Janet and Heather

                                The Babe is now Back in Sale  

Hi Guys and Gals.

Well Heather has now returned to Sale.  She is a temporary resident of Wilson Lodge – the aged care facility adjacent to the Sale Hospital.  She has settled in surprisingly well and does recognise the wandery demented residents as “one of them”.  I have been at great pains to explain to her that she is not “one of them” and will be in Wilson lodge until the TAC has completed our home modifications.  Once we get a ramp constructed at home I will be able to get her home for “day leave”!

 

 Heather has been very busy with the occupational therapist, physiotherapist, speech therapist, and her TAC case manager and so gets tired pretty easily.  But she enjoys seeing me every day - at least three times a day.  Overkill?  Absolutely no way.  When your life partner is just one kilometre away from your home there is no way I’m not going to be with her.  So nothing gets done at home now – poor cleaner.  I need a housekeeper –does anyone know of anyone??

 

 But what about her functional abilities you will ask?  On a good day Heather seems almost normal. She smiles, chats and is interested in what you have to say.  Generally she will recognise people but will have forgotten your name (not me thankfully).  And she will generally forget pretty quickly that someone visited – even her therapists.  She can read slowly but her comprehension is limited and gets frustrated with it – as if the mental processing is working too hard. Memory for events and her past is still very limited, but sometimes there are flashes of brilliance which gives us all encouragement and hope.

 

 She does enjoy watching TV though and is currently interested in the cycling Tour De France and how Cadel and Lance are doing.  Heather still has a lot of pain from her musculoskeletal injuries unfortunately, which makes lifting and turning difficult for her and the staff.  She has some movement of her legs and some increased back strength but is a long way off weight bearing let alone walking.  We are trying to get toileting under control, but technically she has limited or no control yet.  This will be long time too.  There are heaps of other little things too which make her life frustrating and all added together with the above and you can understand how depression is ever present and so sometimes I catch her when she will be crying and when she describes her life at present as “hell”.

 

 I think she feels uncertain about having lots of visitors because of where she is and how she feels.  And seeing lots of people will be overpowering for her at the moment too.  We have decided to have limited visiting times of 2 till 4 PM for 15 minutes at a time and will be screened.  For example it will do no one any good for her patients to see her at present.  If any rock ‘n’ rollers would like to see her please contact me first on 0412 491 013.

 

 I have suggested to the Club’s vice president to ask the committee to consider holding a simple picnic or BBQ sometime in the next month or so at the Sale Botanic gardens. A neutral spot where club members can all have a good time – not necessarily dancing - and I can wheel Heather across from the lodge hopefully in a motorised wheelchair and if she gets too excited I can wheel her back!  Similarly when the Club next holds a dance at the Bowls Club I’ll be able to take Heather to that as well. The Babe is one hell of a fighter and we all hope and pray that now she is almost home, she will traverse successfully the very long road to recovery...

 

 John Jarman