Paul update - Day 22

Day 22 – Thursday 4 December

Bit of a harrowing morning today – we were up early as Pat had a dental appointment in Aboyne so we took the opportunity to drive up to Huntly to collect the few personal possessions that Paul had left in the car; a few CDs, glasses case and the like so this was the first time I had seen the car. It only reinforced how lucky Paul has been.....

He was quite tired when we arrived today but he was sitting up in bed watching the Simpsons Movie again as he wasn’t able to get up and change the DVD! I bought a few more in for him so he sat and watched a few minutes of Tinselworm – the new Bill Bailey DVD; Paul had been to Glasgow with Stuart and his Dad to see the show a few weeks ago so he was quite pleased that I had managed to get the DVD. No sooner had it started though when they came in to take him off for more physio. He is getting steadier on his feet already and gaining in confidence so I reckon that within a few days he might be able to get in and out of his wheelchair unaided and become a little more independent – there’ll be no stopping him then!

His speech is also improving, his voice is getting louder and he is now able to string sentences together quite well but often forgets words. As far as we know he hasn’t had any speech therapy yet, so once that starts it should improve even more.

When he got back from physio we took him to the WRVS cafe for a cup of tea and his face lit up when he saw the Ginsters chicken & mushroom slices on the shelf (yuk!) and even more so when he saw a box full of Pepperamis! So he munched his way through those (the chicken slice and one pepperami, not the box of pepperamis....) and a cup of tea (his appetite is definitely unaffected!) and then Amy joined us. Shortly afterwards Stuart’s Mum Carolyn popped in briefly to see him on the way into town and after we had finished our tea we went back to his room and played a couple of games of Uno. He managed very well so be warned that if you visit you may get roped in for a game! This will be good for Paul as he needs to concentrate on what he is doing and holding the cards helps his co-ordination and dexterity so there are lots of benefits. He won 2 out of the 3 games we played so he obviously hasn’t lost the knack of playing!

And then it was supper time – as usual we had to go away so guess what – we went and had a cup of tea! (I’m getting fed up of tea!). His supper tonight was Stovies, beetroot and oatcakes with jelly and ice cream for pudding. Enough, you would think, to feed a horse but no...

When we got back we found him sitting at the sink in his room brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed and he asked us to wash his hair, which was quite tricky in the sink and we all ended up getting quite wet!

No sooner had he got into bed (with a clean T shirt on) when he announced he was hungry. He then munched his way through 2 M&S jellies – half of which ended up on his clean T shirt - the Tuna and Sweet corn sandwich that we bought for lunch but didn’t eat, the last cake that Naseem made for him yesterday (there were 6 last night!) and a bottle of apple juice!

Andrew and Scott then arrived and brought him some grapes and apple turnovers, but even he couldn’t manage them at the time but I guess they might be gone by the morning!

He seemed a bit subdued today, but I guess he was tired with all the physio, so we spent the rest of the evening watching Bill Bailey and then left him to go to sleep.

Oh, and he had a chocolate donut before we left....