Thank you so much Peter for the news. Please let the family know that we
are all thinking of them.
Rose
On Sat, 15 Aug 2020 at 15:02, karen hitchlock <karenhitchlock@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Thanks Peter
On Sat, 15 Aug 2020, 12:36 Peter Curtis, <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Dear All,
There was good news from Jan on Thursday . This reached me via Carol but
I felt we needed to check with Jan if it was OK to pass this on.
Of course her priority is not checking mails and this took time but it
also gave an update from yesterday (Friday) as well.
Thursday saw a lot of progress - this is Jan's mail:
They managed to get him to open his eyes whilst I was there
(they have to cause him pain in the neck to do that) and he could move his
eyes from the nurse to me and then he squeezed my hand.
He stayed awake for about 20-30 seconds and then dropped off
again.
About 10 minutes later, the physiotherapist came to meet John and to give
him a session. She got him to open his eyes again (although the lids are
droopy and he looks extremely drowsy still) and I got another couple of
hand squeezes and a thumbs up. He can move his right arm about a bit and,
when told (quite sternly) by the therapist, he can bend his right leg.
Unfortunately, he cannot move any of his left side and the left eyelid is
much droopier than the right.
I had a video of Jossie's birthday cake and singing of happy birthday and
some dinner time chat (with visiting family members) so the physio and I
played that to John. She put the phone in his hand and helped him to hold
it in front of his face. He definitely focused on that and when she asked
him if he knew that it was his phone, his right thumb waved about in the
air as if he was swiping the screen around.
He was definitely stimulated by the phone and the video, so I will record
something for each visit and show him. I tried not to hide my hurt that the
phone got the top billing - especially as just before, when I was talking
to him and telling him our news, he did the most almightily rude and huge
yawn (whilst asleep).
After about 15 - 20 minutes of physio (although a lot of that time the
therapist and I were talking across the bed and I think John was asleep
again), he went back into deep sleep (not sure if that is still considered
a coma) and that was that. No more squeezes or eyes. Before he went to
sleep deeply, I played him a recording of the family singing the blessing
that I wrote. I've played it to him before with no reaction, but today I
felt as if he could hear it, as his eyelids were sort of fluttering and I
think I saw a tear run down his cheek.
A huge difference for me, but they have warned me that despite him
turning a corner, it is a very small one still. The good news, is that now
there is progress, however small, he might not be sent back to Salisbury.
There is a chance that he will stay in Southampton (where the care is more
advanced and specialist) until they put his skull back in. I am pleased
that he might stay there, despite the extra travelling, as they are the top
dogs in terms of brain rehabilitation and Salisbury, whilst being very
good, is not in the same league and doesn't have some of the latest
technology.
I am going again tomorrow. They have warned me that he might be asleep
the whole time, but I feel more positive about each visit now that there is
a sliver of progress.
Thanks very much for your thoughts and prayers. Keep them all coming!
Then from Friday 14th.
Again, this is Jan's short mail.
I've been to see him today and he was very sleepy and didn't want to open
his eyes much. He did (very sleepily) partially open his eyes to watch
short videos of the children and he managed a small nod when I asked if he
wanted to see it again. Other than that, he was sleeping. So, not such a
good visit as yesterday but I caught him on a good time then and a sleepy
time today - so much to be expected, I guess.
From PC: We must all keep thinking, hoping and praying form John.