Eastern Europe Trip

Yet another week of seperation, as Tracy continues her rehabilitation in hospital, and I go about my normal, hectic, working life.

But this week has seen her take some really big steps towards coming home. As I reported last week, she has started to walk again. Her progress is nothing short of astounding, as just last night she walked, completely unaided, from the toilet to her bed. Whilst that might not sound much, it was the style in which she did it that was most impressive. No wobbles, shuffling or uncertainty; just a confident walk. Fantastic!

She still needs some physio help to get her even more mobile, and has the challenge of trying to climb stairs still to come.

In addition to improving her walking, she's also been putting a lot of effort into getting her arm moving. Or at least was, until they discovered yet another infection in her wound. Until that is treated, she's unable to use the splints necessary to stretch the tendons and get it working. Another setback, but not one that has dampened her mood.

Just prior to discovering the infection, she was moved to a side room, as the nursing staff were concerned she might be at risk of catching an infection! At least we now have some proper privacy for when we visit, and she's able to get some peace at last!

One other thing she's been doing this week is writing about her experiences. Russell, the psychotherapist, advised her this would help her deal with the nightmares and flashbacks that are very disturbing. She has written a letter to the truck driver whose fault all of this is. The letter is really disturbing to read, so must have been very hard to write. Writing it has had a really positive effect on her, though, and she's now had 2 consecutive nights without nightmares, more than she's had since she was re-admitted to hospital before Christmas. I hope that she's now finally exorcised her demons.

In a spirit of open-ness, she said she wanted to publish the letter here, on our website. Before you click on the link, a word of warning. It is an emotional letter that re-visits some of Tracy's lowest moments. I defy anyone to read it without being disturbed by its contents, but if you really want to know how she feels, you can find it here

Whilst all of this has been going on, I've been doing all the normal stuff, working, eating and sleeping. We've had our new fridge delivered and despite the delivery men breaking a door hinge (an engineer came the following day to replace it) it's now plumbed in and working. So now I've no excuse for getting a take-away every night on the way back from the hospital!! Although as with last week, when I had an overnight stop in Edinburgh with work, I'm away at least one night this week and will be very late home on 2 more... I hope that when Tracy finally comes home, I can at least get back from work at a reasonable time!