulcer's being treated by Wound Care Consultant

Leg in Compression Bandages

~*ProfessioNAIL*~

I'm so annoyed with the so called ProfesioNAIL ladies. I went to get my 'usual' gel overlay back fill done and my nails filed down abit as they are too long. It's really hard cause these girls do not speak English as a first language so for them trying to understand what I'm wanting is crazy. Anyhow I told them what I wanted, she started filing down my nails to the length I was happy with. She then said that she would have to remove all the hard gel overlay nails off my real nails, and redo the gel overlay so I said fine, $40 that be. It felt quite weird having hard gel nails being peeled off the top of my own nails. She had done that then she cut's my nails again, and I was thinking is she just cutting the ends off?? but noooooo she cut them so short, right down to my skin..I just about died!! Then she pulled out false nails, I said no I don't want those, I asked for gel overlay, like I always have. After some dicussion with another work mate then back to me, she said ok. She said do you like short nails?? I said no, you cut em short...duhhh She then filed them round, saying it's hard to file short nails. Then she painted them with clear nail polish as I requested. OH and the cost had gone up to $55.00. errrrr So anyway my fingers abit sore and I wasn't happy with what she did. I won't let her near my nails again!! I do like ProfessioNAILS as they normally do a good job and I can sit comfortable at there tables. I just have to wait till my nails grow to get nails:(

This is what my nails did look like when I went in, now they are very short!!

~*Auckland Anniversary*~

Yesterday was Auckland Anniversary so Dad and I went down to Mission Bay by the waterfront. The sun was out and clear blue sky with high humidity. Dad and I went to the viewing peak area, which had huge areas of nice green cut grass. Lot's of people were there too looking at the view. A plane had flew across really low and it was neat seeing that fly over our heads lol We could see lots of sailing boats racing and some really small sailing boats. We saw one huge sail boat that had five sails!! and a Navy Ship which sounded off the gun for the boat race.

Dad and I went around more to the other side to see Mission Bay and next minute an F16 or F18 plane flew over our heads really low too along with the roar of the flyover. It then went straight up into the sky and did some twirls then went around the back of the viewing area, so we thought, cause next minute we heard a load zooooom noise and the F18 did another low fly over, this time the plane was even lower and clearer to see..It was WAY kewl!!! I loved it, I wanted more flyovers hehe

It's a shame I didn't have my camara with me. We then walked down the peak and down into Mission Bay and had BK for lunch. Yep both me and Dad had BK!! Yummy.. We did see another place, think it was a War Bird plane but it did some neat stuff too.
We then walked back to the van and headed home.