Daily Routines

Over the last couple of weeks Martin has shown steady progress.

He now has a daily routine of physiotherapy which has focused on his ability to walk. It's clear that he's still some way from walking unaided but has managed a few paces forward and back between the parallel bars. The potential is that when he goes home he'll still only be able to walk with crutches and will rely mainly on a wheelchair to get around.

Going home may not now be that far off! Possibly in the next 1- 2 weeks. Simply the doctors have made it known that medically there's nothing else they can do other than control the discomfort and pain caused by the pins and needles which he still has. His recovery to full fitness is now all about his determination and aftercare such as physiotherapy that he'll continue to have for some weeks, possibly months.

Going home is not likely to be easy. Getting up stairs isn't really possible yet so it'll mean a bed downstairs as well as ensuring there's wheelchair access etc. But for all that I think going home will give him a real boost.

I've noticed that Martins co-ordination is getting much better...it must be because he managed to shave himself last night without cutting his throat!

His sight doesn't seem to be coming back quite as quickly. To give you some idea, he has a clock on the wall opposite his bed. If he looks directly at it he actually sees two clocks, one in the correct place on the wall, the other one appears to be on the ceiling!

He's starting to get around in his wheelchair and can even get into it himself which has meant he's less reliant on the nurses. It didn't quite go according to plan yesterday however. Trying to pull himself from the chair onto the bed he somehow managed to slip down into a heap on the floor. Typically his buzzer was out of reach so it was a case of waiting for help to arrive.

The cleaner got there first and raised the alarm with "Man On The Floor"! The nurses came running and hauled him back onto the bed. He was probably more embarrassed than any damage caused.

It did emphasise that he still lacks a lot of strength and control in his legs...'felt like spaghetti' he said.

The likelihood is that he'll be moved out of the side room into the main ward this week. I know he'll deal with that ok but it's been slightly disappointing in the way that the hospital have managed the situation. There definitely seems to have been some animosity towards Martin with regard to him being in a room on his own.

Perhaps it's because outwardly he appears to be relatively normal with regard to speech and appearance compared to other patients some of whom are distressingly unwell. Personally, I don't think he would have improved as quickly as he has without the opportunity to rest and control his surroundings. As this will mean that he'll leave hospital about a month earlier than we expected that has to be good...doesn't it??

The ward has a really wide scope of conditions to deal with. Mainly neurological related such as strokes etc where patients are bedridden. One or two patients have got mobility however, to the point where the nurses have to constantly monitor their whereabouts! Martin got something of a surprise when his door opened at 4am this morning when one of the other patients decided to go 'walkabout'.

This week will be all about planning for him coming home. Getting a bed set up, providing grab bars into the toilet, working out how to get him to daily physiotherapy. I'm sure he's ready though...he's been talking about escaping!!