Paul update - Day 47

Day 47 - Monday 29 December

Unfortunately, life has temporarily reverted back to what has been “normal” for the past few weeks. Just the two of us at home in the morning (although Mark is at home at the moment, but he is working at the garage so leaves early), get up, something to eat and then off to Maidencraig.

Paul had physio this morning and he walked all the way to the gym in the main hospital with no support which is a fair distance. During physio he did more exercises on a thing which he says is a bit like a space hopper (for those old enough to remember!) to improve his balance and also more exercises on the steps designed to strengthen his hip. It won’t be long before he doesn’t need the wheelchair so this is another major step forward.

Pat also noted that Paul wasn’t squinting nearly as much as he did before so we asked him about his double vision and he said it had improved a lot; he first noticed the improvement this morning when he played the X-Box and thought how much better he could see what he was doing.

He still hasn’t done his homework though (hmmm, that rings a vague bell for some reason...); he was given some writing exercises to do over Christmas but didn’t get round to doing them so we keep nagging him to do it (hmmm, that rings a vague bell for some reason...) so it seems as though some things haven’t changed!! He says he will do them over the New Year... Stuart – do you want to win your fiver back, I feel a wager coming on!?

When we were in the WRVS having the now traditional cup of tea some near neighbours of ours (The Gillans) came in and said hello to Paul, apparently Mrs Gillans’ Dad is in Woodend and they were visiting him.

Paul has been moaning about us fussing over him, especially when we make sure that he doesn’t walk anywhere without one of us going with him but today he got a stark reminder of why we do it. A chap got up from a nearby table in the WRVS this afternoon and we are not sure what happened but we think he slipped and went down like a sack of spuds, banging his head on the floor quite hard. Luckily there were doctors present who were with him in seconds but after that Paul said it made him realise what could happen – whether it stops him moaning or not though only time will tell!!

It was confirmed today that he can come home for New Year and as far as we know we will be picking him up Wednesday and dropping him back Sunday, so please don’t come to visit him at Maidencraig as he won’t be there! You are welcome to visit at home though, but just give us a quick buzz to make sure we are in – we aren’t planning to go far but we may pop into the village. So we hope to see some of you over the next few days.