Breakthrough day!
I took Andrew to Harefield Hospital today for the "TOE" test and it looks as if we have finally found the cause of the stroke - a patent foramen ovale (PFO) heart defect. The PFO is a valve that normally closes off at birth, but in Andrew's case it has not closed completely. As a consequence, blood from the right side of the heart which is returning from the veins and which has "rubbish" as the consultant put it - i.e. little clots and other stuff that would normally be cleaned by the lungs - is occassionally getting through to the left hand side and going to places it shouldn't go - like the brain. We actually saw the defect on the screen - they injected some saline solution into Andrew's vein to make bubbles and we saw the bubbles go through from the right to the left side.
The leak can be closed off by surgery ( not open heart, via the groin - sorry too much detail?) and the next step now is that all the info is being sent to Andrew's consultant at the L&D and we will discuss next steps with him. The L&D apparently can't do the surgery, it would have to be done at Harefield, probably.

Andrew has had a long day without eating or drinking due to the TOE test being carried out which involved mild sedation and an anaesthetic in the throat - he has just wolfed down an enormous meal as a result!

Otherwise he is doing quite well, the memory is getting a little stronger and he is a little less confused. He sleeps around 12 hours a day and is getting into his old sleeping pattern - he has always been a night owl - he goes to bed around 11pm and doesn't rise till about 12 hours later unless I bully him out of bed due to some vital necessity like going to hospital; otherwise I just let him sleep. He sleeps deeply and barely moves - part of the brain recovering, I believe this is quite normal. The longer I leave him, the brighter he is when he does get up.

On 6th May he has an interview at the jobcentre as he is now claiming benefit. All about getting him back into work, apparently.

This week he has been to a session at the White Swan in Whitchurch where he happily played bass with other musicians that he knows from around 8.30 to 11pm.

One of the silver linings of this situation is that at least we both get to spend some time enjoying the lovely spring weather, its been really beautiful here this week.

Love to you all
Gill