Walking it

I was going to blog last night but due to technical difficulties did`nt manage it, so here is the news.Dave found it a bit lonely in the small room so he asked if he could be moved out into the ward.This was understandable as in HDU in frenchay there was a lot going on all the time and I think he found it a bit tedious watching Winnie going back and forth past his door!! So when I arrived yesterday he was in a new spot,well actually he was`nt there,he had gone to the boys room, what a lovely sight to see him walk back down the ward unaided, towards me, he did of course have his headgear on. Well done dave!
I`ve just heard from Val that he walked to physio and back today and she said he seemed good,saying that he had asked lots of questions.
Dave was pleased to see Stephanie the other day and also he had a card from Jeff Bowler.
Val had printed out the blog up to Monday when they visited,so that dave could read what has been going on,obviously a lot to take in, he then told me he realises how 'damn lucky'he is.Yep I think we all agree with that dave, but some of it is down to 'Pitman Power'

Sorry

I should have said a thankyou to Dave and Sheila for visiting dave,also to Ann and John who came just before I was going to leave yesterday and to those who continue to visit as and when they can.
Many thanks.

Boogie woogie shoes!

My visit Friday did`nt happen as the journey for dave in the ambulance took a while due to the heavy traffic and having spoken to the staff nurse, felt it wise to leave them to their job, settling him in to his own little room.
So Val and Dave visited him yesterday delivering his shoes and socks!He was in good spirits and seemed pleased to be in Taunton and more aware of where he is.( it obviously helps to be conscious).He was pleased with having his own room saying he will get a better nights sleep without all the peeping noises from the machines.They are useful those machines dave,they help to keep you ALIVE!!
Margaret and I visited after Val and Dave. He told us he had to wear the ****** cycling helmet in the ambulance which appears to amplify sound due to the dome shape of the headgear.Come on dave it is only an ambulance not a rolls royce.
I visited earlier today to be greeted by dave sat on the edge of the bed swinging his legs complete with shoes and socks,busy eating a lovely looking tea consisting of Omelette/sweetcorn/peas/saute potatoes followed by strawberry dessert I have to say it was brilliant to see him like that, he certainly is heading up the ladder now.
AMAZING!! I`m Proud to be his replica! Keep it up dave.

Whoops!

Musgrove Park Hospital is of course in Taunton, forgot that bit.

IMPORTANT NEWS

Less than an hour ago I had a phone call from Frenchay to say that Dave is on his way to Musgrove Park Hospital. He is going to be on Triscombe Ward, visiting times are 2 pm - 8 pm.

We were just about to leave home to go and visit him, so they caught us just in time! Visit for this evening now abandoned, so we'll go in tomorrow instead. I think Roger is going to pop in this evening and make sure Dave knows where he is!

Doughnuts

Margaret and I visited Dave last night,we found him cheerful with an empty plate in front of him. Another pulverised meal eaten up, all good for the marking system he informed us.While on the subject of food, to all his colleagues at work he now realises and was a bit concerned he has missed providing the cakes/doughnuts when it was his birthday.Hopefully one of you has celebrated a birthday within your ranks so you have`nt gone without cakes all this time!!
He had also been out on the bed contraption,quite hilarious apparently according to the nurse.It seems Dave said he thouht it was a bit kinky being strapped in!!
Joking aside this bed thing was quite stressful for him and made him very hot,they did`nt quite make it to the vertical position maybe next time.
I`ve just heard that he told Lesley and Paul tonight that he had badger faggots!Lloyd Grossman must have been reading my blog the other day.

Happy chappy

Roger, Margaret, Chris & Gem visited yesterday and we have been in tonight with Mark & Claire. Dave has been really bright and cheerful for the last couple of days, almost to the point of not being able to get a word in! Really good to see him more like his old self, although he has not been out of bed in the chair recently and says he still gets the dizziness. The tube in his nose has been removed because he is now on pureed food, so no more elephant's trunk as he called it. As Dave says 'this is how they do it here'! When we arrived this evening he told us, spoon in hand, that his neice had just been feeding him. Were you hiding behind the pillar Katie? or was it Lesley who had been giving him wobbly raspberry jelly and icecream.

Mark gave him a sneak preview of his Peruvian honeymoon photos, but on hearing there could be as many as 1000 pictures to see of the wedding and honeymoon he gave a yawn and asked if this was a threat. (Having to look at large nos. of photos has always been a family joke).

Dave says his new Google password is going to be 'badger bait'.

