Paul update - Day 101

Day 101 (I think!) – Saturday 21 February

In answer to Mark’s comment, I am 99% certain I spelt Ceilidh correctly but Mr Gates obviously changed it without me noticing – have a look at the Word spell checker and you will see he spells it with a K! In answer to Laura’s comment – yes, you’re right – Paul’s entry to the blog is being done at exactly the same rate as his homework; i.e. he isn’t doing it!!

So, a brief update from me!

Paul is doing very well and we have recently passed a couple of milestones. Firstly, he has started working back at the garage, initially for just a few hours a day but this is gradually increasing and he is coping very well. It is very good for him as well because he has to concentrate on what is going on, he has to handle money and credit cards, write receipts and deal with the customers and even when it’s busy, he is managing very well. His hours will be gradually increased because he is still finding it quite tiring, but this is definitely a major step forward.

He is gradually reverting back to his old habits of not going to bed and not getting up though, but we keep nagging him and hopefully this will improve.....once the pigs have been refuelled and are ready for takeoff.

The other thing he did today was ride his bike for the first time. He did admit that he found it more difficult than he expected but he and I went for about a 4 mile ride this afternoon which went very well.

He has also dug out the radio control cars and has started using them again which is good for his co-ordination. So, all in all, things are progressing well. He is still having regular physio / speech / occupational therapy both at home and in town – this will continue for the next few months and then we will review where we are.

The only bit of “bad” news that we have had is that Paul is starting to talk about driving again and is keen to get another car, so we have written to DVLA to advise them of his accident and the hospital has written to the organisation that evaluates drivers after a serious head injury, but there is a 32 week wait before they can see him. If we go to Edinburgh (where they are based) it is 20 weeks, but he is keen to get behind the wheel in advance of this so he is hoping to get a cancellation.

Hopefully we will persuade Paul to post a blog in the near future, but in the meantime I will try and post an update whenever anything significant occurs.

Hope you are all fit and well,

Best wishes,

Martyn

Paul update - Day 81

Day 81 – Sunday 1 February

He’s home!!

Eleven weeks and one day after “black Wednesday”, Paul was finally discharged from Maidencraig last Thursday. Kevin, the lad who he was sharing the ward with, was discharged on the same day so I sensed a little bit of sadness all round on the day. For the last eight weeks Maidencraig has effectively been Paul’s (and our!) life; for Kevin and his family it has been a part of their life for even longer and so both boys and indeed the nurses were sorry to say goodbye. The pictures above were taken by one of the nurses. All the staff at Maidencraig have been superb and we cannot thank them enough for all they have done or Paul.

He has effectively been fully discharged – all he has now are weekly appointments at Horizons (a rehabilitation centre near to Maidencraig) for physio, occupational and speech therapy; we have appointments arranged through to March but I guess that they will continue beyond that.

Since being home, Paul hasn’t done a great deal (!), he has slept quite a lot but went out for a couple of hours Friday evening with his chums and we all went to a Keilidh in Tullynessle last night; Paul saw a couple of his old teachers there and they were amazed at the fact that he was there and how well he was doing! He did quite a few of the dances (far more than I did) and we all had a good evening but he was quite tired by the end of it – he fell asleep on the sofa (sound familiar??!!) when we got home (he wouldn’t go to bed!) and once he had got up and had his breakfast he had an afternoon nap!

He’s actually telling me off at the moment because he wants to take the blog over and he thinks I am writing about the Keilidh so he will have nothing to say, so I will stop here and let Paul start to add his own blogs from now on. I will do the odd one, but will leave Paul to do the majority.

So, in closing, thanks again to all of you for all your help, support and comments since last November; without you things would have been so much more difficult for us.

Best wishes,

Martyn and Pat.

Paul update - Day 75

Day 75 - Monday 26 January

Lesson 1 – Don’t speak to the Press – here endeth the lesson!

Those of you who saw last week’s Evening Express / P&J will hopefully understand why we feel a little aggrieved and why I think we should have stuck with our initial reaction to their approach and not spoken to them.

