I arrived just after 8am to find Heather wide awake. Usually, she is still drowsy at this time of day, but today she was up with the larks. Breakfast arrived a short while later and she seemed to enjoy the porridge and a few sips of tea.
After break came the ward rounds. The doctor did some various neurological tests and said that Heather was doing OK. He asked us if there was anything that we’d like to know. I asked if Heather could perhaps try sitting in a chair for a while, as she’s been laying down for several days now and I was concerned about her getting bedsores.
After the ward rounds, Heather asked for her mobile phone. I’ve been carrying it around with me, so I handed it over and told her that several text messages had arrived over the past few days. She attempted to answer one of them, but hasn’t quite got the dexterity back yet to enter the messages. She even had a got at calling her boss (a bit pointless as she can’t talk right now). He did answer, but hung up again a few seconds later. I sent him a text a few minutes later, informing him that it was Heather. Having given up on that, Heather handed the phone back to me.
At 10:15am, a speech therapist visited and ran through a few tests with her. After her assessment, she said that she would refer Heather to a more advanced therapist. Heather’s tracheostomy was mentioned and Heather said that she didn’t realised that she had had one. After the therapist left, Heather asked me what had happened to her. I gave her a summary of what has been going on for the past few weeks, trying to make it sound less severe than it really was. She is making so much progress right now, I don’t want to freak her out and set her back. She seemed to take it quite well. She has no memory of her time in hospital until the time she woke up, nor the three days she was at home with the “stomach bug”. However, she did remember the two paramedics (Brian and Herbie) who took her to the William Harvey on the 17th May.
About 11:15am, Heather had her daily wash and read the Daily Mail and a copy of Heat to pass time before the trip to Weybridge for the MRI scan. However, at 12:15pm, we were told that there was no transport available to take her there, so the scan was off (at least for today)
At 12:36pm, lunch arrived. Today, Heather had mushroom soup, meat pie and mash and some strawberry ice cream and she managed to eat it all (even the strawberry ice cream, which I thought she wouldn’t go for)
By 1:15pm, she was feeling very hot and fed up. The man in the bed next to her has emphysema and has also had a stroke. When we attempts to clear his throat, he makes the most God awful noise. He mainly does it when Heather is eating. I wonder how it doesn’t put her off; it would me.
At 1:35pm, four of the physio staff visited and gave Heather some treatment and said that they would like to put her into a chair tomorrow to give her a chance to sit up. During the afternoon, we played a few games of Connect 4 that Nicky had brought down the day before. The physio team came back just after 3pm to test Heather’s ability to sit up on her own. She managed to stay sitting up for about two minutes, which according to the physio team was good, especially as most people have trouble sitting up on an air mattress. I gave her a hug for the first time in days before the team got her back into bed again.
Heather’s Mum arrived during this and chatted with us for a couple of hours. Chris the stroke nurse came along later on and told us that the MRI scan had now been rebooked for Wednesday at 3pm.
After Heather’s Mum left, we had a quick visit from Dad and Jan before we all left for the day. Tea did arrive, but she wasn’t hungry. I just wish she’d drink more fluids.
Today was a good day. Heather stayed awake almost all day (not bad considering how hot it was in there) and seemed very bright and alert. The physio will be working on her sitting and ultimately walking again. The speech therapists will work on her talking. But at present, it doesn’t look like she’s had a stroke to me. She still has all her memories, she can whisper sentences and can write OK and she can recognise people. I’m sure that in a few days, once she can speak again, I’ll be opening up the diary and inviting people to visit.
Watch this space.
No comments:
Post a Comment