7th February 2012

Hiya,
busy and wasteful day today!!!!!
First we went to the main hospital to see a foot specialist about Steven's left ankle. According to the doctor, the main bones of Steven's ankle are intact, however right in the middle of all the ankle bones there is a small crack. It's this crack which is causing a lot of problems. This has affected the nerves in his foot causing pins and needles, and preventing Steven from moving his foot upwards. The specialist doesn't know yet how to handle this, and will decide after yet another CAT scan in two weeks time. We asked here for a full doctor's report on Steven's problems in order that we can show this to the Social Security in the hope of getting Steven a pension, but was told that we have to do this from his ordinary doctor, so more appointments!!!
From there we went to the private hospital to see Steven's hip surgeon about his elbow problems. But first, the doctor decided to check on his work, and discovered that Steven "may" have a hernia in the upper groin area of the left leg. So from here we were sent to another doctor for another examination who agreed with the hip doctor. This doctor sent Steven for an Echogram. This didn't solve anything so Steven, apart from being covered with cold gel, has to have another CAT scan later. From there we returned to the hip doctor who wanted Steven to have his hernia sorted first, but Steven was insistant on his elbow being repaired due to the pain. Steven was sent for another x-ray which will be done whenever we feel like it but probably next Tuesday. At this rate Steven will be glowing with all the scans. All that took just a few minutes to write but actually took over 4 hours and nothing solved, and causing him to miss his physiotherapy session, and they 'phoned to find out where he was!!
Best regards Terry

6th February 2012

Not a lot to tell you. Steven continues to improve slowly. We wish he would eat more, but he just doesn't feel like eating despite being hungry. Although at his ideal body weight according to BMI, we think he ought to be a bit heavier. He has no pains in his leg except muscle pain as he continues to teach the muscles to work. He is though experiencing more pain in his elbow, so we've decided to bring forward any operation on his elbow. We see his surgeon tomorrow Tuesday, to start the process if he agrees to it. The surgeon did say to wait 2 months, and by the time any op' commences it will be 2 months. We have bought him a small cycle machine to exercise his legs whilst watching tele'. He has been given a breathing tube to practice breathing. He continues his speaking exercises, and his sit-ups to strengthen his diaphragm. He continues to have all manner of physiotherapy every afternoon, from massage to electric shocks.
Bets regards Terry

26th January 2012

Steven continues to recover from his hip replacement. The hip pain from the accident has gone, he now only has muscle pain from the operation, and the beginnings of his exercises. He has lost a lot of muscle size from his left leg, requiring food and exercise to return it to normal. His walking, with a walking stick, is still a slow shuffling motion, with no real visible improvement, only time will do that. The Doctor is pleased with his recovery, the wound having healed perfectly. Steven is aware that all this is taking time, and we're amazed at his patience, and his acceptance of that fact. X-rays (on the Facebook site) after the operation reveal the extent of the damge to the pelvis area, being totally knocked out of shape, it is now understandable why he was in so much pain all the time. He now awaits for a vast improvement in his pain level, and walking ability before we then concentrate on his left elbow. The elbow gives him pain when he tries to bend or straighten it, thus affecting his balance. This will be looked at as soon as possible. In the meantime he continues with his physiotherapy of manipulation, exercises, electric shocks, and Tens machine. He also has speech therapy which is concentrating on his breathing and his pronunciation of vowels. Steven has "forgotten" how to breathe correctly after the damage caused to his diaphragm, and having a tracheotomy for so long. So when he speaks he has to make sure he has sufficient breath in order to do so. Normally eople don't have to think like this, it comes naturally, but not for Steven. We have been told that the offending driver has been arrested, whilst walking in Torrevieja. It's unbelievable to think that owing to the amount of time we go to town, we may have been in the same cafe as him, or even allowed him to cross the road. Initially this information was overwhelming to Steven but he's now happy that the driver is in custody. We have no further information, other than, if convicted, he will receive no more than 9yrs in prison for offences connected with the accident, including the false documents and the running away. Steven has had a medical examination with the car's insurance company. This will be repeated in a couple of months.
Best regards Terry

