Graham is moving again!!

Dear Friends and Family of Graham,

Airasa just spoke to her dad and he is at this moment waiting to be moved in the next hour or so to his new nursing facility home which is:

Shoreline Care Center
5225 South J Street, Oxnard, CA 93033
Phone: (805) 488-3696

You can go to http://www.covenantcare.com/Pages/shoreline/SHORELINE.html
if you want to look at the website. There is a link to a map for those who might be able to visit him.

From reading about it, it seems to be similar in size and ability to the Buena Vista Care Center that he was in when he returned to California from England, but hopefully it will be a place where his wounds will finally heal. He has been through a lot in the past few months and the doctors are doing their best to get him into a stable physical situation.

Most recently, he has a vacuum gadget that is working on his wounds as well as the other various medical interventions happening that really require him to be in a skilled nursing facility for the time being. He needs 24 hour care. However much we might have hoped that he can return to his apartment, it is clear that his medical situation does not warrant the reality of that, at least for the foreseeable future. We do have to face facts! What is most important is that he have as much quality of life as possible and the regular 24 hour care that he needs.

We are simply not able to afford caregivers on a 24/7 basis in his apartment. Because he needs specialist care for now, even if we could find some caregivers today, there is no guarantee that they would stay with him for a long term and then we would simply be facing the caregiver problem over and over again.

You have all been very supportive in each move, and perhaps you might like to send him a card to let him know that you are thinking of him in this latest move.

I will be giving up the Care Pages (which were associated with the last two places) so it is probably best to keep sending out these emails to the whole group and also to update the UFOESP blog with the same.

We have had a rather disappointing summer here in England, though it has suited Airasa as she nears the birth of their child in the next couple of weeks or so. Cooler is better for the last few weeks for sure!

Hope your summer has been good.

Kind regards,
Linda

Graham in Pleasant Valley -- had surgery

Dear one and all,

We had news this week that Graham has undergone surgery in the hopes that this will provide a better means for his pressure sores to heal. They have been ultimately stubborn as the doctors have tried to find out what is going on. He has had tests to see if the bone was involved, and blood tests to see what the culprit was. In the end they decided that having a colostomy will help to clear the area for healing. Thus earlier this week he underwent this operation and is now recovering from it. All seems to be going well on the recovery front -- he has mentioned being hungry on our phone calls, which is always a good sign!

In case you want to phone him, he now has a speaker phone in his hospital room -- it is not one that he can answer by himself, but once someone presses the button he can talk with others much more easily than when someone had to hold the phone to his head. We had attempted to get headphones but somehow the technology defeated John. Having the speaker phone is good because it can't fall off his head or get in his way when he is trying to talk.

This is the number 805 389 5828 and you have to ask that someone go to his room to press the button -- he is in room 269.

We have also been exploring ways to get some of his precious music to him. We have decided to get one or more relatively cheap MP3 players and have each one be a specific genre. Then they can be set to 'shuffle' and Graham will be able to hear music for a longer period of time without needing someone to change a CD for him. Craig's family will be assisting with this technology and we are grateful to them and especially to Matt who will be making the time to transfer CDs to the MP3 players. We sincerely hope that the music will help to soothe Graham as it always has done in the past.

Graham has been very fortunate in having several people who have managed to visit him at Pleasant Valley. Considering how far it is from Santa Barbara, we know how truly lucky he is to have such wonderful friends.

We always knew from the outset of this situation that Graham's life would never be 'normal' again. That he had nine months or so in his own apartment was truly a gift. Naturally we hope that somehow he will be able to go home again. However, the only way to face his situation is one day at a time.

We know that the love and good wishes sent by each and every one of you on this list go a long way to providing the right atmosphere for him to live the best life he can.

I will also put this message on to the Care Pages for those who like to check there!

Kind regards,
Linda