Moving
Christmas Greetings
Barrie left the hospital on Xmas morning and went for Xmas lunch to his son Max in Wimbledon
He will stay there and at home until Sunday
He really enjoyed his Xmas lunch but was disappointed that he could not drink any wine as it did not taste good to him ! The wine was fine but his tastebuds need to be trained again !
Barrie has been coping very well with the stairs but he is not too sure about his new airboot as it is very hot and makes his skin very flaky and he is not sure if it gives him proper support. We will have to check with hospital when he goes back.
Barrie is certainly enjoying beeing out of hospital but it is still early days for him to be left at home by himself. He still needs lots of looking after
All the best to everyone
Maite
Barrie Smith is unwell
Hi
everyone
Unfortunately
Dad isn’t very well at the moment.
Dad
has been struggling to maintain a normal body
temperature, suffering both very high and very low
temperatures. It has now been found that he has
bacteria in his blood, which sounds rather worrying.
He has also been shaking periodically, which is
all related to the same problem, apparently. He
has been put on an course of antibiotics
intravenously so these should take effect very
quickly, but the downside is that he does experience
unpleasant side effects, including nausea from these.
Marie-Therese
has come down with a bout of flu so she couldn’t
visit Dad yesterday but did manage to visit him
today, keeping a surgical mask on and being extra
careful to avoid physical contact with anything, but
Dad is in low spirits and, inevitably, the longevity
of his recovery and the prospect of yet another
setback is taking its toll.
We
can only wait painfully patiently whilst this latest
worry passes. At times like this, the best
comfort we can take is to remember how intensely
difficult things were several months ago and recall
the effectiveness of Dad’s strong will, even then, to
overcome the hurdles.
It
will be Dad’s birthday on Tuesday, so hopefully the
antibiotics will have eased his symptoms by then to
make it a more comfortable day, although the prospect
of him having a glass of celebratory champagne
certainly isn’t going to be on the menu now,
sadly.
More
soon!
Love
Nat
xxx
Message from Barrie
They will change the cast next week which will give more support.
The last word is that he will be in St. Thomas till after xmas.
message from Natalie
Once again, I must apologise for the infrequency of the blogs here – we’ll do our best to improve how often we provide updates, but please do feel free to email Dad on his usual email address (barrie@frenchpix.com). Please don’t be offended though if you don’t receive a reply. Dad will really enjoy reading all your messages and will be very touched to receive them, but it’s not too easy for him to reply on the Blackberry that Max admirably managed to sort out for him as a much needed lifeline to the outside world, as the keypad is a little small to type on too often!
Dad’s mobility is steadily improving and he is gradually regaining his strength (thanks to Paul teasing Dad’s appetite with a steady flow of Chinese food to raise his energy levels!). Apparently, today Dad managed to walk to the nurses’ station and back - twice – once using the zimmer frame and once on crutches! He has been having some gruelling physio which, whilst exhausting, certainly seems to be slowly but surely producing the desired results! He’s even using equipment that is sometimes used for women in labour!!!!! (Large exercise ball to sit and roll on!) Unfortunately, he’s suffering quite a bit of swelling in his feet, so the cause of this needs to be identified.
Dad’s kidneys are again not working properly but this is being monitored. He also still has ongoing urology problems for which further investigations are due to be undertaken but his kidney function needs to improve before these can be carried out.
Thank you to everyone who continues to check this site for updates, despite us having been somewhat slack with this lately and to all of you who continue to give Dad strength with your kind messages. Special thanks too, to the many visitors who have gone out of their way to keep Dad’s days interesting and giving him your visits to look forward to during these drawn-out days, weeks and months he’s now spent in hospital.
We are unsure yet whether Dad will still be at St Thomas’s for Christmas and if he has moved into a rehabilitation unit by then, we don’t know if he will be allowed out on a “day trip” for Christmas Day. The main thing is that he’s here to celebrate it, regardless of where he is, so that’s cause for celebration in itself. Next week, it will also be Dad’s birthday (shared with several of you!) which is another event that we didn’t know post-accident if he would see, so a calorie-rich birthday cake will provide another perfect excuse for trying to fattening him up!
Once again, many thanks for all you have done and continue to do, in keeping Dad’s spirits and motivation as high as possible. It’s very much appreciated by us all, but most of all by Dad who is quite overwhelmed by all your lovely messages!
More soon!
Love
Nat
xxx
Aniversary
Not out of the woods yet
this is quite upsetting for Barrie as it restricts his ability to be a little self sufficient moving around the room himself unaided .
We are hoping that this situation will be quickly resolved and things can return to the normal upward trajectory .
Chef
