13th March 2011

Hiya,

What an amazing week. Internet messages could not be sent due to the awful weather we’re experiencing, interrupting an already poor signal due to the nearby mountains. This bad weather also gave us local problems, such as no water at our rented house, and a short time without hot water at the hospital. A situation which can occur anytime anywhere.

Steven has continued his recovery with laughter. In no particular order, Steven has been declared free of PTA, which is very important for him, because it now means he may actually return to almost full recovery. The rules of PTA are not set on stone, but we have to be positive. The doctors have stopped testing Steven’s brain with repetitive questions of his memory, and are now concentrating on his arms and legs activity. Steven used a cycle machine for 2kms. He walked with a frame, otherwise unaided, for 10metres. He can take thickened water from a glass by mouth. This shows that his inner throat is healing. Thickened water is by a powder called Espesante, which is a natural sugar added to the water to make it like a “slush puppy”. Both his feet have healed completely, and his leg injury has almost healed.

On the downside, Steven is still experiencing pain in his left leg and foot, and his voice hasn’t yet changed, still sounding like a child. Due to the extra exercise he is doing, he is also having a lot of back pain, which is being controlled by medicine and the neuro strips.

He has had a nightmare where he says he can remember the car crash. We have told him nothing about the accident preferring to wait until he is stronger. But he says he can remember seeing the car coming at him, he can remember the sound of the tyres, he can remember putting his arm around Veronica, and can remember trying to move his leg out of the way of the collision. He thinks that it was his knee that hit Veronica’s face. He thinks he heard a car reversing, and heard glass smash. The accident is vivid in his mind, and has filled in some blanks for us, and we’ll fill in his blanks later. He has asked questions about the accident, and we answer them, but we haven’t given him all the information. He asked “what happened to the other driver”, and he was surprised at my answer that he had ran away. We have tried to tell Steven that his main concern is getting better, not thinking about things which cannot be altered, but it’s understandably hard for him to do so. Lying here in hospital does not give him scope for obtaining newer and better memories, but that will come in time, and hopefully the nightmares will be further apart. The Japanese earthquake has showed Steven that despite everything he has endured, he still has a lot to be grateful for.

Steven has enjoyed the company of his eldest brother for the weekend, and Mark has cared for him overnight, giving us a break.

love

Terry