Friday 20th
*****************GOOD NEWS DAY!!!!!!!************************


The clot has gone!
Had a long chat with consultant ( well 15 mins is long) and discovered that CT scan on Wednesday showed that the 9mm clot in the basilar artery has gone and the blood is flowing freely. First I had heard about 9mm, sounds a bit big, but I'm not going to think about that anymore.
Consultant also said:
- Andrew is lucky, many people don't survive brain stem infarct in first 48 hours
- that people who make good progress in first couple of weeks stand a better chance of a good recovery and he has been doing well.
-that the music, memory book etc that I have been encouraging has probably helped
- that he has noticed that I have been there a lot (!)
- that we should have a holiday somewhere warm when Andrew that is a bit better; he suggested Cyprus
-that the 3 drugs he is taking are aspirin, statin, and Plavix (= clopidogrel not whatever I wrote in the earlier blog, which is a pain killing drug) and that it is unlikely that a clot will form now
- that the urgency for the TOE test is no longer there as they do not think this is a clot that has moved from elsewhere; they may do a TOE test during rehab. This is after consultation with Harefield
- that the lumbar puncture was to test for herpes simplex in particular, which can cause stroke; it was totally clear, but he as he has had acyclovir for this since he arrived which would have attacked this anyway
-that they still do not know why the clot formed but sometimes this does just happen and no cause is found. Dehydration, cold and other factors can encourage thickening of the blood which lead to stroke. After this I went and bought a bottle of water !
- that he is still to see a neurologist from the L&D and a cardiologist who spends two weeks each month in Sweden ( yes, really) and two weeks at the L&D. This will be next week.
- that there will be a HOME VISIT of 1 hr next Tuesday, booked for 1.30pm, with the occupational therapist and a physiotherapist. They will bring him home in a taxi, and see how he copes and then take him back. Andrew is very much looking forward to this. Tuesday therefore to be kept clear in the visiting calendar.

Andrew has had another very good day; Lucy went in early on the bus and occupied Andrew, supervising meal etc till I got there about 2.30 and doing quite a lot with the memory book. He is now overestimating the date and at one point has said it is 2012. He has also recognised pictures of our allotment and rooms in our house without prompting. He has re-read all his cards ( he couldn't remember reading them the first time); listened to one of Lucy's CD's and had happy visits from Chloe and Martyna, the latter visit including a little guitar playing, but as it was quite late this did not last too long. He now has so many CDs that I am having to take some home, so if you were thinking of sending any, it might be better to wait until he comes home or deliver them to me. There are about 30 at the hospital, and he only listens to 1 or 2 a day.
The other interest of the day was map-reading. Lucy got out the map that my sister bought yesterday and he immediately identified where Leighton Buzzard was and traced the route to where his family live in Norfolk easily. He has spent some while looking at the map.

I hope that this cheers you all up as much as it has done Lucy and myself

Lots of love
Gill