End of Hospital Appointments

We have come to the end of hospital appointments - at least for the moment.  Hopefully we will get an appointment soon from the consultant urologist to discuss the next step.  I do have vague recollections of him saying a catheter is not satisfactory treatment for urine retention, but he may (or, equally may not) have said this at the nightmare appointment a few weeks ago.  All I hope is that I'm not making it up and there is some alternative.

Pete has been fairly happy the last few days with a few smiles and laughs so I think the antidepressants are now taking effect.  As he has been in a better mood we have, today, started a few exercises with letters and sounds.  He can still write all the letters of the alphabet when asked and I also say a few words that begin with each letter, and then try to make the sounds which doesn't work so well.  But we will keep trying - the main problem seems to be that he can't place his tongue in the right position to get the sound.  All he can do is the 'luh' sound and that involves curling the tongue which he does all the time.  It seems odd that he can't place his tongue flat against the roof of his mouth when asked.  Nor can he put his teeth on his bottom lip (vuh) when asked. It is all so difficult for him and he gets upset if I push it too hard so I tend to just say try it a couple of times then move on.

Yesterday was the appointment with the stroke consultant who was pleased with him.  I said it doesn't get any better, nor any worse, we are just on a straight line at the moment. This is normal now after this length of time but he said don't give up on speech, it can improve over 2 or 3 years - it will never be as good as it was but the odd word may yet come out.  He was quite happy with the medication Pete is now on and the seizures are now under control so that is positive.  He doesn't need to see Pete regularly in his clinics but will always be happy for the GP to refer him back if necessary.

Then later on yesterday it was the Botox injections again!!  I don't see that they do a lot of good now but Pete is adamant they do help his arm to relax so they are quite happy to continue with them, every 3 months, for as long as Pete feels benefits.  I do think they help his arm above the elbow but not much in his wrist and hand, but at least it makes washing and dressing easier if he can pull that arm further away from his body.  He doesn't get physiotherapy any more so we just have to do the best we can with arm exercises on our own.

I think the district nurse is due to visit tomorrow for a weight check, they weighed him at the clinic yesterday and he has put on a couple of pounds since the last appointment which is good.  Then Candy is coming for a session on Friday and, after that, nothing is booked - so we are on our own and in limbo!!