Mon 30th March
Thanks to Sally for the pic of Andrew playing at the Oxjam gig, on the left ( see last posting).
It is now over 7 weeks since Andrew had his stroke and over 4 weeks since he has been home. I have had to pay for the first prescription of his drugs and as he is not (yet) on benefits I was quite shocked at the cost, which he will be required to pay monthly, though the helpful assistant in Tesco pharmacy did sell me a large quantity of identical over-the-counter aspirin at a fraction of the prescription cost.
He is getting stronger and needing a less sleep - he hardly sleeps at all during the day now, but is not up to doing long days yet.
In the last week he has played guitar or bass for quite lengthy periods with Richard & Delia, John Howarth and Chris Wilkinson. He really enjoys this, and I would like to get him out playing more; we are tentatively going to a session in Buckingham next week.
Playing guitar is relatively easy.
Andrew can also do some things quite easily when he is left on his own - like cutting the lawn, ironing, stripping wallpaper, or digging. However, while these things are part of everyday life, I don't like him spending hours doing them because they are not that challenging, and he does get bored. He can also now watch some types of TV programme without feeling too confused, mostly documentaries like "Coast" or similar, or programmes like "QI".
Confusion is worse when he is tired. I often ask him to rate confusion on a scale from 0-10. During the middle of the day and particularly when out for a walk, it can be as low as 2 or 3; but later, in the the evening it can be 9, and is a sign that its time to get some sleep.
There continues to be a particular problem with time. He often gets a sense of deja vu ( which is quite spooky - he will say that we have done something before, which we are doing for the first time (though when asked what is going to happen next, thankfully he doesn't know! - though if he did it could be quite lucrative!), or thinks that something happened much longer ago than it did. However, he is not asking me the date/time/day quite so often.
Things that are also hard involve planning, choosing or deciding. If I ask him to choose a CD to put on, or what he wants for tea, this is very difficult.
Andrew is talking a little more, but his voice is still quiet. Whispering is not allowed (my rule). In fact he often apologises for whispering. If you come to see him, tell him its OK to talk rubbish, because he doesn't want to talk because he thinks he will say the wrong thing. Sometimes he does get things wrong, but its much better to talk and get things wrong than not to talk at all. And if you tell him its wrong he will often get it right next time.
I am continuing to get a lot of support from local friends, that I am very very grateful for, and managed to get out to see a couple of films last week and had a few other hours to myself.

Love to you all
Gill
xx