A Very Big Day

Would you believe that yesterday we reached the 6 month mark? 183 days since Jake set off to work on his bike and our lives changed forever.

Sometimes it feels like just a few weeks and sometimes it feels like years. So much has happened and yet so little has changed in that time it's a bit like being Dr Who's assistant...it certainly feels pretty alien (sorry about that).

Today though the world feels like its shifting and that shift feels good.

After 2 trips to intensive care, 12 hours of emergency surgery, severe hydrocephalus, 2 bouts of sepsis, pneumonia, 4 different brain injuries, 12 units of blood, dyspraxia, dysphasia and the input of a small army of healthcare heroes we have reached what Sister in Law would describe as A Very Big Day.

Today is the Multi-Disciplinary Team Review Meeting at the end of Jake's first 6 week term in rehab. Today is when we hear how Jake is doing and what the plan for the next 6 weeks is. Today I am feeling a little more than cautiously optimistic.

Why? Because Jake is improving at a rate that no-one could have predicted. Now hang on, hold your horses. My beautiful man is still a very damaged soul and realistically we are not looking at the Damascus type recoveries you see on Channel 5 'documentaries'. What we are looking at though is real hope that Jake will have a life that offers independence, self-respect and joy. Sure, he will also have frustration, disappointment and challenges that will feel like up-hill skiing... but then we all have that to a degree, right?

It's that mule like grit that has always been a feature of Jake's personality (sometimes a quality and sometimes really irritating if you're his wife), which continues to drive him forward. He has found his voice, if not always the right words; although it's not that pretty or safe, he can transfer himself from wheelchair to bed; and he is now regularly drinking thickened fluids and eating custard. Strawberry and Toffee custards being the current favourites.

We have a long way to go and he is still doubly incontinent, getting the majority of his nutrition through the tube in his stomach, very confused and incredibly limited by dyspraxia and the devastating fatigue brain injury survivors experience, but hope does seem to be on the way up.

So, we have high hopes for today's meeting, particularly as his keyworker declared the other day 'it'll be a nice meeting because he is doing so well'. Phew.

I promise to update you on the meeting soon, but it won't be for a few days as I am off on a girl's weekend away as soon as the meeting ends. You cannot imagine how exciting that is!