Monday, 23 March 2009

New carers lift Jo’s spirits

Jo started the day in much better spirits, obviously occasioned by the impending arrival of the new carers. Luckily they met expectations and have proven themselves much more engaged than the previous agency.

I phoned the neurosurgeon, who confirmed I was right to call him but also said the nausea and temporary increase in neglect were to be expected and only if the nausea increased and was accompanied by vomiting should I contact him before our planned visit on the 1st of April.

The District nurse came and removed the dressing from Jo's head wound. It is scabbed over so no need to dress it. Jo's temple seems to be indented more than is natural but perhaps it appears so because of all the swelling around it.

The physiotherapist came and reset Jo's goals; to stand with the assistance of one carer and to transfer herself to the commode from the bed or wheelchair. Jo is to spend up to four hours a day in the wheelchair. Obviously transferring onto the commode involves being able to pull knickers down and up again, the biggest challenge with one hand.

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Different strokes...

It has been nearly seven years since Jo suffered a "controlled" stroke whilst undergoing brain surgery to clip the blood vessel that had caused a subarachnoid haemorrhage in 2000. Sadly two successive coilings did not occlude the bleed and so Jo had a craniotomy in August 2008. During surgery the surgeon discovered the coiling had penetrated the rear of the aneurysm, occasioning emergency repair procedures. Consequentially they spent one and a half hours longer in surgery than expected, leading to the right half of Jo's brain forgetting it has to look after the left side of her world.