Paul update - Day 13

Day 13 – Tuesday 25 November

Stuart – you owe me a fiver!! Hurrah!!

We arrived about 1 o’clock again today and found Paul sitting in a chair drinking a cup of tea.  They had got him up earlier in the morning and he managed to stand up for a few seconds and then they sat him in the chair. 

He was looking at his mountain bike magazines but it looked as though he was having difficulty focussing – he kept shutting each eye to try and read and was very close to the page, so I gave  him his glasses but that didn’t seem to help much.  It looks as though he might be having trouble with his eyes so we have alerted the nurses to it and hopefully the specialists will check him out tomorrow.  One of the main problems is that he can’t really tell us what he can see, so it might be fine, we just don’t know. He could read some of the words though which is excellent. We bought him some different drinks such as Oasis and Fruit and Barley and his eyes lit up when he saw them, so he had to try each of them in turn!  He then had to fill in his menu card for tomorrow and chose Turkey with cranberry sauce for lunch – I think his appetite is intact!

After an hour or so he started to complain that his neck was aching – he doesn’t yet have that much strength and he kept flopping forward in the chair - so they put him back into bed and almost straight away he dropped off to sleep.  It was about this time that the visitors stated arriving!  First in was John Cook (the vicar) and then Guy (Gavin’s Dad) who brought in a big tin of sweets – many thanks Guy, Paul munched his way through quite a few this evening! We took the opportunity to nip downstairs for a cup of tea and when we got back they had moved Paul into the bed opposite – they needed his bed (which had an oxygen outlet) for a new patient.  They also said that they were hoping to get Paul down for an MRI scan later if possible but that didn’t happen today; the consultant said he would chase it up so hopefully he might have one tomorrow and we will have a better idea of what’s going on.  Andrew and Aaron arrived just after we got back; Andrew bought him pork pies and Aaron bought some more mountain bike magazines so there should be plenty to keep him occupied!

Eilidh, Amy, Anna, Mark, Ramsay, Harriet and Duncan also visited so by the end of the day he was quite tired – he actually said he was knackered.....!

We also spoke to the neurosurgeon today as he is away for a few days; he is very pleased with Paul’s progress and is talking about moving him to Woodend in a week or so – this is a rehabilitation unit so again this is good news.  I asked whether we were likely to get Paul home for Christmas (my personal target for him!) and he said almost certainly yes so we are keeping our fingers crossed - even if it is just for the day.

So, more positive progress, let’s hope it continues.  Apparently we can take him around the hospital in a wheelchair for a bit tomorrow so hopefully the change of surroundings will do him good.

Martyn, Pat and Mark.