First: An apology...
Man, I need to get into the whole blogging my life thing better... We will never have a the greatest blog on earth otherwise!
So I am learning, and I will do it more... I have drafts... just need to publish and let my adoring public love my work... *Silence.... Crickets chirping.... tumbleweed rolls past....* or not... I have written a blog on my solo bike trip from UK to Portugal... I will make it live as soon as I have proofread and edited it... so bear with me... it is coming... However in this post I need to discuss some bad news, with a silver lining... Today was ment to be the beginning of a new chapter...
We today (29th), just after 12:30, should have been at Paris airport unpacking our bikes to start an adventure in cycling. We planned to cycle from Paris to UK as a pilot test to see how our family copes with long distance cycle touring.
However I am saddened to report that we are not on that trip. We have missed that flight... we didn't even get up for the plane, or pack our bags... all because of one fateful day 3 weeks ago... What happened you ask.... Well, it was a family fun play time that day, tickles and silliness all around. Great day. During the playing around... my wife bumped her head. Nothing serious. Not even anything we thought too much about and continued playing… But the next day she had a tremendous headache…. And the next day… And the next… Finally we decided that something wasn't right…. So she went to hospital with her father – who works there. She got seen and did some tests and came back with no diagnosis. A few days later, all filled with headaches and dizziness, she went back to the hospital. This time she came back and dropped the bombshell that had been dropped on her: her diagnosis was Hydrocephalus. Water on the brain. A condition normally found in children, and quite possibly something she has had since childhood… but that bump on the head while paying with us was enough to bring it to light… we have been told that it is incurable. There is treatment available… but most of it requires surgery. She was told that she is to forget bikes as they would be too dangerous for her, and travel was certainly out of the question. This just 3 weeks before we were due to set out travelling! We spent 4 days in a depressive mood. Crying and angry at the injustice of it all… I also spent those 4 days researching the condition and procedures and the implications of the surgical interventions. Basically the doctors were telling us that our life -as we planned it and shared on Facebook and on here- was over. Freedom, adventure and an active amazing life, just an arm’s length away, was snatched from us… Everything we had planned, bought, worked towards…. Taken from us… My boys were excitedly looking forward to the adventure… My wife has since worried and stressed that this could break our family. We have all been heartbroken… But we are not stopped (nor are we breaking as a family)… My wife has gone from being a bundle of energy to being a frail woman, needing rest most of the day, being sensitive to noise, to light… and having headaches frequently. Doctors told her that the little knock on the head may have displaced the liquid already in her brain to cause her pain and to go to hospital. She was warned of dizziness which she has had frequently, and of vomiting. If she vomited, it would be an emergency session at the hospital. I can thank God that despite the dizziness and the feeling like throwing up, she hasn’t once thrown up. She is fragile. I have never seen her like this... and it scares me. She has days where she wakes up already in pain. Dizzy. Lack of appetite… Then she has days where she wakes up fine, but it only take a scream from the kids, or some banging noise and she is in agony again… she has little spats where suddenly she grabs me with a lack of balance. The doctor put her on a 3 week “watch” to see if she might be a lucky one and escape having surgery… if the pain eased, if the symptoms eased, they would recommend another form of less invasive treatment. She will never be rid of the symptoms entirely – particularly balance issues and dizzy spells, and the occasional headache. But it will be manageable with non-invasive treatments and a medication that the doctor has not specified yet. Only time will tell if she continues with sensitivity to light and sounds. The doctors have a certain bias over here, and for them Bikes and traveling is a “rich man's” exploit… certainly not something for a family, trying to live cheap. They have told her / us to forget travels… But we are not that easily deterred, and found out more about the condition. We have now turned to recumbent trikes after we read about other people with the same condition getting out there and riding. One of which is now touring USA, the other climbed the mountains around the Himalayas and another travelled from USA to Argentina! So we want to get my wife a recumbent and get us back out there. Safely, and securely. We want to build her confidence – as that took a serious blow, and show that we will not allow the condition to stop us living a full life… We are looking at the various brands of Trikes, and have settled on the ICE Trikes in UK – not the most expensive, but not the cheapest. We need something that will support her back, and in turn her head from being shaken/jolted. With a recumbent, she cannot fall down. Even with loss of balance, she only needs apply the brakes and she is safe…
We wouldn’t consider these travels if it were unsafe…
Challenging? Yes. Dangerous? No. Risky? Life is risky... so yes. We have read and spoken to people who have far worse conditions, including a man who fell a great height, broke his skull, spent a year in hospital, 5 months unable to speak and having to re-learn, and 14 years recovering… His right side of his body was/is practically useless, yet his dream was to cycle in Tibet. He did it. Despite his severe disability, he did it on his trike. If he and others can achieve their goals and dreams, so can we!
We missed flights and the "new chapter" today... but we believe that was to save us from something worse on the road. So we are trying to be positive and proactive.
Thank you again!
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The Authors:We are a Christian Home-Schooling, plant-food-based family, traveling and making the most of this life and sharing it with our 3 wonderful kids! Archives
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