Paul update - Day 18

Day 18 – Sunday 30 November

We arrived just before 12 to find Paul fast asleep; evidently there was a new patient brought into the Ward during the night and he was very restless, so none of the people in the Ward got much sleep.

We generally call into the Bistro in the village to get a takeaway coffee and bacon roll on the way in to the hospital and this morning Danni gave us a huge piece of chocolate cake to bring in for him; his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw it and he really enjoyed it (see picture above!), so many thanks Danni! He managed to get quite a lot of it on the sheets though, so we had to get the nurses to change the bed!

We took him down to the coffee shop after lunch and met Guy, Jan and Gavin who popped in just as we got there; Gavin was going to the station to go back to Durham so they came in to see Paul on the way. Just after they left Stuart’s Mum Carolyn came to see Paul as well; they have been away for the week so she was very pleased with Paul’s progress, and whilst we were still sitting in the coffee shop Natalie Michie, who was in Paul’s year at school spotted him and came over to say hello.

Paul was quite tired by this time so we brought him back up to bed and he had a short nap until Eilidh arrived, and then Richard and his girlfriend Shannon visited.

Paul is now getting used to watching TV again and has just about mastered the remote control, so he started to watch Star Wars after Richard and Shannon had gone, but he fell asleep after about 30 minutes so we let him sleep until tea time. He still seems to have trouble focussing though, so we tried him with his glasses again and this time he said they helped, so I guess this is a sign that his vision is slowly returning to normal. We also had a chat with one of the nurses who said double vision is quite common with injuries such as Paul’s – when he looks out of each eye individually it is OK but when he looks out of both he gets double vision, hence he keeps closing one eye. She suggested an eye patch but they didn’t have one handy, so we improvised with a piece of paper and he seemed to get on quite well with it so we will try and get a proper one tomorrow. She also said that he should frequently change the eye the patch is on so that one of them doesn’t get “lazy”, so we told him and he kept changing it every few minutes!

He also still has great difficulty standing; he needs help to get into the wheelchair and once standing he seems to have trouble moving his right leg; whether this is due to the brain injury or just a general lack of strength I don’t know? It could even be a combination of the two but hopefully with time and physio he will regain full mobility.