12th July 2011

An excellent week for Steven. Small but noticeable improvements in all areas. He no longer uses the wheelchair within the confines of the hospital, using a walking frame instead to go from his room to physio’. He is successfully negotiating stairs, up and down. He is walking on his own, slowly but surely, including walking with his hands clasped behind his back to prove that he has balance. Sometimes his walking is quite fluid and natural, other times he can be clumsy, this depending on his level of pain, and how tired he is. He now has two supports on his left foot. One which supports and protects his left ankle, preventing the ankle from turning inward, the other a system of Velcro straps which makes his left foot adopt the correct angles when walking. Both supports are uncomfortable and cause a fair amount of irritation, especially in the heat we’re experiencing at the moment. Obviously whenever we see these improvements we offer encouragement, but he doesn’t need that, he’s so determined to do this. Swimming is still a problem. Formerly a competent swimmer, he now struggles in his actions, and in his breathing. His left arm has suddenly become straighter, whether this is from his limited swimming action we don’t know, but it’s certainly better. However he still cannot fully bend his left arm. Steven is now using his laptop on a regular basis, and is quite proficient in it’s use, showing improvement in manual dexterity, and in the way his mind is working. Steven was in a very reflective mood last week. He’s mentioned before that he feels that he doesn’t own the body he has. This time he was talking about how he is learning to discover people. He’s suddenly realised, with much surprise, that there are as many fake people as good people, and he has to learn who he can trust in the future. Although not making plans, he insists that he is going to start his second life, and will concentrate on himself in the short term. He is still prone to being upset when mildly admonished, so we try our best not to tell him what to do, or even tell him if he does something wrong, but just ignore his failings. On Friday 8th July, we again returned home for the weekend. No problems during the journey for Steven or his dog. After a full English breakfast en route, I took Steven into town to meet a good friend Veronica Lozano. I sat in the background whilst they chatted and laughed, it was good to see. Friday evening we all went to Alan’s Bar, where we saw Lyndsey Madden and Javi Seva. For Javi this was very emotional, as the last time he saw Steven was in the first few weeks of his coma. Steven and Javi were inconsolable, but so happy. They have known each other for over 20yrs, Javi seeing Steven grow up. Many others at the bar came to Steven to congratulate him on his recovery progress. Saturday evening I took Steven to the O Zone area for him to speak with Kelly Dintino(me in the background again), and then later with another friend Irene Duncan we went to Steven’s old restaurant Pizza Nostra in town. In town he met up with a walking/running friend Jose, who was so pleased to see him, and then he saw an old friend Pete, a regular reader of this blog, he too was pleased to see him. After an excellent meal, we went to Bar Cinco Lobitos, a favourite haunt of Steven’s to see the owner, Ramon, friends for 12 yrs. An excellent night, very emotional, but Steven handled it all very well. Sunday lunchtime, Irene joined us again for a meal and relax around the pool. Then it was the long journey home, this time without incident. Steven goes very quiet after his weekends away, and it just may be that he sees people his age enjoying themselves, and he cannot yet join in. Also he knows he’s going back to the pain and discomfort of physio’, and though he hates the expression “poco y poco” he knows that it’s true. We have to keep reminding him of how he was just a few short weeks ago. We are considering letting him read his blog just to show him how far he’s come along this road to full recovery, but I want him to tell me of his dreams when in a coma, so that we can tell him whether they were real or not. We’ll see.
Best regards Terry