Paul update - Day 33

Day 33 – Monday 15 December

We managed to get a bit of Christmas shopping done this morning so we arrived a little later than usual and found Paul asleep after a hard morning at physio and occupational therapy.

Paul had a new physio therapist this morning and she thought he was doing very well. He no longer needs a walking frame so all he has now is his wheelchair which he walks to and from unaided as long as somebody is there to support him if needed – he is not yet ready to go solo.  He walks very well considering, but tends to try and walk too quickly and doesn’t have full control of his right leg yet, so we are worried that he is going to fall over.  Trying to slow him down though is not the easiest thing to do......!

His occupational therapy this morning was all about balance, co-ordination and concentration. He played a couple of games of Connect 4 and also did some exercises such as putting hoops on sticks at arm’s length to check his balance and overall he did very well.

We took him for our now regular cup of tea (and bars of chocolate!) around 3 and Eilidh arrived whilst we were there, so we spent the afternoon chatting and looking at the picture compilation that Suzanne put together for him.  This is really brilliant but both Pat and I find it quite difficult to watch as it shows Paul how he was – laughing and joking and without a care in the World; we just hope that one day he will be like that again.

We played a few games of card pairs again which Paul enjoyed and then Andrew arrived a little later on and brought Paul in a Mountain Bike DVD – we were quite impressed that he recognised a lot of the people featured in it and knew some of the places; some of which I think he has ridden.  He also walked to the bathroom unaided and although I went with him, he really didn’t need me so he continues to amaze us with his progress.

Pat and I are off to see Status Quo tomorrow (we booked it about 11 months ago – honest) and we will have to leave about 18:30 so if anyone wants to visit, this will be a good time as otherwise he will be on his own.  This also means that I might not be able to upload tomorrow’s blog until Wednesday morning and will probably be shouting as we will be temporarily deaf.....