Paul update - Day 40

Day 40 – Monday 22 December

We got to Maidencraig earlier than usual today because we had the case conference with the Senior Registrar, Occupational Therapist and Physiotherapist at 11:30. Basically the meeting started with a summary of Paul’s injury and confirmation of how well he is doing and how quickly he is progressing both physically and mentally. They reiterated that the briefing they had been given about Paul before he arrived suggested that he would be a long term patient but he really has exceeded everyone’s expectations with his progress. The Registrar said that there was nothing to suggest that he would not make a very good recovery, but he did say that it may take a couple of years for Paul to return to near normal.

Basically the trauma to his brain is such that a number of his brain cells will have been damaged to the extent that they will not recover, but due to his age and general state of fitness other brain cells will take on the function of the "dead" ones and this is what takes the time. They plan to have him assessed by a neuropsychologist in the New Year and this will confirm what capabilities Paul will have. So basically this is all good news and we continue to thank our lucky stars – it could have been so much worse.

They confirmed that Paul will be home for Christmas so anyone who wants to see him (or us!) will be welcome to pop round on Boxing afternoon after about 14:00 – give us a ring if you need directions. We pick him up Wednesday and he doesn’t have to be back until Sunday and he can also come home for New Year as well which is brilliant.

Once he is back after New Year, the occupational therapy sessions will involve trips into town and the like to see how he copes with all the different situations – in many ways he has been in the protective environment of the hospital since the accident so when you consider the multitude of things that go on in the outside world they need to ensure that he can handle all the different situations and make appropriate decisions.

The best news of the day though was that they are now talking about a possible total discharge from hospital at the end of January – we have another meeting scheduled for 19 January and as long as everything has gone according to plan they see no reason why he shouldn’t come home for good!

He had lots of visitors throughout the afternoon today which was very good for him – he said just before we left this evening how good it was for everyone to visit him and how much he enjoyed it so thanks again. Apologies if I miss anyone, but there was Holly, Alison (Holly’s Mum), Robyn, Holly’s niece (sorry – we didn’t catch her name!) Katharine, Laura (Katharine’s Mum), Jenna, Stuart, Gavin, Chris (Alderton), Eilidh and Anna. Katharine bought Paul some very fancy Christmas playing cards so we eplayed a few card games which Paul enjoyed.

Shortly before we left we heard some carol singers and went into the corridor to find a choir singing Christmas carols which all the patients seemed to enjoy.

So to sum up the day it is all good news and we can now slowly start to think about the future!

Hope to see some of you Boxing Day.