My .... what a difference :-)
Douglas is really getting stuck into the rehab process now and with around 1.5 hours physio and 3 hrs up in his chair every day the results are beginning to show! This is topped up with speech therapists and occupational therapists - all of which makes for a real busy day.
Unfortunately it can never be fast enough for Douglas!! However he does seem to have reached an equilibrium between desires and ability which allows him to say '... I was rubbish at that, but it is getting better'. Believe you me that is one tremendous stride forward and we are so proud of him for getting to this point.
He still waxes lyrical about coffee, curry and chips and now Lucas' ice cream sodas!! The moment of truth is getting closer ....... he is now having regular sips of coffee, albeit via a sponge stick, and is loving it. More swallow tests have still to come but things are looking good since he is now able to move his mouth much more (opening especially) and his tongue movement is also improving.
The downside is that we can't stop him talking now!!!! In fairness he has nearly six months of enforced silence to make up for - heaven only knows what that must have been like for him; to listen and not to be able to join in. Even more to have been unable to articulate the simple things like 'my head hurts' or I want to go to the toilet'; stuff that we all take so for granted in our own lives.
On the plus side, his speech is much clearer than it was only 10 days ago even though its still very guttural and quite tiring for him.
He is now able to slowly walk 20 to 30 paces using a zimmer frame and with a bit of balance support from physios although general muscular strength in the torso means it is hard for him to keep an upright stance. This is however improving the more he has to do it. He is also working on the left/right co-ordination, but in his own words 'I'm ruuubish at that ...' Please note that 'ruuubish' must be said al la Elmer Fudd (I hate wabbits) to be truly effective!
We are currently working on a more acceptable version of 'I must get my arse in gear!!'. Mainly because, right now, volume control is almost impossible for him and the sound of 'get my arse in gear' echoing through the corridors is a mite discombubilating :-))
Thank you all for your visits ............ they really mean a very great deal to Dougie and really bring him to life.
Iain
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Friday 17 October 2008
And now the hard work starts ..................
Douglas is now ensconced in the East Pavilion of the Astley Ainslie :-)
The move went off OK at 12:30 on the 16th. Unfortunately however he is in a ward where the general population is rather elderly and I think this has taken him rather aback, which I can quite understand, especially after the western where the residents were much younger and very chatty.
He did seem a bit down and quite worried that he'd end up as he put it "disabled and unable to drive, climb or ride his bike". It seems that the realisation of just how far he has to go had suddenly dawned and the lack of progress was really frustrating. In his words "I'm an impatient bugger who wants it all now!".
Yesterday afternoon was quite a busy one what with meet and greet sessions with physios, doctors and speech therapists so by early evening he was really tired, particularly since he'd been up in the chair since he arrived. However he is a great chat merchant and managed to get a few laughs out of it all. His lead physio is a very nice young lady called Jane and, when searching for an aid to remember names, his mum suggested perhaps "Me Tarzan - you Jane" could fill the bill :-)) Brought tears of laughter to Dougs eyes I can tell you!!
His speech therapist, Anne, seemed to strike up a good rapport with him which is great.
Doug does seem to be speaking much more clearly with wider mouth opening and I gather some of his friends have already had phone conversations with him!! However it is still rather hard work and he can get quite tired after a while.
Visiting hours at the Astley are 3pm till 8pm.
I think, until he has truly settled in, Sheena and I will keep to the 3 to 5 and 6:30 to 8 routine but please feel free to visit whenever you can.
For those who do not know the hospital, the East Pavilion is actually at the west end of the complex, with easy access from Canan Lane. If arriving by bus, alight at the Canny Man pub and walk down the side towards the hospital.
Be warned that Canan Lane is closed to all traffic (road works) right now, so, if coming by car you'll need to enter by the main gate and follow the signs.
Iain
The move went off OK at 12:30 on the 16th. Unfortunately however he is in a ward where the general population is rather elderly and I think this has taken him rather aback, which I can quite understand, especially after the western where the residents were much younger and very chatty.
He did seem a bit down and quite worried that he'd end up as he put it "disabled and unable to drive, climb or ride his bike". It seems that the realisation of just how far he has to go had suddenly dawned and the lack of progress was really frustrating. In his words "I'm an impatient bugger who wants it all now!".
Yesterday afternoon was quite a busy one what with meet and greet sessions with physios, doctors and speech therapists so by early evening he was really tired, particularly since he'd been up in the chair since he arrived. However he is a great chat merchant and managed to get a few laughs out of it all. His lead physio is a very nice young lady called Jane and, when searching for an aid to remember names, his mum suggested perhaps "Me Tarzan - you Jane" could fill the bill :-)) Brought tears of laughter to Dougs eyes I can tell you!!
His speech therapist, Anne, seemed to strike up a good rapport with him which is great.
Doug does seem to be speaking much more clearly with wider mouth opening and I gather some of his friends have already had phone conversations with him!! However it is still rather hard work and he can get quite tired after a while.
Visiting hours at the Astley are 3pm till 8pm.
I think, until he has truly settled in, Sheena and I will keep to the 3 to 5 and 6:30 to 8 routine but please feel free to visit whenever you can.
