Graham is still in bed - phone calls appreciated
Dear all,
I went to the hospital yesterday with Airasa (because I have an injured toe followed by dropping a jar on the same foot!! – thus I am not driving much again). We were in good spirits because Airasa had interviewed for a new teaching position in the morning and was notified that she was successful at 11:30 (there were only 2 applicants). So she is over the moon at having a new school in September.
Graham has been in bed for 11 days now with the pressure sore. Yesterday he said that the nurses exclaimed that it is much smaller now so we are hoping he will be out of bed again soon. It is so difficult for him to be back in bed for so long. He had got quite expert and changing his TV channels and playing the videos, as well as feeding himself and even moving his wheel chair. After so long in bed, he will have to re-develop his skills again.
And when he is in bed there is virtually nothing he can do for himself. He can only ring the big smiley face button to call a nurse to help him. It is much more difficult for him being in bed all the time this time around, now that he knows what he can do when he is up in a wheelchair. But he is doing the best he can to keep his spirits up.
One thing is that he has started to listen to books on CD. He remarked that it might take him a while to try something new like that but he really is not a Luddite! I believe he will find this a nice change from watching TV, which has never been more than a method of watching baseball for the most part in the past, I think!
We continue to receive papers from the states asking for information on his condition in preparation for getting a move to California organised. It is still no doubt many months in the future yet, but all the facilities have to be in place, and the apartment has to be ready and Mr. Jamil his consultant here has to feel he will go to a safe and secure place there.
I know all of you will do what you can when the process finally happens. There will be much humping of books out of his old place and arranging of a few tasteful items in the new place which will need lots of space for his wheelchair to move around! There will be much throwing out of things or giving away of things as well. But I know you are all kind and wonderful folks and will help him with whatever skills you have to make his life there easier.
It will be a while though so you don’t need to put on your grubbies just yet!
Once I finally move to my new flat it will be a place Graham can come to visit. We are hoping to get him outside of the hospital for a short outing next month to go to a local park that is all wheelchair accessible. We will get a wheelchair taxi, take him to the park, wheel him around the area and into the nice facilities, have a cuppa and generally re-introduce him to the outside world. Our weather in the summer is not too bad when it is good, if you see what I mean. He really misses the steady warm sunshine of California and we don’t get that kind of weather except for a few days scattered about in the summer months. We will try to make the most of those days when he is up and about in July and August.
Airasa and Ian are going away for the next few days (half term for schools and a bank holiday on Monday for the rest of us) so they are headed south to visit friends. I will get to the hospital at least once, depending on my driving foot. If it is not too difficult I may make it in twice. It might be a good time to try phoning him. Remember to use the main phone number first to get him set up. Ian had an hour’s chat with him on Wednesday because he was unable to visit due to his own back giving him pain so he could not drive! But the chat was nice and it is easy for Graham to keep up the chatter for an hour. He prefers that every time to watching TV, or listening to music or books on CD, I am sure of that.
So progress seems a bit slow at the moment but we know he will be up again soon and that will be very cheering for him.
If you want to send emails to him in response to this, send them to me as Airasa won’t be in again until next Wednesday. It means so much to hear from you all.
OK, enough rambling from me.
Kind regards to you all.
Linda
I went to the hospital yesterday with Airasa (because I have an injured toe followed by dropping a jar on the same foot!! – thus I am not driving much again). We were in good spirits because Airasa had interviewed for a new teaching position in the morning and was notified that she was successful at 11:30 (there were only 2 applicants). So she is over the moon at having a new school in September.
Graham has been in bed for 11 days now with the pressure sore. Yesterday he said that the nurses exclaimed that it is much smaller now so we are hoping he will be out of bed again soon. It is so difficult for him to be back in bed for so long. He had got quite expert and changing his TV channels and playing the videos, as well as feeding himself and even moving his wheel chair. After so long in bed, he will have to re-develop his skills again.
And when he is in bed there is virtually nothing he can do for himself. He can only ring the big smiley face button to call a nurse to help him. It is much more difficult for him being in bed all the time this time around, now that he knows what he can do when he is up in a wheelchair. But he is doing the best he can to keep his spirits up.
One thing is that he has started to listen to books on CD. He remarked that it might take him a while to try something new like that but he really is not a Luddite! I believe he will find this a nice change from watching TV, which has never been more than a method of watching baseball for the most part in the past, I think!
We continue to receive papers from the states asking for information on his condition in preparation for getting a move to California organised. It is still no doubt many months in the future yet, but all the facilities have to be in place, and the apartment has to be ready and Mr. Jamil his consultant here has to feel he will go to a safe and secure place there.
I know all of you will do what you can when the process finally happens. There will be much humping of books out of his old place and arranging of a few tasteful items in the new place which will need lots of space for his wheelchair to move around! There will be much throwing out of things or giving away of things as well. But I know you are all kind and wonderful folks and will help him with whatever skills you have to make his life there easier.
It will be a while though so you don’t need to put on your grubbies just yet!
Once I finally move to my new flat it will be a place Graham can come to visit. We are hoping to get him outside of the hospital for a short outing next month to go to a local park that is all wheelchair accessible. We will get a wheelchair taxi, take him to the park, wheel him around the area and into the nice facilities, have a cuppa and generally re-introduce him to the outside world. Our weather in the summer is not too bad when it is good, if you see what I mean. He really misses the steady warm sunshine of California and we don’t get that kind of weather except for a few days scattered about in the summer months. We will try to make the most of those days when he is up and about in July and August.
Airasa and Ian are going away for the next few days (half term for schools and a bank holiday on Monday for the rest of us) so they are headed south to visit friends. I will get to the hospital at least once, depending on my driving foot. If it is not too difficult I may make it in twice. It might be a good time to try phoning him. Remember to use the main phone number first to get him set up. Ian had an hour’s chat with him on Wednesday because he was unable to visit due to his own back giving him pain so he could not drive! But the chat was nice and it is easy for Graham to keep up the chatter for an hour. He prefers that every time to watching TV, or listening to music or books on CD, I am sure of that.
So progress seems a bit slow at the moment but we know he will be up again soon and that will be very cheering for him.
If you want to send emails to him in response to this, send them to me as Airasa won’t be in again until next Wednesday. It means so much to hear from you all.
OK, enough rambling from me.
Kind regards to you all.
Linda
posted by Cosmic Sunshine at 7:09 AM
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