30th July 2012

Hiya Life for us is getting more manageable and easier. Whereas before we were busy, or had to be prepared to be busy, 24hrs a day, life is much simpler due to the fewer hospital appointments. Roughly our days start at 7.45am when I have to make sure Steven is awake. He has to be at the hospital for 9am, but we never know how long he'll be there, it can be anytime between 11am and 1pm, so there's little we can do in that time. Also whenever we see Steven we never know what mood he's going to be in. He has a few mental issues, in that he gets stressed and upset very easily, but he hasn't been really upset now for about a month or so. Also, we, nor he, knows what his pain level is going to be, and that depends on his sleep, his household chores, and what they do to him in physio'. Usually now, that's it, our afternoons and evenings are generally free, but we always have to be at close call for any problems. He's doing so well at looking after himself in his own house, cooking cleaning etc. But sometimes he may drop something, and we then have to convince him that we all drop things and it's not his brain damage. He's gradually growing up and becoming the young man he wants to be. It's been very strange watching him grow from babyhood again, difficult to believe but that's what it's been like. He's had crying sessions, tantrums, awkward teenager times. But now he's growing mentally, and the problem there is, that he knows how he used to be and it's upsetting him trying to be that young man again, and it may not happen, but my goodness you should see him try. His stay at the spa was a treat for himself. He took advantage of all the treatments available, full body showers, body and/or foot and/or head massage, a la carte food, and cost a bomb, but it was so much worth it. He will do it again but probably as a day treatment guest. We try to go out for meals with Steven to his favourite restaurants, this gets him used to going out and meeting/talking to different people. One particular night we went into town for a meal, as we did so he walked past many of his old haunts, and he "bumped" into over 20people who knew and worked with him. Their reactions to him were amazing, all knowing what had happened to him. It did give him a tremendous boost. But he does get stressed when there's too many people about, especially shopping. He has to be careful now that he doesn't use a walking stick, because when people see him they see a fit young man, walking slowly, with no obvious damage. He still has problems with change of direction and his balance. So we have to walk in a way that tries to protect him. The physio' team are really helping him with new exercises, especially for his left foot. He is now able to move his foot, slightly, in all directions, this making his walk much more natural. Still slow but improving. But this is beginning to make us wonder about the many opinions we've received from different doctors, whether to remove the foot, change tendons over, operate on the ankle to make it rigid. But with his determination and the physio' things are improving. He has had another session of acupuncture, this time 24 needles. He swears that it's making a difference to his pain level and mobility. He will have more sessions, and then hopefully he won't need many more. We are now in possession of all Steven's hospital records from immediately after the accident. Over 40pages of medical reports over a period of just a few days. The conclusion at that time was that his recovery was "improbable". Well he's proved them wrong. There are also over 2,500 x-rays and CAT scans showing incredible damage to his body. He and we have seen the breaks in his neck, ribs, hip joint, pelvis, and leg, the bleeding in his liver, and the bleeding in the brain. The damage is frightening to see, particularly the pelvis and brain. But what these records do show, is that, even though the outcome was doubtful, the hospital staff did everything in their power to "fix" him, and obviously we will be forever grateful. best regards Terry