If They Could See Her Now!

While we wait for the independent review to go ahead and for responses to our requests for information, all naturally delayed by the Christmas break, maybe a few words about Hari might be appropriate.

Over the last five years we have been more than concerned about her health in general. Things would vary, she would seem to improve and then she would get worse again, getting anyone in the medical world to listen and take these problems seriously was practically impossible.
During the last eleven months, since changing her diet, we have seen a steady and sometimes dramatic improvement in her health. This has been accompanied by improvements in her ability to do things that we sometimes thought had been lost forever.

Whilst she was ill and in pain she often couldn't sit up for very long. When we visited friends or relatives she would have to lie on their sofa and when we were out we would find it necessary to make frequent coffee stops so that she could have a crafty lie down in a cafe or pub. Indeed we would have to choose our coffee stops carefully so that we went somewhere with seating that was suitable for her to lie down - thank heavens for the trend for leather sofas!

This has all changed!

These days we can go to any cafe or pub for our coffee as she is able to sit up for as long as she wants.

On Boxing Day we visited friends and later in the day she was clearly tired but refused the offer of a lie down on the sofa as she was enjoying herself sat in the middle of all the fun and gossip and didn't want to miss a moment of it! Admittedly I did insist she had a bit of a lie down later on, as she was so tired, but she still kept both ears firmly on the gossip!

Her two year old nephew was quite used to seeing her having a lie down on the sofa when he was younger but has now become used to seeing her sitting in her wheelchair all the time. Having spent Christmas Day at their house I got Hari out of the wheelchair, when it was time to leave, put her coat on and then, rather than put her back in the chair, left her to lie down for a short time whilst I put the wheelchair into the car. When I came back into the house I was met with great hilarity; my grandson, her nephew, had announced to all that she was 'a silly Aunty Hari for having a lie down' !!!!!! He seems to have forgotten that for more than half of his life he rarely saw her do anything else but lie down!

There is much more leg movement again, something we haven't seen for some time; so if she does have a lie down on a sofa she is frequently to be found 'legging it' - escaping feet first or simply dangling her feet of the edge - so far there has been no deliberate attempt to trip anyone up but I'm sure that will happen quite soon!

Her fine motor control is rapidly returning to its previous level - she can now pick things up again - she hasn't done that for a long time; at one physio session she decided that the tissue she had needed replacing, so simply picked it up and handed it to the physiotherapist! I am back to having to be careful where I leave things - if I put things within her reach then she is guaranteed to hide them - behind cushions usually - then sits there looking all innocent when I discover that I can't find them!

Her sense of humour has returned with a vengeance and not a day goes by without her getting up to her usual tricks and causing havoc in one way or another. Just a few weeks ago she was tormenting me, as we ate lunch in a pub, by repeatedly reaching over and flicking the beer mats off the edge of the next table - the people sat at that table were not amused - which of course was damn good reason for her to do it even more! Laughter has replaced the moaning and crying due to pain and discomfort - life is good!

We wonder if the doctors, who said we were wrong about her diet, would like to explain all these improvements?