Thursday June 22nd.
After another uncomfortable night, the day was thankfully somewhat cooler. We have not had any rain or thunderstorms so it is still a little humid.
I had my second session at the sports injury clinic at if anything it was even more painful. The initial session had been for 45 minutes and this, plus subsequent sessions, are for 30 minutes. I have never known 30 minutes to pass so slowly or so painfully. I was pleased that I had decided to leave having my breakfast until after the session because I am fairly sure I would have been sick.
Val managed three sets of her exercises and we also managed a walk around the block. Where her eating is concerned, she exceeded her 2,000 calorie target so it’s a case of so far so good. She was still very tired and I think we have a long way to go so I need perhaps to recognise that I am perhaps being too impatient but then again I am only human.
I was surprised when I looked in the bathroom mirror before bed and saw that I had finished the day with bruising where I had been massaged. It was strange to think that I had agreed to something that would in other circumstances have been viewed as common assault!
Hopefully it will be cooler in bed tonight.
Friday June 23rd.
Today was my birthday and I was very lucky with cards and presents.
Val had a particularly good day today. She surpassed her target of 2,000 calories and although she didn’t achieve the exercise target she still did a lot. The District Nurse called in and Val’s bed sore is healing so well that she won’t call in again until next Friday when she hopes it will have completely healed.
We are due to go to Yorkshire with friends in July and both of us really want to go. Val suggested that we hired a wheelchair so that she would be able to do more while we away and I was able to arrange this through our local shop-mobility centre.
We went to a local garden centre to visit a double glazing showroom and coincidentally they had wheelchairs that customers could use and it meant that Val was able to do more than she could have done had she been on foot. I found the wheelchair easy to push around and so we were both happy. We had some lunch at the garden centre and then went to the head office of the double glazing company and placed our order.
The next job of the day was to get Val to her GP appointment and that was positive. Val has been referred to a local gastrologist and we just have to wait for an outpatient appointment. This was relevant because we asked the GP for a tonic for Val and there the GP was prepared to prescribe tablets that would help Val sleep and would also help to stimulate her appetite. There was though a slight concern about the drugs implications for a diabetic and so the GP said that she would consult the gastrologist before prescribing it. The GP was pleased with Val, said she looked well and was doing well. I think I have just been a bit impatient although I think it needed third party intervention – physio, dietician and GP - to move Val’s recovery on.
My birthday present from James and Jane was a steak dinner which Val cooked for me, followed by a black forest gateau. I thoroughly enjoyed it and we both enjoyed the bottle of Malbec wine that came with it.
It had been a good day and with the promise of a cooler night we eventually went to bed hoping for a good sleep.
Saturday June 24th.
The highlight of today was the visit of Lorna, Ryan and Dylan. Dylan is nearly two and is a smiley bundle of fun. It was interesting, and also pleasing, that Lorna and Ryan had not seen Val for a few weeks and both commented on how well she was looking. I suppose the problem I have is that being with her every day I don’t notice the small incremental changes that she is making whereas those who see her less frequently pick up on the overall change.
Anyway we had a good day – pizza and strawberries in the garden. After Lorna, Ryan and Dylan left, Val slept for nearly three hours and as a result we had more of a normal evening watching some of the acts from Glastonbury – I was really taken with Thundercat. We didn’t go to bed until after 22.00 and only after we both had a glass of red wine. For anyone who might be interested I would add that my bruising was now a fetching mix of green and yellow so obviously I cannot wait for my next session!
As for the scores on the doors, Val had over 2,000 calories again and did her exercises.
Sunday June 25th.
It was another good day with a visit from Helen, Tim and the children.
Val had certainly slept well but was slightly off the pace in the morning and was a little sick shortly after they arrived. Even so she had another day where her calorie intake exceeded 2,000 calories. We all went for a walk after lunch and Val came with us and achieved her longest walk yet. Inevitably it took its toll and she went to bed quite early but not before we had both watched Rag an Bone Man’s set from Glastonbury.
Helen and Tim had not seen Val for at least a month and both felt that she looked better and I am sure these visits do both of us a lot of good.
Monday June 26th.
We managed to spend a good part of the day in the garden relaxing. Val and I went for a walk around the block and she did her exercises although not the required three repetitions. Once again she exceeded the 2,000 calorie requirement and it will be interesting to see the outcome of tomorrow’s weigh-in. On the dietician’s advice, Val is only going to weigh herself once a week.
