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 a brain injury.
Clearly I don't want to speak too soon, but we're a week in and things seem to be going surprisingly well. We are both sleeping better and I have been surprised by how easily we have both adjusted.
We now have a care team of four excellent PA's and by the end of next week the physio, speech & language and occupational therapists should all be in place. Tomorrow Jake goes to his first Headway social meeting (in a pub on Poole Quay, alright for some!) and they have referred him the to pretty much every rehab group available.
He seems more relaxed and confident now than in a very long time and I'm starting to feel like maybe, just maybe I've made the right decision!
This weekend we travelled up to stay with friends in SW London and spent a very happy few hours in a pub we used to frequent, followed by lunch in his favourite Indian restaurant the next day; it's fair to say a good time was had by all. It really didn't seem to matter that he didn't understand much of what they were saying and vice versa, it all just seemed to click, though I suspect the beer helped. It made my heart soar to see him having such a great time and doing something so 'normal', whatever that means.
We did, of course overdo it and he spent much of yesterday a victim to his fatigue either asleep or staggering about in a sort of trance, but I know he would agree it was so worth it!
The only downside to Jake coming home so far is that, having been in hospitals and rehab units for 16 months, he is well and truly institutionalised; this means he expects to be waited on hand and foot like he's in hotel...he is finding the reality a bit of a culture shock!
My story...
Recovery window after a brain injury
Writing under a temporary name to get something off my chest that is breaking my heart....
