Hi everybody
 
We apologise for the rather less frequent blogs lately – we will try to keep everyone updated as often as possible, but Marie-Therese and Max are often exhausted by the time they get home from visiting and I’ve been unable to see Dad at all since his return to the UK as I’ve got a chest bug which I can’t risk passing on to Dad. 
 
Dad apparently is in OK spirits on the whole, but he is still very emotionally and physically fragile.  
 
It is expected that Dad’s “open” cast on his leg will be replaced soon with a different type which must stay on for a minimum of one month, but ideally 3 months.  He still has ongoing urology issues which need monitoring.
 
Max and Marie-Therese had a meeting at the hospital yesterday to discuss the next stages in Dad’s rehabilitation and where this will all be done.  Nothing has yet been decided but we’ll keep you posted when some definite arrangements have been decided.  In the meantime, Dad’s enjoying his wonderful view and may even, without realising it, be having some form of soothing therapy watching the river traffic floating by!  (Effortless hydrotherapy?!)
 
I’m sorry I can’t offer you any first hand information or anything more substantial.  The main thing is that we have Dad back here where he is easier to visit (it seems his social life, at least, has been thriving!) and that although seemingly slow, his progress is steady and moving in the right direction.  Before we know it, the next phase will have come and gone and we’ll all be chatting about him reaching the milestone of coming home!  Let’s hope time passes as quickly as that for him!
 
Many thanks to you all, as always, for your kind and ongoing support and well-wishing messages, which do all reach Dad.
 
More soon!
 
Love
Nat
xxx

George Perkins Ward
North Wing
11th Floor
 
For anyone needing travel information for getting to St Thomas’s Hospital, please click here 

Hi everyone
 
Here are the details for visiting Dad, for those of you who are able to get to St Thomas’s Hospital in Central London and would like to go and see him.  
 
However, please email Marie-Therese at marithesmit@hotmail.com in advance of any intended visit, as Dad is extremely weak and tired at the moment.  This, along with hospital rules, means he is unable to have too many visitors at the same time.  By having prior notice of who is coming, Marie-Therese will be able to co-ordinate a steady flow of visits which will ensure that Dad doesn’t have some days with nobody coming and other days with too many visitors.  Visiting times are 2pm to 8pm daily.
 
Dad is in:
Room 29
George Perkins Ward
North Wing
11th Floor
 
For anyone needing travel information for getting to St Thomas’s Hospital, please click here 
We don’t have a phone number for Dad in his room at the moment because Dad is too tired to take calls and given the massive support he has had from you all, his phone would probably be ringing constantly with so many well-wishers kindly calling!!!!
 
Love
Nat
xxx
 

Hi everyone
 
Today is the day everyone’s been waiting for – Dad is finally back in London!!!  It’s difficult to re-visit the times when we wondered if this day would ever come.  I haven’t spoken to Dad personally since he’s been back, but his journey went smoothly, he has a very comfortable room to himself in St Thomas’s hospital, with a view overlooking the Houses of Parliament!!!!!  What a contrast!!!!  No word yet though on the hospital food, but it’s easy now to tempt him with familiar goodies!!!!
 
This is just a very quick update to let you all know that Dad’s back safely on home territory – we will let you know when we have more information and when we know visiting times, etc.
 
As always, thank you so much for the messages, kind wishes and support that you have all so kindly continued to give over these long, rollercoaster months.  A new chapter has now begun for Dad, with raised spirits at being “home”, no doubt.
 
Love
Nat
xxx

Arrived with some goodies form the local Market on saturday clementines custard tarts chocolate chip cookies. by now I was getting used to Barries overly sweet tooth and all items were approached with some fervor,not the same can be said for the hospital food, Barrie did in fact mention it to one of the leading surgeons saying "when you start eating here instead of going out for lunch every day ill start eating here too! "
†he suprise of the day was that when I arrived barrie had just returned from his final xray and the nurse was there to remove the stitches from his leg, and to top it off Steve Hansen arrived from Bordeaux to check out how his handiwork was progressing he was more than happy with the results as Barrie was to see him.
all is not rosy as there is still the urology problem which is slow to respond and Barrie is suffering with some of the symptoms of being bedridden for so long. these issues seems to cause the most discomfort!
today sunday barrie was to have his stitches from his hip removed and after that he just has to wait.
my understanding is that Maite will travel to paris on tuesday and travel back with ~barrie by ambulance on wednesday morning during his transfer to st Thomas`s hospital in Westminster (Dear old Blighty) nobody is looking forward to this more than Barrie.
after assessment he may be moved to full time rehabilitation or even sent home and continue rehab as an out patient, these matters have yet to be decided
and arranged. Chef

Having just arrived home from paris with my mum, yazz is typing this blogg for me as I do not have another email in me.
We arrived yesterday afternoon to find Barrie in a similar state to how he has been since his operation. He is still having difficulties eating anything more that a few mouthfuls of food. Bearing in mind how disgusting the food is at the hospital this is probably not such a bad thing as starvation is probably a better option than being poisoned!
The fact of the matter is that having not eaten solid food for over a three month period Barries stomach has shrunk so much that he only handle very small amounts of food. At least during this visit the small amounts that he was eating was not causing him to vomit.
In the afternoon during our visit we were joined by Rene and we all enjoyed a few good old stories from the good old days. We stayed at the hospital until 8.30 and having re instated Barries television subscription we at least left him with the prospect with watching some champions league football which is about as good as it gets on a French Tv channel.
We arrived today with Barrie in a very sad, upset and in an emotional state of mind. This had all been brought on by an earlier visit of an extremely insensitive doctor who came into his room and explained that they could do nothing further for Barrie and they wanted him out of his room as soon as possible. It was as if the doctor was insinuating that Barrie would be thrown out onto the street which of course would never be the case but this is how it seemed to poor old Dad. Within moments of hearing about the insensitive of this 'nasty piece of work' doctor I left the room and quickly tracked down the whereabouts of this monster. Having confronted him regarding the earlier incident I wanted to turn him into a patient however diplomacy got the better of me and having expressed my thoughts about his inappropriate comments we came to an arrangement with each other on how to resolve both of our problems. His was that he wanted Barries bed back, ours was that we no longer wanted Barrie subjected to this kind of treatment for a second more than necessary. The outcome of the next hour of negotiations resulted in the probability that Barrie will be Transported back to the UK by road ambulance either on monday or wednesday of next week. We are now just waiting for the confirmation of Steve Hanson that there will be a bed available at St. Thomas's hospital in London.
Paul is on the way out tomorrow had will hold the fort over the weekend and then next week, hopefully Dad will be on his way back to UK at last!!!
Max