So, just for the record, Pat was originally contacted by a reporter from the Evening Express who said that they wanted to do a follow up story on how Paul was getting on; this was in response to the tragic story of the 16 year old who was killed in a car accident and it was, they said, normal practise in these circumstances to follow up on previous accidents. We agonised for a few days but eventually decided to speak to them and having done some media training in the past, I was extremely careful what I said. I basically just told them just three things:

1. Paul was making a very good recovery and we considered ourselves extremely fortunate; things could have been much worse,
   
   
2. The doctors, nurses and specialists at the ARI and Woodend and all of our friends have been absolutely brilliant and we have nothing but praise for all they have done for Paul,
   
   
3. Other teenagers should take note of what has happened to Paul, realise that they are not invincible and drive more carefully.

Basically that is all I said and the guy I spoke to took notes (presumably using a crayon), sent somebody round to take some pictures and said that this was the line his article would take. A couple of days later though he contacted me again to say that he had heard that 2 17 year olds had been charged in relation to the accident and could I confirm this, to which I replied that there was only 1 car involved and that to date I was not aware of any charges – which is true.

Nonetheless, he chose to take the line he did with the story which was not only badly written and inaccurate, but untrue. The “news” that Paul had been reported to the Procurator was not in fact news at all – the police told me that it is common practise for a report to go to the Procurator after any serious accident and is something that actually happened 2 days after Paul’s crash – about 10 weeks ago - when Paul was still in the high dependency unit and was something that I discussed with the police at the time. Quite why it is newsworthy now then is beyond me!

At the time, the policeman that I dealt with (who has in fact been brilliant throughout, very sympathetic, supportive and helpful) advised me that there was no need to worry Paul (or Pat) with this and so although I did mention it to Pat, we decided not to discuss it with Paul. Now that the halfwit reporter has chosen to splash it all over the front page of his trashy newspaper though we have obviously had to tell Paul that a report has gone to the Procurator, which is obviously causing him some concern. To date though, there have been no further developments since the report originally went in and hopefully nothing further will happen.

The policeman also told us that it is sometimes better to talk to the press because otherwise they will scour Bebo, Facebook, Blogs etc. to find things to print so it is generally better to make sure they get accurate information – hence our decision to speak to them which, as it turned out, was a complete waste of time. Quite why they sent a photographer round to Alford from Aberdeen to take some pictures of Paul is beyond me – a complete waste of time and money. Given the huge number of inaccuracies in the story, it makes you wonder how much you can believe about the other nonsense they print – my assessment is probably not a lot!

Since the reporter concerned is obviously about as sharp as a cricket bat he will probably not be aware of the distress and anguish he has caused us all. I just hope he thinks it was worth it....

Anyway, moan over – the key priority is Paul, so, how is he?

The good news is that Paul has been coming home every weekend since New Year and is still progressing well. He still gets quite tired, but his walking, talking etc. is improving daily. He has been out and about a few times over the weekends and is slowly but surely getting back to normal – the only problem he has is that he thinks he is able to do far more than he can, or more accurately than we are prepared to let him!

He recently had a follow up eye appointment regarding his double vision and this has improved by about 50% since the last appointment so, as predicted, it is gradually correcting itself. Last time we went Paul was still in a wheelchair and not fully with it so it was quite difficult to do some of the measurements, but this time he was able to do all of the tests so his actual progress can now be measured more accurately. He has another appointment in March and hopefully by then it should have fully corrected itself.

His hearing in his right ear is still slightly impaired so he has been referred to a specialist for this as well, but unfortunately there is an 18 week wait!

He also had a 24 hour heart monitor fitted recently and this showed that he had an increased heart rate on a couple of occasions during the day but that this was nothing to be unduly concerned about at this stage, so we will have to wait and see what, if anything, needs to be done.

During the week his physio, speech and occupational therapy have continued and he has even ventured out to the shops to buy some food to cook, all of which he has completed with no bother so the good news is that he is being finally discharged this Thursday – January 29^th – which will be 11 weeks and 1 day following the accident. When you think back to the first few days after the crash and all of the uncertainties that we faced, this is truly remarkable.

