Just in case...

Just in case I didn't make it clear, all the advice I have been given by people with experience in this area is that a visit home for Nelson is very unlikely to be to his benefit. He has not settled into the home yet and being brought home can only further unsettle and stress him, reinforcing his idea that there is somewhere else he should be. Ideally he needs to be able to focus on utilising what is available at BUPA Ashbury for his recovery at this point.

If anyone visiting him would like to take him for a walk outside the nursing home please let me know beforehand so I can give the required authority to the home.

Several visitors who have seen him lately for the first time since he left hospital all comment on how much he has improved - especially physically. He is now walking up and down the stairs without any issue whatsoever whereas when he first arrived it was a trial to be avoided if he could possibly trick someone into taking him in the lift instead. He was easily able to sit up in bed the other day without needing my assistance - another milestone of physical progress.

On Sunday Richard and Astrid visited for the first time and took him a beautiful plant. Nelson told me the next day how much he'd enjoyed seeing them, although I know Ric was upset seeing the huge difference in Nelson from his former self. When I tried to water the plant they'd left him, he stopped me pointing out that the label says they should only get watered every 7 days!

Today was Music Therapy at the home. Given the choice between participating and walking around the block, he chose to walk around the block with me. He made it all the way around at a slow pace and we had a bit of a rest looking at some very interesting dragons on the roof ridge of one of the houses.

When we arrived back 25 minutes later Bev, Raymond and Jac were there. We spent some time on the front verandah which adjoins the office. At one point the phone was ringing and Jac cleverly coaxed Nelson into telling her what it was - and he simply said, "It's the telephone". Since naming objects has been one of Nelson's speech issues, we were all very pleased.

At BUPA Ashbury more attention is being paid to many of the small physical things like shaving and finger and toe nail care etc. I feel he is awake and lucid much more of the time and the time he takes to transition from being asleep to talking and interacting is now very short. When he was in hospital he tended to take about 20 minutes to "warm up".