13th January 2012

Another typical week where it's two steps forward and one step back. Since his operation Steven has recovered well, slowly but surely. On Tuesday 10th January the last of the staples were removed. The wound has healed very well. Immediately Steven felt more comfortable, and even had a little more mobility. He was also able to sleep on his left side for the first time since the accident. He had two full nights sleep, and then had to see yet another doctor. This visit was about his left elbow and left ankle. Yet again we were given another opinion as to his problems. Where do these doctors go to get their degrees, and why isn't the information identical. It's very worrying and upsetting, because it throws us the problem of what to do next. Steven has now been told that his elbow movement is restricted due to calcification of the joint. This can only be removed by painful manipulation. Another doctor has said that it can be removed by surgery, this doctor said that if we do this, the surgery will damage the muscles and tendons, and the calcification will re-grow. Whatever happened to key-hole surgery we asked. No that won't work the doctor says. Then he spoke about the ankle. Steven has now been told that he has a broken bone in his ankle, and this is difficult to repair. He's been given the choice of either put up with an acceptable pain level (which it isn't!!) for the rest of his life; have the ankle fixed into postion by plates, forcing the body to use his knee and toes differently to compensate for the lack of ankle movement; or, have an experimental ankle replacement. We have to see another doctor next week, we wonder what he'll suggest!! There's the suspicion that the NHS won't carry out the work due to lack of funds, but we could counter that by saying the private sector only want our money!! We honestly do not know which way to turn. Nothing will happen until Steven's hip has fully healed and he has much better mobility, so we have time to think, and get more opinions. This really upset Steven, and has knocked him back a long way, putting him into a quiet reflective mood. We will get his motivation back over the weekend, and the recovery will continue.
best regards Terry

6th January2012

New Years Eve Steven had a crisis, which unfortunately was witnessed by friends who were with us for a cuppa. This was a bad one, and I ended up jumping on him to hold him down on the bed, and our friends could hear his screams and banging of fists. It´s so difficult to pin down the actual problem, but I feel it´s Steven´s inability to communicate properly, and, using his words, he feels like a “deaf retard”. As much as we try to convince him he´s doing fine he still won´t accept his problems. He has a lot of understandable bitterness for the person that did this to him. I´ve tried to impress on people that although his physical problems are improving dramatically, the brain injury could take a long time. We can only hope that with his continuing recovery, his mind gets more focussed to getting his head straight. At the moment he´s fine, and I can honestly see him walking properly within days now. His wound is healing well, and he loves me giving him a good scratch when I change his dressing.
Tuesday 3rd Jan’ Steven continues to recover from the operation. After just over two weeks the pain of the operation has gone, only muscle pain remains. His walking is still laboured, but this can only improve as the pain disappears. I’ve described how Steven is sometimes when he gets frustrated by talking, and by general understanding, this is an almost childish attitude, as if he is growing up from being a child. That evening he was in his bedroom alone, and unknown to us he was looking at his many photo’s of him taken before and after the accident. He’s done this many times, as we’ve explained what has happened to him, particularly when he was in his coma. He’s took these explanations in his stride, showing a maturity far beyond his years, yet this evening he came from his room in a state of distress, apologizing for putting us all through the trauma of his recovery. Obviously apologies are totally unnecessary, and we reminded him of how we felt towards him, how it’s been a privilege to care for him, and the fact that we’ve been amazed at the way he has coped with the many unpleasant inconveniences placed upon him. So, on a regular basis we see Steven the child and then the man he undoubtably is.
On Thursday 5th Jan’, Steven attended hospital for the removal of staples from his operation wound, but only 23 of the 32 staples were removed, more healing required, otherwise all fine. The doctor was pleased with progress so far.
Today, Steven became upset talking to his friend about how he felt after recognising he’d been in a serious accident, how he couldn’t communicate his feelings, especially the pain he felt. He tried to explain how not talking for such a long time is affecting the way he talks now. It’s the same with his mobility, because he hasn’t walked for a long time, he knows he has to learn to walk properly. It’s noticeable now that his leg muscles are of a different size, due to lack of correct use. There’s no doubt that when he’s able, he will get back to his usual fitness regime, and he, and no doubt me, will be much fitter.
Best regards Terry

29th December 2011

Hiya
Following his operation Steven has suffered varying degrees of pain. Initially the pain increased as the days went on. Xmas Day was the worst day for pain. But Boxing Day and today the pain has lessened slightly, so as I said before, the early signs are good. Steven says that the pain is completely different to before the operation. Before, the pain was permanent as bone rubbed against rough bone. This pain and the action of the joint, forced his left leg to swing outwards to the left. By using a walking frame he now walks in a straight line. This has allowed him to put his foot on the floor in a flat position instead of the out-step hitting the floor, thus removing some of the pain in his left ankle. The pain in his hip is now believed to be operation pain only, from the bruising, and the actions of the surgeon. He found an example of the operation on YouTube, and rather than be upset by the scenes, he found it reassuring. He now understands why he’s in pain, and has seen, that, following the stitching process, his hip is secure. Since leaving the hospital on Friday he has walked regularly using the walking frame, and has for short distances walked without the frame, thereby increasing his strength. We have successfully cleaned the wound at home, although my sadistic nature wishes I had the nerve to rip off the bandage with one hard pull;-). We have bought various pills to aid his recovery, one box alone costing 172euro!!, we hope to recover some of this from the National Health system. On Wednesday 28th, Steven visited the physiotherapy department to enquire as to when he could continue treatment. Here his confidence was shattered when his physiotherapist said that he could see no improvement whatever with Steven’s walking. It’s this sort of thing which upsets us all, so many people have so many opinions we don’t know who to listen to, so we follow our own instincts. I hope you remember some of the things he’s gone through:- his foot must come off, then another doctor says it’s okay; the elbow pain is caused by calcification, then another doctor says it’s a loose piece of bone; a half pelvis replacement is needed, then another doctor says just the ball and socket; and now this where a physiotherapist cannot see any change in his condition. This same physiotherapist is a believer in natural remedies, and considers operations pointless, this is the sort of thing we’ve had to put up with, so many opinions. Nearly everything that’s happened to Steven to get him right we’ve had to fight for, because we’ve learned that doctors and hospitals work to a criteria, rather than consider the differences in people. We’ve had to convince all manner of doctors that Steven is a good healer and he and we are responsive to their directions, and that he should be treated as an individual, not as a lab’ rat.
Best regards, and wishing you all a Happy New Year, Terry

