24th April 2011

Well what a difference a few days makes. Whether it’s the change of medicines, I don’t suppose we’ll ever know, but the last few days have seen a wonderful change in Steven’s attitude. He no longer appears depressed. He’s full of life, and looking forward to getting better. Due to earlier progress, and Steven’s positive attitude to his exercises, we’d always been fairly confident of a good recovery, but the last couple of weeks were a massive step backward, where Steven, though not giving up, was getting really annoyed at his apparent lack of progress, and just being fed up. He wouldn’t listen to us when we told him the progress he had made. We’ve never told him how ill he had been, only that a few weeks earlier he couldn’t do the things he was doing now, and that was progress. His numerous ‘phone calls have been a great help, and the parcels with chocolate and cakes, (after testing by me!!!) were thoroughly enjoyed by Steven. There’s no doubt that when we leave here, his walls will need decorating to remove the selotape and glue holding the cards and letters to the wall. Easter week has been a little upsetting for Steven, due to his allegiance to the La Piedad Cofradia, a group of people carrying a large statue around the streets of Torrevieja. But due to the work of Barbara from Belgium, the Cofradia was contacted, and they pledged to lift the statue in Steven’s name, with the usual cry of “Viva”, this is a great honour. This pleased Steven immensely, but he still shed a tear watching the few processions not cancelled, on television. The weather here and all over Spain has been atrocious throughout Easter week, but the sun came out for Steven on Good Friday. Due to the physio’ staff having time off, and since Steven had practiced moving from chair to car, we made the most of it.
Friday we went to Cullera, a coastal town, with a long promenade with numerous cafes. The place was heaving with tourists, a complete change to previous week’s visits. Steven enjoyed seeing the beach and sea, and no doubt one or three girls to look at through the newly purchased mirrored sunglasses. We found a cafe for boquerones in garlic vinegar, with some fresh bread, washed down with an orange drink, not wishing to tempt fate just yet with a Jack Daniels, although he, Paul, and I have made a pact to have one or three of these when he’s better. The food was in complete contrast to the hospital food, and he demolished it with gusto. We had no problems at any stage moving between chair and car, and the whole morning was a complete success. Due to the massive amount of information received, he had an extra long siesta.
Saturday, St George’s Day, an appropriate day for Steven to wear his Union Jack shirt sent from Afghanistan by Paul, an ex-colleague of mine, out there with UK forces. We made the hour long journey to Javea, amongst heavy tourist traffic. This delayed us, and stopped us enjoying a full English, so we had to settle for steak, onion rings, and chips, and again with fresh orange. Steven attacked the meat with his knife and fork, all new experiences. Ice cream and chocolate cake followed. We were in the company of Paul and his new girlfriend Lisa, and her family including her Mum Sarah. The cafe overlooked the bay, packed with sun-worshippers. It was a gorgeous lunchtime, loads of chat, and brought Steven out of his shell a little. He said he didn’t feel like a lab-rat, and it brought normality to his life.
Sunday, another morning out, this time to a car-boot sale at Corbera, but we couldn’t even trade him in for a portion of snails, so we had to bring him back. We managed to avoid the rain, and we had a good walk round, as well as Steven enjoying a longed for “cafe con leche espuma”. Due to him over-indulging his breakfast of Weetabix we didn’t attempt the “churros”, but we’ll have a few of those another day.
His movements between chair and car are getting better with each journey, giving him and us more confidence, almost to the point of independence. We have to be careful of this, he did have one little wobble trying to get into the car by himself, so we have to rein him in. He is not fazed at all by the car, it’s speed, and oncoming traffic, though we haven’t been out at night yet, and he has pre-warned me that he is a bit nervous about this. So of course we’ll wait for that event, which may be soon, if his brother Paul decides to take him into nearby Tavernes for an evening drink and tapas.
It’s been a fabulous weekend, and as much as we continue to think and be positive, there’s always the feeling of when will there be another backward step. He’s entitled to them, as long as he/we continue to push forward, and we’ll do that with the help of all his supporters, thank you.
Best regards Terry