More than 40 days and 40 nights

It is now 6 weeks to the day since I took Peter into the Nat Cap Private Hospital and he was admitted to the Intensive Care unit. It is also 4 weeks and 1 day since the Intensivists said it was all going to be over for Peter within a week and they withdrew the hydration and nutrition.

In that 4 week time period (since 2 August) he has made some good progress and I was thinking about some of the "gains" he has made in that time due, primarily, to food, ongoing medication (Antibiotics in the main) hydration, not to mention support and care of course:
1) Bed sores are healing
2) Sputum now has no sign of Pseudomonas bacteria
3) Peter is able to raise himself from the bed and get onto his feet without assistance
4) He is able to speak more than 1 word without taking a breath (in fact several at a time now)
5) He is now down from 14 litres of oxygen to 8 litres
6) He is sitting up in a deluxe chair with air pillows for around 6 or more hours per day
7) He is able to walk on the spot for 40 steps using a "forearm walker"
8) He looks better
9) He is engaged with me and visitors when he is feeling rested and okay.

On the opposite end of the spectrum he still has issues with the food intake and outflow - we need to get that balance right; he needs to build up strength and his capacity to take a few steps; I am unsure whether he will be able to do without the oxygen altogether anymore; I am unsure whether he would go downhill again if the antibiotics were withdrawn.

But I can say he is still as alert as ever when he has had sleep, is still a very good Scrabble adversary and his repartee has not lost its accuracy or barb. We are enjoying various movies on DVD and BBC series or dramas and he likes visitors when he is up to it.

I am okay but remain feeling tired at times. I enjoy doing things for and with Peter and being with him for the 10 - 12 hours a day but it can be "full-on".

Message for today: Enjoy the small things - the ordinariness of an independent life, breathing without assistance, independence, privacy, dignity, control over your body and the capacity to do all these things without even having to think or ask someone else's permission. Because illness and being cared for can rob you of some, if not all, of these.

Leanne