Very many thanks to all Dave's friends and neighbours who continue to visit. It is a real joy to see his face light up when we have seen some of you arrive. He has been known to fall asleep when we get there!

Yet another week!

Sorry about the lack of me on the blog,maybe that is a good sign and perhaps you are all happy about it!
Marg and I have seen dave three times this week last evening being our last visit.We delivered Jilly`s cd of photo`s which my technical sister and laptop will sort out.So thanks Jilly for that.
Dave is in generally good spirit especially after a visit from his old mate Ray Archer,old times had been recalled some of which he related to us.
He has had some more pulverised food,hmm nice!(I don`t think)He is not impressed.Lloyd Grossman are you reading this!! Never mind dave Sunday roast one day I reckon.
Progress being slow it maybe that we may not necessarily blog daily but you can be assured any milestones and humour that needs to be shared will be. Val and I hope you all understand this and we thank you all for your support so far it`s great to know he has so many friends out there.

New outfit

Not a great deal of change to report today, Roger and Margaret visited yesterday evening and we went this afternoon. Dave is still maintaining his sense of humour. Today he was wearing the pyjamas we got him recently and he's so grateful to me for the colour - helicopter blue - reminds him of his work overalls! Thanks sis.

Dave is still very disorientated about where he is at the moment and what he may have been doing. For instance he tells us most days that he has been wandering out and about. However, this is unlikely because as far as we have been told, the physios only see him every other day and up to now he may only have been sitting in the special chair they have, or using the standing 'contraption'. Never mind his memory for past events is good and actually Jilly, Dave told us all about the photos the other night without the aid of any annotations. He also mentioned that he took some good photos of a bald eagle.

Thanks to Roger Nash for the CD and card which Roger took up for Dave yesterday. Actually Dave did say how lucky he has been to receive so many cards and he will have to write and thank everyone one day.

Photo memories

We had a good visit with Dave this evening - I took my laptop in with the CD you had prepared Jilly with photos of Nova Scotia and Scotland etc. Dave was able to tell us all about each one, where it was, who the people were and about the photo he had taken of a bald eagle. We were very impressed. He told us that where he is and time are a bit mixed up - but if he looks under the front of his gown it has Frenchay, Bristol stamped on it! That helps. He also asked us what our accommodation was like here, but we reminded him that it was OK because he is in Bristol and we visit from our home.

Badgers are still not his most favourite wild animal - he wanted to know if his house was badger proof.

Yesterday Roger had taken a CD player in for Dave together with 2 Seth Lakeman CDs, also provided by Jilly, so we sorted that out for him to use. It was really funny because whilst he had it on he suddenly started to talk again, but in a very loud voice over the music in his ears! Very many thanks for the entertainment Jilly, excellent. We await the DVD movie maker with interest - it's a good job we have an IT expert in the family.

Another Rung

Val and I visited this afternoon,to see Dave and to see the Registrar.He told us they are pleased with his progress,still working on getting him out and about.While we were there the physio`s got him out into a fancy chair which tilts and reclines so they can gradually try and overcome the fainting problem that he has. The other thing to sort is the feeding,but given time they are hopeful this will resolve itself.I hope so because he asked Lesley yesterday whether the butcher had any "Badger pie" in!! We gave him a Cycle magazine that had arrived for him and he was busy taking the plastic cover off when Chris and John arrived to see him,so thanks to them for visiting and to Rob and Pat over the weekend.

Start of week seven.

We visited Dave last night and again this afternoon. He was brighter this afternoon and said that he felt a bit better today, which was nice to hear. We read him some of the cards which he had received, one from Jane, David and baby Oliver,and another from Stephanie, who had only recently heard about Dave's accident. Dave told us that he had had some visitors and mentioned their names. Andy and Luisa Huish arrived this afternoon and Dave was pleased to see them. Many thanks to them for making the long journey to visit and to everyone else who has visited, it is much appreciated. He continues to have trouble coping with sitting out and he easily tires, but he is still making progress especially with being able to hold a conversation.

Ouch!

According to Dave's nurse this afternoon, he had at last been able to sit out in the chair today, which is the first time for some while. The last few days when they have tried he has fainted or felt really dizzy so they have left him lying down.

Dave was quite chatty with his nurse today and told her that he thought the girls here were a bit sadistic because they liked putting sticky patches on his chest and then when they removed them some of his chest hairs disappeared as well. She told him that if he went to a beauty salon he would have to pay a lot of money for that treatment. He seemed unimpressed because he has circular bare patches!

He now has a new black foam helmet to wear to protect his head when he is being moved around. Very fetching.

