Paul update - Day 16

Day 16 – Friday 28 November

Paul seems to be making slow but steady progress every day now; his speech is getting better and he is starting to remember things. He is also starting to question where he is and what has happened but to a greater depth than before. He knows he is in hospital, that he crashed the car and that Andrew was with him but he is now starting to ask more about what happened. Fortunately he has no real recollection of the accident so we are not telling him too much at the moment. Things that have impressed us are that he remembers where he lives, that his bedroom is in a mess, the dodgy Primark jacket that the girls made him buy but most impressive is that he remembers our home phone number, his address and postcode and all of our mobile numbers which is remarkable; even more so because we learnt today that the ambulance crew who attended the scene thought his chances of survival were slim. So he has done remarkably well in such a short space of time. One of the nurses on duty today hasn’t been in for a few days and she was amazed at his progress so those of you who have been away should see a huge improvement. Both Pat and I are gaining in confidence that he will make a near full recovery, but realise that this will take time.

We were sat with him this morning when he suddenly announced that he had to be ready by 2 as he was going out. Pat and I glanced at each other and thought hmmm, what do we do here, humour him? So I said where are you going? To the gym he replied and one of the nurses confirmed that he was indeed going to the gym at 2 for physio so we were really chuffed that he had obviously remembered something that he had been told a while before! We therefore got him ready with his shorts and trainers and off he went at 2 in his wheelchair. We spoke to the physio afterwards and he said that Paul had done very well, and that he would have more sessions on Monday. He is generally quite weak having spent a couple of weeks in bed and he still has a general weakness down his right side due to the brain injury, but that should recover in time. The other thing the physio told us is that we shouldn’t let him walk too much over the weekend as he will get used to compensating for his weak side so it is best to let that recover some strength before he tries to walk too far. Hopefully over the weekend we can get him in his wheelchair and take him down to the coffee shop again.

He is still eating like a horse – Ramsay’s cakes are a definite favourite – he didn’t even bother to bite the first one; he just shoved it into his mouth whole and then spent the next 5 minutes chewing it with a big grin on his face! Andrew also brought some pomegranate seeds in for him which he really enjoyed.

Nothing much else to report at the moment, except to say once again thanks for all the messages and comments on the blog. Best comment on his cards so far is from his 14 year old cousin Matthew who said “Next time, try and dodge the tree!”. I asked Paul whether he thought Penny’s idea of using a laptop to communicate when we can’t understand him would work and he said that it was a good idea, so we will give that a whirl tomorrow.

Finally – the cheque hasn’t arrived yet Stuart, did you forget to post it.......??!!