He will have weekly appointments for the first few weeks to continue with the various therapies but hopefully he will soon be able to go back to work and we can start to plan for the future again.

So thanks once again to everyone for their help and support throughout and I am delighted to report that this story looks like having a happy ending – quite rare in this day and age with all of the gloom and doom in the Press – mind you, a lot of what is being reported might not be true......

Paul update - Day 61

Day 61 - Monday 12 January

We collected Paul on Thursday (once his 24 hour heart monitor had been taken off; no results yet though) for his weekend at home, but were advised that he had been given an appointment at the ARI to see the neurophysiologist on Friday morning - for some time since the accident Paul has complained of a general numbness in his little finger. Curiously though, it wasn’t on his right hand which is generally weaker, but on his left and all we could think was that perhaps it was related to the fact that he had broken his finger a couple of years ago, but nonetheless we thought it should be checked out.

We therefore made our way to the ARI first thing Friday morning (after breakfast at the Bistro at Paul’s request!) and found that since the abolition of car parking charges on 1^st January, parking was even harder than it used to be. Not only that, but you can no longer drive up the road past the main ARI entrance, you have to make a big detour which effectively takes you all round the (full) car park and so I dropped Pat and Paul off to try and park somewhere. Nonetheless, we managed to report to Doctor Frankenstein at the allotted time and he then proceeded to stick pins and electrodes into Paul’s arm. I am sure that if Igor had been on duty that day and there had been a thunderstorm there would have been a kite flying overhead....!

In actual fact, the guy was brilliant and incredibly informative, telling us everything he was doing and why, and it was fascinating. Basically, first of all he stuck pins in Paul’s arm at various key points to measure the sensation, and having ascertained that there was some nerve damage he then passed electric current through various parts of the nerve (which made Paul’s arm and fingers move involuntarily) to determine the location and extent of the damage. Fortunately, the nerve (the Ulna nerve – the one that makes your fingers tingle when you bang your funny bone) has some damage but it is not severed and Paul has some sensation, which is very good news. He wasn’t able to determine exactly where the damage was, but suspected it was in Paul’s elbow. He explained that nerves re-generate at about 1mm per day so the worst case is that it could take 440 days from whenever the damage occurred to fully recover, but he suspected it would be much less than that.

It really was fascinating to watch what he could do and see the wave patterns that were generated on the computer in response to Paul’s hand movements, and from this (there were flat spots in the wave pattern) he could tell exactly what the problem was. I did ask him if his surname was Frankenstein, but he assured us it wasn’t! It certainly seems as though this numbness shouldn’t be a long term problem which is good news, and we wondered whether it happened in the accident itself or whether he did the damage when he was thrashing about when unconscious – whenever it was, it was almost certainly caused by a blow to the elbow.

We eventually decided that we would speak to the Evening Express – time will tell if it was a wise decision - and so they sent a photographer round on Friday afternoon to take some pictures of Paul. They also wanted some of him as a toddler, at school and also before the accident as well as some of the car. I emphasised that we thought ourselves extremely fortunate that Paul had survived and was making such a good recovery, that we had all had fantastic support from our friends, that the doctors, nurses and therapists at both the ARI and Maidencraig had been absolutely superb and that all young drivers should take it as a lesson that they are not invincible – whether this is the line they take in the story will be interesting to see. It was supposed to be in today’s Evening Express, but today’s headline was that 2 more young drivers had been killed in separate accidents which presumably meant that Paul’s story was not appropriate and they will keep it for another day.

That’s three young people killed in the North East this year already, and it is only the 12^th January......

Anyway, after his photo shoot Paul went to Holly’s to say goodbye to some of his friends who were going back to Uni. We also went for a drink with Alison and Tony and had a great time chatting. Saturday was relatively quiet, we just nipped into the village during the day and took Paul to the Bistro for dinner, and when we got home we lit the fire and watched the latest Indiana Jones film.

We all managed to get a bit of a lie in on Sunday, and in the afternoon Paul went to the cinema with Eilidh - he thoroughly enjoyed getting out without the old farts in tow! They got back about 1730, we had dinner and then it was time to bring him back to Maidencraig again!

