It Could Only Happen to Robbie

There are some things that only seem to happen to Robbie. When I got home last night I found Robbie sitting in his PJ's with one trouser leg rolled up. It crossed my mind that he could have joined the Masons, but it seemed an unlikely explanation (unless they have a railway section) so I had to find a more obvious reason for the new style. As I took a closer look at his leg I saw that it was badly cut in a series of scratches that ran up and around his leg. According to him he was innocently walking home when a rose jumped out and grabbed his leg. Apparently he'd had quite a struggle to free himself! I hope he hasn't ripped yet another pair of trousers, it is bad enough when he falls over and writes off his trousers without finding new ways to destroy them. His leg is hurting him quit a lot, I really hope it will not turn septic.

No Easy Answers

Robbie and I were rather anxious when we went to the hospital to see his consultant yesterday. We were surprised to find that we didn't have to wait very long until Robbie was called into the consulting room. The consultant explained that the MRI scan had been worthwhile because they were able to get some good pictures of Robbies spine and the pictures had been reviewed by a specialist at Oxford. As expected there was clear evidence of the damage caused by his spina bifida and they could see that his spinal cord was significantly longer than normal with less smaller branches coming from it. The good new was that there is nothing on the scan pictures to suggest that there is any tethering of the cord at the moment. There were words of caution too, Robbie should never have a lumbar puncture or any procedure on his lower back because it could cause serious damage. So the messsage was to keep walking, to accept the falling over and the pain as just part of him and to take great care of his lower back because if anything goes wrong with it they will not be able to put it right. It sounds a bit grim and it would have been nice if we could have found a way to stop the falls and to deal with the pain, but we didn't really expect that. I think we just have to be grateful that the news was as good as we could have hoped for. So now he just has to learn to bounce when he falls over and hopefully he will try not to fall in front of a car or a train!

Mr Bump 07.01.08

Robbie has been stress testing the tarmac again. He fell over on his way out of work and wrote off yet another pair of suit trousers; perhaps he is the victim of a plot by M&S to boost their profits! At this rate he really will be going to work in his PJ's! Actually he hurt himself quite badly, he has a big cut on his leg, a swollen hand, a very painful arm and he is feeling rather battered and bruised. Every time he moves he gives a little yelp of pain followed buy an assortment of expletives. By tomorrow he will be so stiff that he will be walking like Spotty Dog! It worries me, he fell into the road this time and he could so easily have been run over, we have to find a way of keep his feet firmly planted on the ground. Maybe diving boots would solve the problem! This time his beloved Dr Marten Chelsea boots got the blame, apparently the sole has too much wear, so tonight he will be online ordering more trousers and looking for a new pair of boots. The lengths some people will go to buy new shoes!! Thankfully his glasses survived unscathed otherwise we would be taking out a second mortgage and he would have devastated because he loves his 'Robbie' glasses even more than his Dr Martens.

Boy's Toys 15.10.2007

I am feeling depressed this morning, I knew it would happen one day but last night I was shocked by the sudden revelation that I am old. It happened quite unexpectedly, Robbie was chatting to me in the bedroom and suddenly I realised that I had become my grandmother. It was the subject of our conversation that disturbed me so much - bowels! I was horrified, I had a disturbing vision of Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough as Cissy and Ada and I vowed to steer clear of the subject of bowels for at least another twenty years!

Robbie took four of our six children to London on Saturday to visit the Science Museum. Robbie managed to fall over again, this time only his dignity was bruised. He phoned to tell me about his fall and he seemed very upset by it, this worried me until I realised that he was only troubled about his T shirt, he had spilled hot chocolate and had got two small stains on his top! Everyone had a good time and Robbie arrived home exhausted.

Robbie's recent difficulty with the vertical prompted a detailed conversation about childhood toys. Yes, you've guessed it we were talking about Weebles, the ones that wobble but don't fall down! Robbie went on to say how much he enjoyed visiting his cousins because he loved playing with their dolls pram and their Sindy dolls. Clearly he has always been in touch with his feminine side! I was not really a doll person, I liked my Tiny Tears, but I was more into cars and in those blissful non PC days I had a selection of pop guns and cap guns and a couple of rather splendid Red Indian head dresses. I even had a wigwam. I was a fan of a series called the Virginian, in fact I watched quite a lot of cowboy films. I had a whole fleet of toy cars, including Lady Penelope's pink car and the Batmobile. Robbie recalled his Evel Knievel set with realistic motorbike noises, but Britain's toys were among my favourites. I had the zoo, the farm and the riding stables, I even had a few cowboys, but I didn't have a fort. My parents had a toy shop and I loved setting out all the Britain's models, rows and rows of all types of soldiers, it kept me busy for ages. I liked to help with the Action Man displays too, but despite my interest in boys toys, it didn't take me long to work out that most boys were incredibly boring. After all why would they waste hours building and painting Airfix models when they could buy ready made boats, planes etc from the Corgie and Dinky ranges that were much nicer and didn't fall apart when you touched them. Of course there were exceptions, not all boys were boring, my dad was cool and my heros of the time were Jim the builder and Martin the paper boy!