Slowly

Saturday was another good day. Our friend Celia was down from Derbyshire and was delighted with the changes in Rosemarie's behaviour. She was spending a long time looking at the pictures and making sounds about them; lots of smiles, some laughter, squeezing fingers when you held her hand.

She ate a creme brulee, a chocolate sundae, and a strawberry Nutilis. She drank 400 ml thickened juice and took all her meds. She seemed to be interacting and some of her sounds were almost words. 

It obviously tired her though. She is plainly still very weak and although she is starting to eat there is a long way to go before she is going to actually start putting weight back on. 

Sunday morning I got a phone call: another seizure. Again quite short, and not as severe as the previous one, and she fell asleep immediately afterwards with no Diazepam.

By the time we got there she was awake, and with the spirit but not the strength of the previous day. The seizure had clearly taken its toll, and she slouched in the bed and tired easily, but still drank and ate well. We had brought in some pureed chicken from home along with a concoction of custard, double cream and jelly. This went down very well. 

Today was a good day as well. The nurse said Rosemarie had been very sleepy and had 'refused' breakfast - a response nobody seems keen to define. They also apparently had trouble getting her to drink. Us not so much. Either she really is sleepy earlier on and wakes up for us later or they are using it as an excuse not to spend so much time with her. 

I think I need to make an unannounced early morning visit.

Today I took in some more pictures of her granddaughter and she spent most of the time looking at all the photos, sometimes with a quizzical look but sometimes with a smile. 

Seem to be putting a lot of effort in for small movements forward. The drip is essential, she is not eating nearly enough yet and there is still the ever present risk of aspiration and another chest infection.

But she is alive and fighting.