Mellbreak done!

Dear All,

I've had a pretty good month really, and whilst I'm not fully out of the woods yet, I'm beating the head-injury I think.

What I'm much more sure about, is my physical progress, having run 6.6km in Vicky Park and swam 700m in London Fields Lido recently. The high-point though has been climbing Mellbreak with VB, Mum and Dad, in the Lake District. Himalayan it aint, but being able to do the 5km walk with 400m of ascent was great, and the views spectacular (see attached...but ignore the idiot on the left with his eyes shut).

The sponsorship pages for the epic London to Brighton ride are as follows:

http://www.justgiving.com/JimPooletoBrighton2
http://www.justgiving.com/JimPooletoBrighton

James / Jimbo / Multi

Jim to the gym

Dear All,

I've had a couple of good weeks since my last update - I've done gym sessions (at a gym for the disabled and recovering called 'Ability Bow'), jogged for another few buses (I need to sort out my punctuality for public transport I know) and continued to walk in the parks.

Xmas was fun (Pooles on Christmas Day, Beaneys on Boxing Day). VB and I celebrated the New Year by staying up until 22.30h - pretty rockstar!

I have an established programme of:

Gym sessions

Cycling on my exercise bike

Physio appointments

Occupational therapy (including presentations and work on FT articles)

A friend of mine is organising a sponsored London- Brighton bike ride on 15^th May as a fund raising event for the Keswick Mountain Rescue and the Great North Air Ambulance. These were the organisations who sorted out my evacuation/rescue to Newcastle General Hospital. I’ll keep you posted of developments on that score – lots of space for participants!

James / Jimbo / Multi

Heads or tails?

It's been a funny old week, I went on the Underground for the first time, jogged all of about 5 metres for a bus (just making it!), gone through the full emotional spectrum, and done a family xmas party which tired me out for about two days.

The physical recovery was the easy bit though, and now I'm battling with the bang to my head. I'd strongly advise any of you, when paragliding, to mind out for your bonse, head injuries are really rubbish, believe me. My head's affecting my walking, talking, my memory, emotional state and my eyes (giving me double vision) - all a bit frustrating to be honest. My impatience isn't really helping things either though.
Have a great xmas and good luck to those having to negotiate snow to get to where their going, but mind your noggin!

4kms All-In

Dear All,

After two or three days of getting emotional and feeling sorry for myself, I finally had a good day today. The snow/ice melted to the point where Victoria Park came on the horizon. I walked there with the use of a couple of ski poles and did a whole lap with Mum. This is probably an expedition of 4km all-in, so I'm hugely pleased with the progress.

I also saw my GP for the first time this afternoon, and he seemed very pleased with my progress. During the nights I'm waking several times with the muscles on my front completely tight and stiff. My weak back (due to operation) doesn't oppose this, and my back bends and stiffens, really hurting me. The GP has prescribed me something for this so that I can maximise my sleep. My small brain needs all the sleep/help it can get you see.

Well done England!!!

A Second Chance

A message from James Poole – 1 December 2010 (Bulletin No.13)

Right, it's James here – signing in for the first time and obviously pretty excited to be still alive - hooray! I’ve Just read the preceding diary entries, so the bar is high.

My memory is a bit shabby. I’ve totally forgotten my accident and 5 subsequent weeks as well as (amusingly) the week or so beforehand. The reason that this is amusing is that I badgered my brother and girlfriend to come round, on the Saturday before my paragliding debacle to watch the Ironman (triathlon) World Championships in Hawaii on the internet. Of course 9 hours watching TV isn't that exciting and they both fell asleep - with me, sad as it sounds, glued to the action. Well anyway, our (British) girl Chrissie Wellington, the two times defending champion wasn't racing because she was ill (big shock, because she was expected to win the race). But it was a full 7 weeks after the triathlon that my brother told me this and it registered in my head!

I have also been reminded by a couple of colleagues I worked with at Cooper Gay that I spent the week before my accident nicking a bit of their business in Qatar off them. They were very gracious during their recent visit I might add.

So it's memory, my walking, talking and my eyesight that the head injury is affecting. I really wouldn't recommend a head injury if you can possibly avoid it. It's pretty frustrating, trust me. I also get a bit emotional. I feel as if I am in two places, one – glad to be alive, determined to get better and pleased with how my recovery is going, and a second which is at times despondent and frustrated. This is a pretty negative place. I simply want to be better but recognise that there are going to be highs and lows, they're just unavoidable.

Physically I'm doing well considering the state I was in: broken neck, 10 broken ribs and a broken collarbone. I'm over the moon with the way everything is healing. I went for a 100 metre walk on day 1 out of hospital and 1km on day 4. I was so pleased and felt like I'd broken my personal best for the marathon - amazing! I'm clearly going to have to re-think my ideas about exercising, or at least the measures because my training log for the week leading up to my accident includes a session that says: "25 miles at average pace, ok run". I'm now in a different world.

I’m getting a second chance – in this new world and I'm hugely appreciative of the support that my family and girlfriend have/are giving me through the recovery phase. I've been let out of hospital on the basis that an adult oversees me, so my Mum is working from my home (not the Lakes) during the daytime and my girlfriend looks after me overnight. I'm hugely thankful for this - I'm just so pleased to be out of hospital.

