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
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5 comments:
Hi Dougie,
Glad to hear the move went well and you seem to be settling in and hitting it off with your therapists.
Things here are going OK. Had a bit of excitement when hurricane Omar hit the island. Classes were cancelled and the island was shut down for two days. We lost power, water, phones, internet service and the roads were closed. The side of the island I’m on was not hit too badly but I hear Charlestown (the capital of the island) and the other side of the island were hit pretty badly. However, although there was quite a bit of property damage, there was no loss of life so things could have been much worse. Personally, I was just glad to have two days off giving me some time to get caught up in my studies.
Speaking of which I better head back to the books. Keep up the hard work and you’ll be back in the saddle before you know it.
Heather
Hey, we got an answer phone msg from Dougie ! Excellent, we'll be in to see you at your new abode soon as possible.
reuben ,april and willow
Hi Dougie!
Catching up on your news after visiting Davey, Meesh and Wee Isla P in Tassie (our holiday this year other than the Moonwalk in June when we last saw you). Great to hear of the changes in your location! I'll send through a more detailed writeup of the holiday, but here are some of the highlights...
Isla very quickly moved from calling me the generic "Man" to "Uncle Teeth", and Sarah was "Farah" which is pretty close ;-)
Davey, Sarah and I went ocean kayaking across a few bays in Tassie (and I have photographic evidence of DP falling in whilst getting back into his kayak:-), and we almost had a car crash avoiding penguins crossing the road (these happened at different times by the way). We hired a caravan for the night to go penguin watching, and it's 80's decor is still giving me traumatic flashbacks as I type. Again, I took photos to make people believe me.
I [Keith typing] managed to climb (legally) to the very top of Sydney Harbour Bridge - Barks, make it a target, it is awesome!
On the way home, we were stalked for several days by a member of Motley Crue in Singapore (even taking photos of Sarah in Starbucks).
Been a busy couple of weeks! LOL
Hope you also are in good spirits Dougie - we'll drop in to A-A when we're next in Edinburgh.
(Hi also to you, Iain and Sheena!).
Orrabest,
Teeth & Farah.
Yo
Cycled past where you are staying just now soooooooo many times on the way back to Peebles from the Coop. Never thought about what was happening in there 'til now.
Ignorant then.....appreciative now.
I'm in awe of the strength of your will and what you've achieved so far Dougie.
9a? Who gives a shit if they aren't a climber of a certain stripe, but grabbing life by the neck and giving it a good shake when things aren't easy? That commands respect mate! Could be worse, you could be James T's life partner! ;o)
Huggles
John G
Hi Dougie,
SO great to see you sitting in a chair, moving about and also to be able to have a long chat with you (and I was telling the truth, I understood every single word - your speech has improved SO much over such a short time period). It was like old times and I know there'll be many many more to come. Thanks for the Dougie-hug too - i've missed them!
Will keep everything crossed that the stitch in your eye does get taken out this week and that it's not too scary a process.
Hope to be in soon to see you again - and to get more of your chat - there's no stopping you now! Jules xxx
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