I have made a folder containing various key words and actions to try to get Pete to give me an indication of what he is trying to talk about, rather than waving his arm around. This works to a certain extent only because I give it to him and ask him to use it. He still cannot connect to pick it up on his own and use it. I am also trying to get him to use the thumbs up or thumbs down gestures, but these tend to get confused and are being used along with the arm waving - which makes it even more complicated!! We obviously both get very frustrated which ends with us both getting angry. The other night I was trying to understand what he was saying about tablets and just couldn't get it - ending in manic arm waving and anger, so much so that his wedding ring flew off his hand. That was really distressing (for us both) and resulted in me crawling round the floor for the next hour moving furniture trying to find it. I did find it but told him he has to stop this frantic arm waving. It is nearly as bad for me trying to guess what he is trying to say as it is for him to say it! He used to be able to give me a first letter of a word as a clue, but that has gone. I am hoping that now he is feeling a bit better we may be able to start the whole process again.
Pete is definitely more cheerful now, I'm thinking this is because the nerve blockers are working now. He still needs painkillers but probably not so many now - the aim is to stop them altogether. As for the antidepressants - these are still a no-go area.
Adrian has sent us a couple of books to read about communication difficulties. I haven't looked at them properly yet but one of them is how music can help the brain start to refunction. I am going to look at them in the next couple of days and will report back on the next blog!
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