Journey

Rory’s impairments have significantly altered the path of his life and they have twisted ours.  We have brought the boys up in the outdoors.  As they grew up there was a set pattern to how our weekends played out; a day of sport/house-keeping and a day in the outdoors tramping, hunting or volunteering for conservation projects.  The days outdoors were our joy as we explored the wilds of Aotearoa, often with passionate like-minded people in the company of rare and special plants and animals.  This time has dwindled to one day a month.  We do not like leaving Rory behind but we need time in the wild together.  We are not indoors people.  We are fortunate Support Carer Jo is willing to work a day in the weekend.  It is a wonderful gift. 

Yesterday Sean, Colt and I spent the day with Stratford Tramping Club as they were heading to somewhere special.  We haven’t been with them for a while and they asked where Rory was.  I felt a sadness in my heart as Rory is no longer able to tramp and Sean and I cannot support him any distance as his balance and co-ordination is severely impaired.  Our tramp was to McCluggage wetland, rail tunnel and old Mill site at Pohokura.  It was a blue sky and Toutouwai (NI robin), Miromiro (Tomtit) and Pūweto (Spotless Crake) were calling.  The forest was a vivid green and loaded with moisture so we were treated to Earth Star Fungi and patches of Sphagnum moss.  It was cold in the 250m rail tunnel which we navigated using head torches.  The tunnel was hand dug by the property owners to provide access and haulage to the forest to log mature rimu trees. 

Rory spent his day with Jo.  One of the challenges to providing Rory with quality of life, as well as recruiting, managing and retaining Support Carers, is finding new and interesting activities for them to do.  There are a lot of activities Rory cannot participate in due to either mobility or cognitive function.  There are also things he does not want to do.  Yesterday Rory and Jo visited one of the community libraries for graphic novels, walked around Pukekura Park refueling with a mocha and called in at the King of the Mountain BBQ competition.  Unfortunately there were no tasters so they left drooling with hunger pains. 

Thankfully it has been a reasonably quiet week on the medical front.  I caught up with ACC case worker Jes and Sean took Rory to the hospital for blood and urine tests for kidney function.  Colt gave us a scare.  I took a call from Inglewood Primary which caused my heart to pound.  He had been hurt playing big ball soccer, hitting his head hard on the ground.  He wasn’t knocked out but was dizzy and couldn’t initially remember his name.  By the time I arrived at the school he was coherent and largely ok apart from a bad headache.  I was very relieved to see him improve as the afternoon went on.