Saturday 14 December 2013

In a fog.

Yesterday we entered yet another new phase....David did not get dressed. I put his clothes out for him and left him whilst I made the bed. He sat quite still looking outward and said, "Leave me alone ...I'll get on with it in a minute. He never did get on with it. The whole day was spent in his dressing gown.

He simply sat , not reading, not doing the soduku, not doing the cross word......

He did come down stairs eventually to eat his lunch in the dining room which did help.....my tray carrying skills leave a lot to be desired!

Once down I then worried about whether I could get him back up....making up a bed on one of the sofas was possible....in the event he managed it with me behind him ready to push if needed.

By the middle of the afternoon he had barely spoken or done anything at all during the day.

Desperate measures were called for and duly arrived right on time in the shape of a parcel from Amazon.

I played him a DVD. It was an old film acted by Peter Postlethwaite called, "Lost for words" It is the story of Derek Longden"s mother, played by Thora Hird. After several strokes her speech and brain were scrambled in much same way that David's is. It was risky...it might have upset him....he nursed his first wife after a stroke...but a small miracle occurred. He got it! He laughed . He cried. But in all the right places...he understood why I'd put him down in front of the box on a Saturday afternoon before Christmas...

After he'd watched it the old David returned to some degree. He was able to talk sensibly to both his sons when they rang in the evening.

Each new day is a journey now...into the uncharted waters of life with a brain tumour. Along with the parcel from Amazon was a letter from the hospital . He starts his radio therapy on the 30 December....hopefully a good omen for the New Year!

1 comment:

UKViewer said...

My heart's breaking on hearing this, but hope beats eternal and the small miracle of the amazon parcel mends it.

Sounds silly, but "if Joey was there" :)