20th December 2011

I haven’t written anything recently mainly due to internet problems, but also because there has been little change in Steven’s circumstances. Moving from Valencia to home has meant a different regime in treatment, as we await the date for his hip operation. In the meantime it’s physiotherapy on his whole body, speech therapy, and visits to hospitals for x-rays etc. I thought it would be prudent to update Steven’s problems, because there are people who think he is fine and is just waiting for the hip operation. In no particular order:- He still has a problem with his left elbow not being able to bend it or straighten it fully. He is in constant pain with this due to the calcification of the joint. He wonders whether taking Calgon would help;-) His left foot is causing problems in that he cannot lift his foot or toes making walking and standing difficult and painful. He has constant muscle/joint pains in left shoulder, left ribs, left knee and left ankle, most of this is caused by the muscles being forced upwards, and are now out of place. His jaw is giving him particular problems in that he cannot eat or talk properly. He cannot open his mouth fully properly, and his jaw clicks loudly when he’s eating. The internal damage particularly to his diaghram prevents him breathing properly, hence the difficult speech, being unable to control his breathing and speaking at the same time. The brain injury has healed sufficiently for him to perform almost everything as normal, just slower because his brain has had to re-routed, and so everything is done at a slower pace. He still has to consciously tell his body to move in the correct manner. Imagine having to tell toes, ankle, feet, knees, hips, and arms to move in a particular order in order to walk, that’s what he has to do. To repeat what he said about himself, he knows his head is Steven but he doesn’t know the rest of his body, it feels wooden and strange. On top of all this he is becoming depressed. He knows he’s done well to get this far and he could have been in a much worse state, but that doesn’t stop him thinking/dreaming about the accident (he can still vividly recall the collision), wondering as to his future life, lack of sleep, and the constant feeling of pain and discomfort, causing him to lose concentration. He (and we) feels very bitter that this has happened to him, asking the unanswerable question, why him? Especially knowing the circumstances of the accident. He has retained his languages, his humour, and his computer skills, but he and his friends recognise that he is a different Steven. In many ways he is better at language and thinking, at times being more aware and logical than we are. He has stopped taking all medicines choosing to feel the pain rather than increase the medicine. Wednesday 7th December, for the first time he spoke to the driver of his taxi, who initially couldn’t believe that he had survived. The taxi driver reminded Steven that Steven was in a very good mood that morning, laughing and joking as he got into the car. This upset Steven, but we think it’s important that Steven speaks to the different people involved, to get the full picture of what happened. Steven’s biggest problem is that when he’s out amongst the general public, because he looks okay in almost every way except his walking, people are unaware of his real problems, and therefore don’t understand when he crosses a road slowly for example, or is unable to move easily when coming to an obstruction or crowd.
We took him into hospital on Sunday evening 18th December. The first thing they did was shave his left knee??? After a protest by Steven the nurses realised that it wasn’t the knee to be operated on!! The following morning Steven was in theatre for about 4hrs for his hip replacement. Both the ball and socket of the left hip joint was replaced. Steven recovered quickly and was most annoyed to hear that the surgeon had thrown away his replaced parts. Steven had arranged for them to be kept to be sealed in resin for display!!!. It’s difficult to know what change of pain he has due to the after effects of the anaesthetic, but early signs are good. Today Tuesday, Steven is in a lot of pain, but it’s a different pain and is obviously due to the operation and bruising, and not the pain from the damaged hip he is so used to. He has received 5 litres of blood. The loss of blood has affected his blood pressure, and until his blood pressure has increased to where it should be, painkillers and sleeping pills and not a lot of good. This also makes him feel weak, so no walking just yet. This also makes him feel the cold, fortunately the room is very warm. He is not eating but recognises that he must eat when he’s in a mood to do so.
Best regards Terry