Monday 5 June 2017

Is there no end? Day 20

I had a call from Mike yesterday. His mouth is still so sore that eating anything solid is still impossible. They are still feeding him through the tube and he is still having those lovely milkshakes. So far so good.

Mike also told me that they have moved him out of intensive care back to the ward where he has his own room and his own bathroom. This would be good, except he realised that he can't actually get out of bed, his leg muscles have wasted so badly that they will no longer take his weight. He can't walk or stand and needs physiotherapy. Yet another hurdle, something else to stop us ever getting back to some sort of normality. 

Please don't tell me it will all get better unless you can guarantee that he will be normal again by September. I'm so angry with the whole world right now. 😭😡

Saturday 3 June 2017

The verge of adulthood day 18

It's nearly a week since I posted. I should have posted progress before but I couldn't find the time or brain space. For those who don't FB I will recap.

Sunday +12: Mike went backwards. 

Monday +13 Mike stuck backwards. Very frustrated wife questioning why, nurse (they rotate constantly) says he doesn't seem any different from when my colleague handed over. Luckily a few hours later a different colleague who had seen him Friday happened to pop in and couldn't believe how much worse he was. (Thank you. See I'm not crazy.)

Tuesday +14 Mike still in rut. One of the drugs they are giving him makes him hallucinate. Conversation has been impossible since he was taken to Intensive care. The only words out of his mouth have been random rubbish unconnected to what I have been saying, The icing on the cake is a call at midnight (so this is partly for Wednesday). Mike tells me to call the police and tell them the nurses are trying to murder him. 

Wednesday +15 Mike finally agrees to having a nasogastric tube. He hasn't kept anything down for fifteen days. I have a meltdown as I can't understand why Mike isn't improving, not even a tiny bit. 

Thursday +16 I manage to do something never before seen by the paramedics. Whilst simply walking along I manage to get a screw embedded in my foot. I did try to pull it out, no luck. The ambulance was called out by a passing stranger, much to my embarrassment. A trip to A&E was made and two hours later I was out and on my way, the super fast service due to the fact I told them I was actually on my way to Heartlands to see my hubby in Intensive Care. They couldn't have been more helpful and I very grateful. Now you would have thought I would have gone home (I only had one shoe by now) but no, I dutifully went off to see Mike. Cue another meltdown and a good telling off for Mike. I told him enough was enough and that if all I was going to visit was a sleepy, delusional  husband then I wasn't going to keep spending four hours a day travelling. 

Recreated accident

My poor foot!

Friday +17 Another delusional phone call first thing, Mike is convinced we have won some big court battle and can now afford to pay for private care. He has been trying to pull out his lines and feeding tube. I suggest he asks them to review his drugs as obviously something is sending him loopy. I don't visit, but in the afternoon Mike is taken down for dialysis on the proper machines. At 18:00 Mike calls to tell me he has managed to drink and keep down the special fortified milkshake they gave him. Finally a bit of progress.

So today is day 18+ the first day of adulthood. He was out of hospital last time round. Still at least we finally have signs that he is going to recover, cross your fingers he doesn't go backwards again.