Steve has had another full week this last week and has took the opportunity this weekend to catch up on his rest. He has had a number of hospital appointments and everything regarding his recovery from his injuries is progressing well. The burns to his lower buttocks have almost healed now. This has been such a long process but the area is looking much better. Steve may return to Wythenshawe hospital in the near future for a short inpatient stay for further treatment. He also has the visit to the Fire Service therapy centre coming up so he is keeping active and working towards being more mobile and able to look after himself.

 

Steve has further appointments with the consultant who did the surgery on his elbow. More surgery may be required in the near future to enable him to be more flexible in this area. All this is in the early stages of the decision making process and Steve will decide what he wants to happen and what further surgery he wants to go through.

 

Steve was visited this week by Mr Dixon, Chief Fire Officer and Mr Ciaramella, Assistant Chief Fire Officer. Steve and Pauline thoroughly enjoyed their company and had a really good chat with them. Steve commented to me after their visit how good it was to see them both and how grateful he was that they had taken time from their busy schedule to come and see him and Pauline at their house.

 

Steve has a somewhat quieter week coming up and visiting from family and friends is starting again. He is looking forward to seeing  people and catching up on what they have been up to.

 

Thanks for keeping in touch.

 

Gary

Our Steve is home now and has had a busy week with visiting various hospitals and being visited by a number of care professionals. The main thing for Steve Pauline and the wider family is that he is home now and already we have seen a more determined effort to get fitter. Pauline has named him "pneumatic man" because he just wants to keep going when he is exercising and doing his physio. This obviously does tire the man out and in the evenings he settles down early to rest and recovery ready for the next day.

 

Whilst he has been home Steve has been working on using his hands more and is now able to lift a cup to his mouth more comfortably and he is getting better at using his knife and fork. Steve has the attitude that he wants to do everything for himself. Sometimes he does get frustrated with not being able to do things properly but Pauline is there to help him when help is required.

 

Overall has I have said before being home for Steve is a massive move forward both physically and psychologically. He will have a team of carers including Pauline and the family looking after him. The care package for Steve is currently being put in place for the next several months to ensure his well being and to assist with his continued Health Care.

 

To finish this blog on a high note. Steve and the family have been informed that Steve has been short listed for the Beneficiary of courage award which is part of the highly prestigious national awards ceremony held each year by the Fire Fighters Charity. This years event will be held at Wembley Stadium. Steve is very pleased and once again humbled by the fact he has been short listed for this very special award. Pauline and all the family are so proud of Steve. We have also heard that some members of Steve's Watch and Bolton Central Fire Station have been nominated for other awards at the event,and Steve and his family are pleased for them and also proud of them to.

 

Fire Fighter Carl Haslem one of Steve's best friends has asked me to update all the readers of this blog of the new address site for the blog which is www.stevesrecovery.co.uk Carl has purchased and set up this web site for Steve so that he can in the future take over and write this blog himself. Something which I know Steve is keen to do when his fingers have recovered more fully. Thanks Carl.

After 8 months 18 days and several hours Fire fighter Steve Morris who has come through so much is finally home. He walked out of Hospital today and after a short car ride he walked back into his house for good. Before leaving he thanked the Hospital Staff for looking after him so well while he has been in Chorley Hospital.

 

Steve now begins the next step of his journey under the care of Pauline and the care team who will be administering Steve's after care package. Steve is still on the mend and will be so for a good while to come but this is proof that he is getting better.

 

Steve and Pauline want me to send out a huge thank you to everyone who has visited him and sent cards and kind words while he has been in hospital. You have all been fantastic and truly wonderful people. I would also like to thank all of you on behalf of Steve's family. To be perfectly honest without all of you I do not know how we would have coped with all of what has happened. From the dark days when we though Steve would leave us to now and this fantastic day when he has come home you have been there for us. All I can say is thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

 

Now Steve is home visiting will continue. We'll work out a new rota to allow people to come over and visit him in castle Phipps - Morris. I'll continue to keep you updated through this blog so thank you for keeping up with Steve's progress.

Steve has been having further physio on his left elbow. He travelled to Alexandra Hospital this week and had the stitches removed from the elbow area. He does have more movement in his arm now but he will have to work hard over the coming months to increase the movement in his left elbow.

 

We spent an evening with Steve on Wednesday. He was ok in himself and he was talking about when he gets out of Hospital which we are all hoping is very soon now. He is keen to attend the boxing match in June but is mindful that he may be having further surgery on his left hand around that time. If he can be there he will be.

 

Steve has also been to the Burns Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital this week. This is the usual visit where the Burns Team check on Steve's skin grafts to make sure they are all still healing ok and the physio also assesses him to ensure that his limbs are all ok in the areas where the burn damage occurred.