The physio was unable to visit due to his car having broken down and he will now come out on Friday.
There is an element of ground hog day about our days but I can put up with that as long as I believe Val is progressing.
Tuesday June 27th.
By 10.00 this morning, I had got up brought cups of tea for us both and a slice of ginger cake laden with butter for Val. I had got up showered, made the bed when Val got up, emptied the dishwasher, gone to Morrisons and done the shopping and put it away. Val had got up, showered, washed her hair, got dressed and come downstairs, and said she was exhausted. Really? Rightly or wrongly, probably wrongly, I was not particularly sympathetic.
The good news was that the scales showed that Val had gained weight and was now around 47.6kg so the focus on 2,000 calories seemed to have worked.
The morning was somewhat disrupted thereafter by a surveyor coming to take measurements for our new windows, which will be installed starting on July 10th.
Val made her first appearance at her art class since before Easter. They were all pleased to see her and I think it would have done her good to make the effort to go. It was interesting that went I went to collect her she was chatting happily with fellow group members and looked her old self – not something that I have seen much off since she was discharged from hospital. The lesson was surely that she had made the effort when it would have been easier to say that she wasn’t up to going and therefore would have remained on the sofa. It seems to me that if she wasn’t careful Val would have substituted the four walls of her hospital room with admittedly four, far more pleasant walls of our lounge. Inevitably, when she got back she went to bed for a nap and eventually got up at 18.00 just as I was finishing cooking my meal. Val had some soup with a cracker and a crème caramel.
She managed only one set of exercises today but she did do the bulk of the ironing. Val has had a bit of an issue with cleaning her teeth as it seems to cause her to retch which is what happened after her meal. I was downstairs when I heard her retching upstairs. My reaction when I went up to see if she was alright was to query why she was bothering to clean her teeth after meals if she risked being sick as it seemed counter-productive to me. Her reaction was to basically say that I was getting on to her. I wouldn’t have to if she just engaged her brain and thought about things. What’s more important to her at this stage of her recovery the calories or clean teeth?
As a result she appeared to miss the target of 2,000 calories although she claimed a pint of milk, worth 600 calories, had not been recorded over the last two days.
I think we are both feeling fed-up for many of the same reasons and some that are quite different. It feels like a nightmare which, if I am honest, I was not fully prepared for. I can acknowledge that Val is improving and that I am impatient for her recovery to be quicker but as I have said before I am only human after all.
Wednesday June 28th.
When I started to write what I have now come to think and refer to as my blog, I had no idea that all these weeks later that I would still be writing it. It seems to have developed a life of its own but I have decided that a logical end point will be our outpatient appointment with the surgeon on July 12th.
This document was my way of trying to make sense of what was happening and to commit to paper thoughts and feelings that for whatever reason I might feel unable or unwilling to say to another person and in particular Val. I also thought that it might be helpful to Val if she ever wanted to fill in some of the inevitable gaps in her memory of what went on in hospital. I have found it helpful and I have tried to write something that is above all honest, informative and maybe insightful. If others have found it to be helpful and interesting then that is a happy by-product or if they have found it to be boring then they could be viewed as collateral damage.
I had some jobs to do in town in the morning and then I met a friend for lunch. One of my jobs was to visit Shopmobility and “road test” their wheelchairs. I was particularly concerned about getting one where the wheelchair handles – not sure if that is the correct terminology but I mean what the pusher holds on to – were of an appropriate height for me and would not cause me to have to bend over and therefore get back ache. So I have reserved what looks to be the Rolls Royce of wheelchairs and we will have it for four weeks.
Those few hours away from the home situation gave me time to think and I came to the conclusion that I was on a journey – I hate that expression but I cannot think of a better way to describe our situation – of indeterminate length. I am used to getting in the car, putting the required post code in to the satnav, and waiting for the machine to not only give me the best route but also its estimate of how long the journey will take. In our current situation I therefore do not have either the route or the duration. The result is that I have been unhelpfully impatient. I realise that now and consequently apologised to Val. We had a small clear the air talk and are both happier as a result.
Val had a good day and exceeded the target of 2,000 calories and did three sets of her exercises.