Cards and visitor

Dave told us that he had again tried some yoghurt, custard and mashed fruit today, although he is still also being fed through the tube - the usual coffee coloured liquid! The speech and language therapist told us the other day that they would be gradually weaning him onto 'solids' over the next few days so that the feeding tube can then be removed. According to what Dave told us last night he would like some cake!

Thank you to Peter for travelling up from Yeovil this evening to see Dave and thanks also to Jane, Dave and Baby Oliver and Alasdair Macvarish for their cards which Dave was looking at yesterday evening when we arrived. I apologise for not mentioning this before.

Change of scene

Dave has been moved further down the ward and is on the other side of the room. He was quite alert this evening and very interested in all the comings and goings on the ward. He told us that he had been given some yoghurt, mashed fruit and chocolate drink today and his nurse came to give him some more 'gloopy' chocolate mix (her words) just as we were leaving.

The conversation tonight was definitely two way although there were some quiet moments as well - Dave also showed us how the bed worked, something he seems to enjoy.

Stepping Down

Margaret and I visited this evening and were greeted with a big smile and Dave holding his hand out to be shaken. Although he has not managed to sit out again today, the nurse told us that as of this evening he was 'stepping down' from high dependency, which is another step forward. Well done Dave. This may mean that his bed may move further down the ward, nearer to the entrance, depending upon space.
He also told us that he had had a visit from Chris and John, thanks to them and also to George and Margaret Bartlett, who sent Dave a card, which we read to him. We left before the end of visiting time, as Dave was noticeably tiring.

Zzzzzz

Apparently Dave had been asleep for most of the morning and only woke up for a short while during our visit. He seemed quite sleepy though, but did manage to smile about the bed incident yesterday, obviously remembering the fun he'd had. He must have worn himself out with all that activity and needed to have a restful day - well it is Sunday after all.

We Have Lift Off!

Margaret and I visited today, with our wonderful daughter Katie (who is also typing as I dictate because we need to get to Ilminster Carnival!)
When we arrived Margaret and Katie went to see Dave first, and I went to the waiting room. Dave was busy with the bed remote, pressing all the buttons and moving up and down - as well as moving his head and feet up and down! This kept him occupied for quite a while - until a nurse came and took the remote away!
Katie read the Get Well card from Janet, Maurice and Brigitte - thank you.
Dave was saying quite a lot of things today - but it's obviously quite a struggle for him to get the words out - and what he's saying can be a bit random. (No mention of Balnket Baths today though!)
We each took it in turns to sit in the waiting room, and all heard a different part of the life histories of the other family waiting there - we really needed to know that Granny's brother keeps his potoatoes in the toilet, and that they're ok for roasting!
We left before the end of visiting time, because he'd drifted off to sleep - obviously still getting very tired quickly.

African Baths

Balnket Baths are extremely common in Malawi Val.So Dave was quite correct!!

Balnket Bath

Apart from us visiting this afternoon, Dave's friend, Ron Bastable, had come up by train from Yeovil after work. Unfortunately to begin with Dave was asleep but before Ron left he woke up and nodded his head when Ron told him he would visit again. He gradually became more alert and it is obvious he has not lost his sense of humour. My husband, Dave asked him if he had had a blanket bath yet and he laughed and said 'yes, people from Malawi gave me one and their boss was from there as well'. ?????

As we were saying goodbye he said it was nice to see us and as we walked away from the bed he said 'it's like pages from a Thomas Hardy book'. We're not sure what is, unless anyone can enlighten us. I'm not sure watching Tess of the D'urbervilles on TV qualifies me as a Thomas Hardy expert seeing as that is his only book I have ever read, many years ago.

He`s my brother

Whoops, technical hitch this is my second attempt.I have also had a tear jerking moment. I like Val found Dave very tired,apparently they tried to sit him out today but he promptly nearly fainted,so this probably explains the way he was feeling.When the nurse came to do her obs she asked him who I was and with a smile he said "he`s my brother".As you can imagine following the last five weeks this is the best thing I`ve heard in fifty three years! I also took in a cd player and let him listen to some Seth Lakeman that Jilly had left with us. He seemed to enjoy it and his foot was moving a lot.Lets hope that slowly but surely he continues up the ladder.
Val,I entered the ward cautiously looking for razor weilding nurses,luckily they wer`nt on shift,so I have come home with a full beard!!
PHEW!

Wow!

Dave was really smiling at us during our visit this evening and the most exciting thing yet..... he said 'goodbye see you tomorrow'. That was a tear jerker.