Latest blog from: hopegoesupanddown.blogspot.com a record of the hope, terror and unknown future faced when the one you love most in the world suffers brain injury.
Sorry...I know it's been a while, but there you go.
As you can imagine, a great many things have happened since I last posted on 3rd January. So here's a quick run down:
Firstly, we FINALLY have a date for the approval hearing. I am reliably informed that this is usually a wait of around 6 weeks after a successful Joint Settlement Meeting. The first date we got was scheduled for SEVEN MONTHS after this and, after the not inconsiderate efforts of the lovely Ben from Serious Law, this gap has been reduced (very slightly) and we have a new date of early April, a mere four months after the JSM. Ho hum, mustn't grumble (though you know I will!)
The incredibly annoying, whilst at the same time utterly adorable, Bonnie Bonxie Boo continues to madden and melt in equal measure, although she is showing promising signs of improving and may yet escape the glue factory. She's also HUGE and getting bigger every day.
Jake's fabulous PA Keeley very rudely had her baby 4.5 weeks early (I know, anyone would think it was all about her) and then the other PA left under a bit of a cloud, so there was a slightly fraught period where we had no-one. We have a new PA now who is just the right side of unbalanced to fit perfectly and we have a new member of the team starting next month... and so the panic subsides again for a while! Since you ask, Keeley and David had the most ridiculously beautiful little boy called Archie whom I plot to kidnap on a daily basis. Fortunately she has promised to return and stay in touch in the meantime, so it may be that I get sufficient Archie snuggles to resist the kidnapping urges.
In other news I am now self employed! Bloody scary after 13.5 years as part of the Blue Sky team, but liberating and exciting at the same time. I'm hoping they will use me on a freelance basis, but if you know anyone looking for some commercial writing let me know!
The best news of all is the continued and (wonderfully) baffling improvement in Jake. Many issues still and will always remain, but his dogged resilience and persistence, together with his brain having not got the memo about significant recovery only taking place in the first 12 - 18 months, means that everyday he stuns us with new small, but definite gains. A great example seems to be his prospective memory (remembering to perform intended actions in the future, or simply, remembering to remember), which has just suddenly decided that, after a 2+ year absence, retirement is a bit dull, so it's coming back to work. How f*#king wonderfully bizarre is that?!?!?!
I am pleased to say that he is also resurrecting the Imp of Doom project (notice I said 'he' and not 'I') and terrified me today whilst surfing car spares sites with the words 'what's paypal?'. Oh yes, I can hear you laughing now, but it won't be so funny when the lorries start arriving!
The reality is, that this renewed enthusiasm is such an incredibly hopeful and exciting sign that it's hard to exaggerate its significance. It has led me back to the Imp Club forum where Jake is known as 'Zippy' (no, I don't know either) where I noticed the following sub heading under his login name; '66 Imp "something"...not dead just resting...
How weirdly appropriate is that?