Journey

Our love and congratulations go to Sam and Caitlyn who held their engagement party last night.  It was a symbol of their love and commitment to each other.  They were able to share their happiness with the people who care about them.  An engagement is also about the joining of two families.  We welcome Caitlyn into ours and the Smith’s welcome Sam into theirs.  Rory made them a small box from recycled timber for the wedding rings and the gift bought tears to Sam’s eyes.  Sam and Caitlyn are both working hard to establish their careers and have bought a house.  Marriage is the next step in their plans accompanied by overseas travel.  They are a lot more organised than Sean and I were at their age.  The celebration was all the more special as Sean’s sister Teri and her partner Graham were visiting from the Gold Coast for the first time in 5+ years.  Grannie and Grandad Gardiner also drove up for the weekend.  This morning we enjoyed family time over a slap-up brunch at our place.  Colt has been on Intermediate camp all week in Otaki and Wellington with Inglewood Primary.  IPS alternates the intermediate camp, one year local and one year away.  Sean and I have taken turns with the boys attending the local camps and let them go out of the region on their own so they could spread their wings.  As I hugged Colt good bye I had second thoughts about this approach and wished I had signed up to go.  I felt sad due to the passage of time.  It will likely be the last opportunity I have to attend a school camp with one of my children.  Once Colt gets to high school it won’t be cool to take mum, whereas Sean may slide in with one more opportunity. 

This week Rory had his first session with new Support Carer Mark.  It was also the first day back at the Skills for Living course at WITT for the year.  On Thursday morning there was no Peter or Men’s Shed so Mark covered a second shift.  It went pretty well.  On Thursday afternoon we met with Karen from Wheel Adventures so Rory could trial the Omeo  https://wheeladventures.nz/ .  The Omeo is a powered mobility assistance device with active seat control.  Rory’s safety is now questionable walking with the rollator.  He can only cover a short distance and fatigues quickly.  His lack of mobility is affecting his quality of life.  We are now looking into powered devices to keep him active in the community into the future.  Rory learnt and managed the Omeo more quickly and competently than we expected.  It did require a reasonable amount of concentration and he will only ever be able to drive in snail mode (10km/hr) as opposed to normal mode (30km/hr).  It is better for him to use a joystick to steer rather than his body.  This is simpler as he will only have to use his body to control forward and backward movement.  We will work with new OT Coralie to trial other mobility devices before a recommendation is made to ACC as to what solution is the most appropriate.  It has been a full on week!