For those who do not know the hospital, the East Pavilion is actually at the west end of the complex, with easy access from Canan Lane. If arriving by bus, alight at the Canny Man pub and walk down the side towards the hospital.
Be warned that Canan Lane is closed to all traffic (road works) right now, so, if coming by car you'll need to enter by the main gate and follow the signs.
Iain
Friday 10 October 2008
Wagons Ho for the Astley Ainslie !!!!!!!!!
Some days are certainly whoopeeeee days and this was one of them!!
Douglas continues to improve, albeit in many small ways.
However the most important improvement for quite a while came to-day when we heard Doug is due to move to Astley Ainslie next Thursday (16th Oct) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Doug, in his usual pragmatic fashion, said 'yeah well I'll believe it when it happens!" - but never the less we have seen the transfer list and his transport has been booked, as has his bed at the other end!
Looks like the destination is the East Pavilion!
We are not certain of visiting hours or anything else right now, but I'll post immediately I have firm info to go on.
He was in a bit of a funny (strange) mood earlier to-day which I'm sure was due to the feeling that he'd been down this route before and nothing had come of it. However I'm sure he was secretly grinning to himself (although he'd never admit it!!). Certainly he was in fine fettle in the evening when he had a string of visitors (Annette, Kay, Veronica, Neil (Hay) and Lorna). Belly laughs abounded as did OohAah moments when things like fish'n'chips; coffeee; G&Ts; Stella; curry & chips were mentioned in the conversation!!
I feel for him .......... after all he's tasted nothing by mouth since April (PEG feeding conveys no great pleasure to the taste buds at all!! In fact I'm told by those who know that, if eaten, it tastes not unlike wall paper paste!!! Ugh..)
So ........ if you have a hot line to anyone of importance - get it working please. We don't want another let down.
A very happy pappy (and a yummy mummy as well!!!)
Douglas continues to improve, albeit in many small ways.
However the most important improvement for quite a while came to-day when we heard Doug is due to move to Astley Ainslie next Thursday (16th Oct) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Doug, in his usual pragmatic fashion, said 'yeah well I'll believe it when it happens!" - but never the less we have seen the transfer list and his transport has been booked, as has his bed at the other end!
Looks like the destination is the East Pavilion!
We are not certain of visiting hours or anything else right now, but I'll post immediately I have firm info to go on.
He was in a bit of a funny (strange) mood earlier to-day which I'm sure was due to the feeling that he'd been down this route before and nothing had come of it. However I'm sure he was secretly grinning to himself (although he'd never admit it!!). Certainly he was in fine fettle in the evening when he had a string of visitors (Annette, Kay, Veronica, Neil (Hay) and Lorna). Belly laughs abounded as did OohAah moments when things like fish'n'chips; coffeee; G&Ts; Stella; curry & chips were mentioned in the conversation!!
I feel for him .......... after all he's tasted nothing by mouth since April (PEG feeding conveys no great pleasure to the taste buds at all!! In fact I'm told by those who know that, if eaten, it tastes not unlike wall paper paste!!! Ugh..)
So ........ if you have a hot line to anyone of importance - get it working please. We don't want another let down.
A very happy pappy (and a yummy mummy as well!!!)
Wednesday 1 October 2008
The improvement continues ........
Over the last 10 days Douglas has continued to improve.
Most significantly his mood has really lightened and become much more positive and, with the removal of his trachy, his speech is getting better. He still has a lot of work to do in getting throat muscles and jaw movement to improve but there are definite positive signs (sticking his tongue out and blowing raspberries!!).
The swallow tests, which included a wee camera up the nose to look at the throat movement, went OK and showed that his vocal chords are in good order, all of which bodes well for swallowing. He just needs to get back to doing the swallow more frequently and this means more practice.
His sense of humor is still all there and it's wonderful to see him have a good belly laugh on occasion!!
He (and we) are eagerly awaiting the Astley Ainslie evaluation team (expected this week and possibly even to-day) which will give us a moving date we hope. Dougs consultant really wants to see him moving on to intensive rehab and is pushing hard on his behalf.
Although he's still not comfortable usng any form of keyboard, his writing is getting better (a relative term!!) and he asked me to say a very big thank you to everyone for their best wishes and words of encouragement :-))
I'll post more on rehab as soon as we get info.
Iain & Doug
Most significantly his mood has really lightened and become much more positive and, with the removal of his trachy, his speech is getting better. He still has a lot of work to do in getting throat muscles and jaw movement to improve but there are definite positive signs (sticking his tongue out and blowing raspberries!!).
The swallow tests, which included a wee camera up the nose to look at the throat movement, went OK and showed that his vocal chords are in good order, all of which bodes well for swallowing. He just needs to get back to doing the swallow more frequently and this means more practice.
His sense of humor is still all there and it's wonderful to see him have a good belly laugh on occasion!!
He (and we) are eagerly awaiting the Astley Ainslie evaluation team (expected this week and possibly even to-day) which will give us a moving date we hope. Dougs consultant really wants to see him moving on to intensive rehab and is pushing hard on his behalf.
Although he's still not comfortable usng any form of keyboard, his writing is getting better (a relative term!!) and he asked me to say a very big thank you to everyone for their best wishes and words of encouragement :-))
I'll post more on rehab as soon as we get info.
Iain & Doug
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