Tuesday 13 March 2012

14th March 2012

On the 500th day of Steven’s accident, this is a précis of what has happened to now. The accident resulted in horrific injuries to Steven, so much so, that it seems that repair operations weren’t carried out due to the expectation that he wouldn’t survive. This lack of action resulted in the body repairing itself, but in some cases slightly incorrect. A hip joint replacement operation enabled Steven to improve his walking posture, which then resulted in new pain to his knee, and ankle. However the left pelvis was severely damaged and twisted and cannot be repaired. This also affected his stance. Because he is able to stand more erect, his stomach muscles tensed making it difficult for him to breathe, and strangely the stomach started making “gurgling” noises when he breathed. The elbow operation also caused a new pain in his shoulder. What is unknown is what these relatively new pains are. Are they the result of the muscles being moved in the accident, bone damage, or just the result of normal exercise pain. As time goes on there will have to be further examinations of these problems unless they disappear. Steven still has very little natural control over his body movements, almost everything he does has to be planned, there is very little he can do on instinct. Before he can speak he has to make sure he has enough breath to be able to speak. When he walks he has to tell each part of his legs to move in the correct order. A baby matures naturally, and doesn’t actually learn to do anything. Because Steven’s brain was damaged, he knows what he used to do naturally, but now has to tell the body what to do, he is learning all over again. He didn’t breathe properly for several months due to the tracheotomy, so has had to learn to breathe and cough. He didn’t eat for several months due to the gastroscopy, so had to learn to do that again. Throughout the process of healing he and we have had to cope with the varying opinions of doctors. We’ve actually been told by one doctor not to listen to different opinions, but when we have to see so many types of doctors, they all seem to have different opinions of what needs doing, how can we ignore them. Remember Steven was once told that his left foot should be amputated. He was also once told that he had no hip injury, and that it was his brain telling him he was in pain due to the damage to the nerves. He was told that the elbow pain was caused by a growth of calcium which could only be removed by manipulation. Due to the inevitable delays of an overworked national health system because of better health care and longevity, we have gone the private route for his hip and elbow operations. We are not complaining about the Spanish health system, they have been very helpful in many ways, but we couldn’t risk further damage by delaying treatment. We’ve also had to deal with social problems. There is the insensitivity of people, whether failing to move out of Steven’s way despite having a walking stick, or lack of patience when talking or listening to him. Strangely it seems that there is a competition as to who has the worst injuries when talking to certain people. We have always said that there are people worse off than Steven, and we don’t expect any special favours, all we have ever asked for, is understanding of Steven’s problems. Friends who were in constant touch before the accident now don’t make contact, yet total strangers have given us amazing support. Steven has received much support from his friends such as Pablo and Yoli, and Dominic. We have received support from Steven’s brother Paul, his Aunty Linda, and friends Chris’ and Gordon. We all have received incredible unwavering support in so many ways from our long term friend Javi. There are many others to name but these are the most important. What has amazed us is that Steven has retained or even improved his intelligence, he has retained his Spanish and English language skills, and he has retained his motor skills when operating computers and games consoles. Steven’s social and emotional awareness continues to improve as he “matures”. We have started to make light of many issues, and our humour is returning. We can see the amazing progress that’s been made and will continue to make. Despite the occasional “dark” day when depression takes hold, Steven’s overall patience and determination at getting better is wonderful and our positivity remains. We are so proud of him, and for what he has achieved. He has many operations or treatments to look forward to, including examination of left ankle, left knee, left shoulder, his stomach, and possibly cosmetic surgery to a badly healed tracheotomy scar. The day when our lives get back to normal is on the horizon. We all thank you for your continued support, we wouldn’t have got this far without it.
Love Terry

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