 

Both Steve and his family know that once Steve gets home his recovery will go from strength to strength. He wants to be to manage himself more and being home will enable him to do this. This week I have been carrying out my Family Liaison duties and liasing with the one of the Care Team who will be providing home care fro Steve in the coming months. I am keen that the Fire Service through me are able to link in to the care package being set up for Steve. This can only add to Steve's overall support, and I am being allowed to be more hands on over the next few weeks with assistance to Steve and Pauline once he gets home. I must thank my Borough Commander and his Deputy for allowing me to do this.

 

On Wednesday night we took Steve a gift from the Fire Fighters of Salford Fire Station. This was from the All Stars match. When we gave Steve the gift he was taken aback and said he will thank the Salford Fire fighters personally in the future for their generosity but he wanted me to say how grateful he is to them now.

 

People tell me that they enjoy reading this blog and keeping up with how Steve is progressing and being able to feel for him when he is not feeling his best. Pauline, Steve fiancee has told me that the Ladies at the Liverpool branch of the company she works for read the blog all the time and the really nice comments they gave her about the blog. Thank you ladies and God bless you. One day soon I hope that our Steve will take over writing this blog. That will be another milestone for him to reach in the future and something else he is aiming for.

 

It has been almost 9 months now since Steve was admitted to Hospital. Hopefully fingers crossed his road to recovery is about to take its next step and see him coming home. We have the welcome home card ready.

 

Gary.

Our Steve continues to push on with his recovery. We last visited him on Monday night. I helped him with some exercise on his left arm and his sister Shaz and I assisted him with his step ups which he did really well. While we were there Shaz cleansed and moisturised his face and sorted his ears out. During the course of the evening we walked around with Steve and his walking his getting much better and he his continuing to get his strength back in his legs.

He went home last weekend and had a good couple of days with Pauline. He told Pauline that he wasn't going to sleep upstairs until he was strong enough to get up and down the stairs on his own as he wanted to make sure he could escape if there was a fire! ( always the Fire fighter ). While he has been home the benefits of having the operation on his left elbow have become more apparent to Steve. He has more confidence in getting things done himself. On one of the mornings he managed to get himself out of bed and put his tracky bottoms and Tee shirt on himself. He then lifted himself into his wheel chair and made his way over to the table. When Pauline came downstairs she was greeted by Steve looking out onto their garden reading the Times newspaper!!!. Both Pauline and Steve want to send a thank you to all the Staff at the Hospital where he had his operation and a big thank you to the surgeon Mr Philips who carried out the op. Over the last week he has also got out of the Hospital with Pauline and his cousins and walked to the pub which is just outside the Hospital grounds. The incentive of a cold draught Guinness or two made the short but hard journey worthwhile.

During last week Pauline took Steve to visit his mum at his mums house. They had a really good visit together and Steve spent along time with his mum talking about his future and how she should not worry to much about him as he was always going to be the Steve she knew and loved. He left his mum with a big hug and even bigger smile.

Back to this week Steve has had his hearing aids fitted and this has made more improvements to his recovery. He is now able to listen to his visitors more easily and can engage better with conversations between them all.

He continues to be visited by his family and friends from both within and outside of the Fire Service. He really does enjoy all the visits he has and looks forward to having a laugh and chat with everyone.

His body continues to heal. The base of his buttocks are getting better and are now almost healed which is very good for Steve. His other grafted areas are looking really well and the scars on the side of his face are doing very well.

We were hoping Steve would be home by now and we don't think it will be to far off. The medical care package has yet to be put fully in place for when he does come home. Once this is finalised then he will be demobbed from hospital and sent home.

Steve has you all know is a very determined and strong willed individual. Watching and assisting him with his exercises this week brought that fact home to me again. He does put his all into it and never takes the easy route. I'm sure somewhere down the line he will be able to inspire people who have unfortunately found themselves in a similar position to him to push on and take the positive road to recovery and never give up by taking his example.

Pauline contacted me today (4/3) to let me know Steve had got into Jubilee House Therapy Centre in the near future. She will be going with Steve for the first week and I will be with him for the second week. Pauline was thrilled at this news as she knows Steve is desperate to get up there for some intense therapy and exercise. Steve will find out tonight off Pauline about the 2 week visit and we know this will give him such a big boost. I'm really looking forward to being there helping him along. I know its going to be hard work because he will insist on me doing everything he does so I'm out tabbing around the roads in a quest to get fitter before I go!

Thank you to everyone for your continued support for Steve and his family. Take care.

Gary.