Paul and Tracy's Main Blog

It's getting ever closer to Christmas, and whilst we're very excited (being the big kids we are!), we're also reflecting on what was happening just a year ago...

It seems like a lifetime ago now, but just last week was the anniversary of the worst day of the whole "Slovakian incident". On 17th December 2007, Tracy woke unable to move her right leg and in excrutiating pain. We both feared that her broken spine had moved and she'd be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. The whole incident is captured in my blog entry of the time (you can find it under Past Trips - Our Old Blog) so I won't recount it here, suffice to say that the date didn't pass without reflection (a pity, as it's also my brother's birthday...). It's simply amazing to look at how Tracy is now and remember that just such a relatively short time ago she was being carried downstairs on a spine board, screaming in agony and on the way to the hospital where she would remain for 3 long months...

Now she's fully mobile and taking good care of me!

And today she's been back to see Mr Muir and has active movement in her arm from 58-124 degrees which is just incredible (if you recall, before the latest operation, she had just 70-102). She's now trying to remember to use her right arm instead of her left - at least for those things she can now do. Every now and then she catches herself doing something she didn't think she could, like putting her right hand on her left shoulder!

This last week has also seen Carlie return home from Uni, and us getting ready for Christmas. We've completed our shopping now (Tracy has been very busy!) and wrapped everything up, and on Sunday we went over to see my family and exchange gifts. As I don't like being late for anything, we set off early and picked Carlie up from her sister's where she'd been helping out with the decorating(!) and headed off to Nikki's, arriving around noon. Only to discover they weren't expecting anyone until 2pm!! Suitably embarassed, when Nikki went to my mum's to pick her up and help wrap some presents, we went for a drive round, visiting the house I was born in (I was born at home) and the schools I went to as a child. When we returned to Nikki's the rest of the family weren't too far behind and we had a lovely afternoon chatting and eating the delicious Cumbrian Hot Pot Nikki & John had laid on (using my recipe, it has to be said!). As it's not quite Christmas, our rules prevent us from opening our presents, but we made an exception for my mum so she could open the present Nikki and John had bought her - a digital photo frame loaded with photographs from our childhood... I won't show any of the pictures here, but the expression on my mum's face says it all...





With the weekend over, we've only 3 more days to go until Christmas... and I can't wait! We've a hectic schedule as normal, although Christmas Day will be relatively quiet with just the 3 of us at home (Tracy, Carlie and me) - Boxing Day is the busy one with all my kids and grandkids coming, and then we're off to Tracy's mum & dad's for the weekend... If I survive, I'll post an update before the New Year!

Merry Christmas!