I'd also like to thank all my friends who have visited me – in Newcastle and in London. Having people over is something I look forward to, enjoy when it happens and remember afterwards. This is improving my life and I'm sure it's speeding up my recovery. Thanks also to everyone who has been thinking of me - I really appreciate your support.

110 Metre Endurance Walking Competition

It’s Duncan here again. I’m sitting here alone in Cumbria – well, alone that is apart from Radia De Longhi, who is nestling between my knees.

You’ll all know that James came out of the Royal London a week ago. Penny and I had about 30 minutes notice of this. We appeared (from Cumbria) at about 1700 hours. James told us “I’m coming out today”. We thought “no, chum, you’re off your trolley”. His nurse then appeared and said “We’re discharging James this evening”. So to our surprise, we found ourselves taking him home (to his flat) at about 1900 hours. James, it transpired was, after all, on his trolley. Although of course, he had to come off it in order to get out.

He’s delighted with this move and it is undoubtedly the best thing for him. His flat offers attractive surroundings and the catering is much better at Flat 11, Victoria Wharf than it was in the Mile End Road.

He’s made great strides with his walking. His 90 year old grandmother, Nana, would have beaten him by a long chalk in a 110 metre endurance walking competition on 23^rd November (James wouldn’t have finished). By 26^th November, however, he was up to 1km, which would have given Nana a run for her money. Things are looking up.

His eyesight is also looking up, so to speak. The wonkiness has reduced and his eyes are becoming more aligned.

Friday was a busy day. Apart from a gruelling walk in the sunshine along a towpath, across a footpath and through a park, he had several visitors – Anna, Michael and a contingent of medical chaps from Tower Hamlets. The latter (Gaby, Susan and Alan) came to do an assessment. This took two hours, most of which was An Inquisition. The objective of the visit was to find out what was necessary to get James back to work. The result was that he will get some help on physio, with his eyesight and some help on return to work skills (managing his programme and that sort of thing). He then demonstrated that he could walk safely up and downstairs, knew that 999 was the right number to ring to get the fire brigade, didn’t know how to turn the water off (I must find out from our plumber how to do this up here in Cumbria) and was able to articulate his goals quite clearly.

The goals are:

· Carry on going out with his girlfriend (whom he described as a superstar)

· Get back to work

· Get running again

Anything that we can do to help in these areas will doubtless be appreciated!

The Gaby/ Susan/ Alan team were extremely impressed with James’ progress. They said that they were astonished that he was recovering as fast as he is – so that’s good news.

Having been fed through a nasal gastric tube for 4weeks with a continuous drip liquid, James’ stomach has shrunk. It hasn’t had to accommodate large sporadic insurance lunches. Until it’s stretched back to normal size, capacity (and so energy intake) is limited, so he’s still inclined to get tired. Several of you have sent very welcome and tasty hampers/ parcels and these will all help. Mental picture – goose, foie gras – I’m sure that you get the general idea.

A couple of other things:

1. Thank you all very much for your continued support, interest and presents.

2. James’ university friend, Raj, is seeking contributions to a birthday present for James (who attained the ripe old age of 28 on Thursday last week). Some of you may have picked this up from an email which came out last week. Raj’s idea is to get James an iPad and load it with some pictures of James. Several of my cynical colleagues thought that this was a scam. Well, it wasn’t. If you would like to support the idea, you can send me a cheque (Duncan Poole, Whinfell Hall, Low Lorton, Cumbria CA13 0RQ), I’ll pay the cheques into my account and then forward the money to Raj for him to bring the idea to fruition. He’ll still need the photos direct. As I said to Raj (post issue of email), I thought that it would be prudent not to buy anything until he had cash in hand - many of you have been very generous already with time, accommodation, food, flowers etc.

James will have a go at the next bulletin – he’s keeping a diary, which rivals that of other diarist greats like Samuel Pepys and Bridget Jones.

Cheerio to you all for now,

With love from Penny, Bean & James and Alasdair in London,

And me (in chilly Cumbrian isolation – Radia De Longhi is an oil filled radiator, by the way, and not much of a substitute for Penny),

Duncan

29^th November 2010.

'Home Sweet Home'

Hello everyone – Penny here this time!

Duncan and I arrived in London yesterday afternoon, expecting James’s discharge from The Royal London Hospital to be imminent. And how. Within 45 minutes we’d had briefings from a selection of medical, nursing and rehab professionals, pocketed the paperwork, gathered together the boy’s belongings and eased our way (oh so gently) into a taxi. Whitechapel Road mid-rush hour is a bit of a shock to the senses for Cumbrian country bumpkins like us – so imagine how James must have felt. However, this was nothing compared to the exhilaration (and emotion) of stepping inside his flat, the first time for more than five weeks.

Enough excitement for one afternoon. James was soon ready to show off a skill he’s rapidly perfecting – the power nap. It’s a nifty trick, strongly recommended by early morning TV presenters and neuropsychologists alike. Why not give it a try?

By mid evening, James and Bean were finally able to enjoy a bit of peace, quiet, pasta and garlic bread a deux (other members of the extended Team Poole maintaining a discreet distance – i.e. downstairs).

The morning after the night before and James still can’t quite believe his luck – or that he’s really home (and not being constantly interrupted by necessary but tedious hospital routines). A leisurely shower and breakfast were enough to prompt a brief siesta – good work! We’re planning a little bit of fresh air mid afternoon, but will see how things go. Doubtless he’ll want to listen to The Archers first!