He is continuing to have physio, occupational and speech therapy but all the indications are that he will now be allowed home every weekend and will become more and more independent, and the hope is still that he will be discharged at the end of January. Paul is starting to talk about the future and what he wants to do, which is very encouraging.

As I think I mentioned before, there is a case conference scheduled for 19^th January when we should find out exactly where we are.

He is now starting to argue with us as well, so he is definitely on the mend!

Paul update - Day 56

Day 56 - Wednesday 7 January

Now that Paul is back at Maidencraig, our lives have reverted back to the pre-Christmas ‘normality’. Paul continues to have physio, occupational and speech therapy and all of his therapists have commented on how well he is progressing; there are small but positive improvements every day. They have put a 24 hour ECG halter monitor on him today to check his heart following the previous scare; fortunately there have been no repeats but this monitor will tell them how his heart is now and presumably whether any follow up is required.

We continue to thank our lucky stars about how well he is doing and every now and then something gives us a stark reminder of what might have been. One example of this is the tragic headline in yesterday’s Evening Express about a 16 year old lad that had been killed in a car accident; the driver was 17. The editorial in the paper suggested that all parents should sit down with their teenage children and impress on them how precious life is and how easily it can be taken away...

The Evening Express actually phoned us this morning to see how Paul was doing; evidently when there is another serious accident they follow up on previous accidents so we are currently trying to decide whether we should speak to them. If it helps prevent others going through what we have all been through, or worse, then it will be worth doing.

Anyway, on a far brighter note, they have now stopped all of Paul’s medication and so the likelihood of him being discharged at the end of January is growing by the day. As a first step, following the success of his visits home over Christmas and New Year, he is coming home again this weekend and we are collecting him tomorrow –Thursday 8 January and returning him on Sunday evening so if you want to visit him, please don’t come to Maidencraig but you are welcome to visit at home. As before though, please ring first to make sure we are in.

They are planning some trips into town with Paul over the next couple of weeks to see how he copes with traffic, crossing the road, getting on and off buses etc., and once that has been assessed, presumably we can start to take him further afield.

So, just to re-cap – Paul will be at home this weekend, back in Maidencraig during the week and the assumption is that this will continue until his final discharge, after which we can start to think about the future once again!

Oh yes, and we persuaded him to shave yesterday so he no longer looks like a wookie!

Paul update - Day 50

Day 50 - Thursday 1 January 2009

Another very quiet day today.

Many thanks to Charles, Laura and Katharine for a fabulous time last night; seeing Paul on the settee chatting and generally larking about with his chums on New Years eve was something we have dreamed about since November. He was keen to stop the night there with the others but we didn't think that wise, so it took us quite a while to persuade him it was time to leave! As a result, by the time we picked Mark up, we didn't get home until around 2 o'clock so we all slept in this morning! Andrew popped round this afternoon and after an early dinner Paul and Pat had a nap this evening so we are now sitting watching television with Paul gradually working his way through the contents of the fridge; just like old times!

It is likely that the rate of Paul's recovery will start to slow down a little now and so I will probably stop doing a daily update unless anything significant happens. I will try and do an update every 4 or 5 days to start with and see how we get on, but if anyone else wants to post or comment please do.

Finally Guy, you were right about Paul Kossoff - what would we do without Wikipedia!

Paul update - Day 49

Day 49 - Wednesday 31 December

So, we made it to the last day of 2008, a year we won't be sorry to see the back of!

Paul was due to have occupational therapy this morning so we went to Tescos on the way in and arrived around the time his session should have been ending, only to find that the OT lady was off sick so he could have come home earlier! Nonetheless, we picked him up and came home via Eilidh's as he wanted to see Henry (the dog!). We gave Anna a call as well as he wanted to see the puppies but unfortunately nobody was in, so perhaps we can do that over the weekend.

We also popped in to see our GP as he was keen to see Paul; he very kindly came to the ARI to see Paul a couple of days after the accident so he was very pleased to see how far he has come on since then, and he had a long chat with Paul.

Paul is having a nap at the moment in preparation for tonight, so we hope to see some of you later. For those we don't see, best wishes for a happy 2009.