Having slept at home the previous night, I left Ashford at 7:30am and arrived at the hospital in Canterbury by 8:18am. I got to the HDU and found Marie on duty. She told me that Heather had had a quiet night and was still asleep when I got there. I decided to go for breakfast before she rose.
When I got back at 9:15am, the physio was busy putting her into her chair. I’m glad to say that she seemed a lot more awake today than normal. Instead of just looking to one side, she was quite actively watching the events of the HDU. I made she to make note of this, as this is an improvement on yesterday.
Just before 11am, Margaret and Nicky arrived. Shortly into their visit, Margaret read some get well cards from friends and relatives. These made Heather cry, so consoling her sister, Nicky spoke to Heather about the need for her to get better and that everyone was upset and missing her greatly. It’s very upsetting to see her cry, but we were only trying to let her know how much we all care about her. We left Nicky to spend some quality time with her sister, as Margaret and I went for a coffee break.
When we got back, we found out that the plan was to move Heather back to the Clarke Ward, where she started her KCH journey two weeks ago. Heather’s Dad arrived just after midday and Nicky left. Margaret and I went for lunch, leaving Heather with her Dad
When we got back, Heather had a little surprise for us. John had managed to convince her to talk a little bit. She had managed to say short words like “Dad” and “Mum”. When asked if she wanted her lemon tea hot or cold, she said “hot”. Once it had cooled down a little, she was even drinking it on her own. She even managed to lean forward in her seat so I could give her a hug. It was so nice to be able to do that again.
At 1:45pm, Heather’s parents left, as the move to Clarke Ward was imminent. Her arterial line was removed, as were all her monitor cables. She got cleaned up before the move and even got another hair wash.
And so we waited for the move. It took nearly two and a half hours before it took place and we moved to the Clarke Ward at 5pm. When we arrived and she was setup and handed over, Marie said goodbye. Then I got very tense. It just seemed like she had been dumper there and no one was now looking after her.
She showed interest in the PatientLine TV (not surprising as ITU and HDU are very stark places) so I went and bought her a 3-day card so she could at least get some stimulation. Once the TV was activated, she seemed glued to it.
At 6:30pm, a neurologist popped by on his way home for a cursory check on her. He asked me a load of questions about Heather’s history and what had gone on over the past few weeks, as well as doing some physical tests on Heather. He said that her lack of speech was not likely to have been caused by a stroke (which was a relief to hear), but plans to send her for an MRI scan tomorrow. This is more probing that the CT scan she had yesterday. I’m hoping they won’t find anything. My concern is that now she is on a ward, she’s not going to get the level of support that she’s been receiving and that I believe she still needs. We are going to need to be her voice until she gets hers back.
The family and some of the staff believe that her current problems could be a result of the prolonged sedation she’s had and that it’s taking it’s time getting out of her system. She may also be suffering from some sort of posttraumatic stress. I think tomorrow, I will try and talk to her about what she can remember and fill her in about what has happened over the past few weeks. Maybe filling in the blanks is what she needs. At this point, I’m willing to try anything.
I also have to accept that we mustn’t expect too much, too soon. It may take time for her to get back to normal, but we’ll get through this together and with the help of family and friends. She is getting better each day, albeit slowly.
When I got back to Dads this evening, I realised how mentally exhausted I was and dropped off in a chair about 8pm. After writing this blog, I’m going to take a dose of Nytol and go to bed.
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