The first two weeks.

On Saturday the 6th of June Stuart came off his motorbike at 2pm on the Junee to Wantabadery Rd. He was returning from Junee to the finish line after doing corner duty in Junee for the McDonald's Cycle Classic.

He was found by Alanna, who saw his motorbike and thought they should check to see if all was okay. Stuart was found at 11am on Sunday morning he had spent 20hrs alone at the side of the road. Unable to move his legs, with no mobile service, neither 000 or 112 working. He spent the night watching the moon cross the nights sky and waiting for the rain showers to get a drink, unable to hail the passing cars.

He was transferred to WWBH and then onto RNS (Royal North Shore) spinal unit in Sydney by air ambulance.

CT and MRI scans showing that he had thoracic vertebra fractures. Also fractured ribs which resulting in a collapsed lung requiring a chest drain, which was more painful than the fractured vertebra.

At 0800 Monday the 8th Stuart went to theatre for a spinal fusion and bone graft. The surgery went very well and he was back on the word by 2pm. Iain, Maggie and Jess came from Wagga Wagga and Newcastle that day.

Amy was able to come up Stuart's friends David and Andrew from Wollongong on Tuesday. It was great to have the family together for a few hours.

Our phones were running hot with calls from family and friends - thanks to all! Also thanks for the meals and offers of help back in Wagga Wagga.

Over the next week Stuart progressed really well, had his wound drains and chest tube removed and was able to shower on a shower bed by Saturday. He remained NBM(nil by mouth) only allowed ice to suck until the weekend when he commenced on clear fluids......he enjoyed his first meal on Monday just so much, he was starving and was over jelly big time.

Tuesday the 16th Iain and I were here to see Stuart get up in a chair - he had a massive head spin, which settled quite quickly and is common especially for lanky young men. We then rolled around the ward to the physio in the wheelchair and occupational therapy unit to see what happens and get a feel for the place. He managed to stay up for 40 minutes.

Wednesday Stuart showered himself on a shower chair and then got up at 1:30pm and we ventured to the physio room for a 40 minute workout with passive leg pedaling, arm weights exercises and arm pedaling machine. The chair he was in had a high back and I had to wheel him - no independence yet. We ventured downstairs for a coffee on Thursday after he got fitted for a self propelled wheelchair. Not easy as he was too tall for most of the chairs.

He went for a VQ scan (nuclear isotopes injected into the body to check the lung function, picked up on a special camera) as he had some chest pain and a temperature on Wednesday night. Scan was clear, he is have antibiotics intravenously for a chest infection.

On Friday Stuart got up back to physio with Tristan to do some balancing exercises and ball games - catch Stuart catch.

The three of us then escaped into the great outdoors and went around the block and found an old cometary nearby! He managed over 3 hours in the chair - A great effort

Saturday Stuart was up and 12:15 and had his first meal out of bed at a table with friends from Wagga. There was no physio over the weekend but we had lots of visitors from Wagga Wagga, Canberra and locals to keep us both busy.

Today Monday, another good day visitors in the morning from Newcastle and then up at 1:30 for physio. Stuart Did some transfers from chair to exercise table, balancing skills with peg board and 2kg medicine ball and then the highlight PING PONG against Alison with ball girls. We had to a visit to Occupational Therapy to set his programme for the next week. Stuarts Number 1 goal is to be able to transfer from bed to a chair, to give him some independance. We then went the hairdresser and he looks like a new man, even the nurses think he looks very dapper. He continues his IV antibiotics and nebulizer, awaiting a chest x-ray, hopefully the chest infection is clearing up.

Janet Hume