Coping

Life is a permanent haze at the moment and we are existing day to day. The world is still spinning and life is continuing for everyone - our world has stopped. We have been so lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family surrounding us at this dreadful time and we know you all wish you could more. Your support is enough and we thank you all. We went up to Royal London last Thursday for an appointment with a consultant. Firstly we visited the ICU and met a lot of the nurses and doctors who treated Neil, which was fantastic. They were so pleased to see him looking well and walking and gave us great big hugs and said how amazed they were with his recovery. We then visited the Harrison Ward where Neil had been after ICU and saw more people he knew. They too were delighted to see him and we took them some choccies and biscuits. Neil wants to see James who was a patient he had made friends with. He was poorly when Neil had left there as he had spent 3 months in Intensive Care and wouldn't eat. We found him in very good spirits and had put on a lot of weight and was recovering well. We also visited another patient I had got to know through her family and she was doing quite well but sadly remains paralysed but is very positive.

I took Neil to The Good Samaritan pub and we had a lovely meal. This is the pub we used to go in frequently when we visited Neil and he agreed it was a good place to go.

We then went to see the consultant and he asked how Neil was. Neil explained his breathing was improving but not as good as it was and his leg was still troubling him. The consultant was very negative and said Neil would never be the same again, his lungs would never be as good as they were and his leg may stay the same. He said only 1 to 2% of people who suffer an injury like Neil's survive and we should be realistic about the seriousness of his injuries. He told Neil he'll never run a marathon again but might be able to jog. Well that all came as a bit of a kick in the teeth but we're remaining positive and intend to prove him wrong. Perhaps he was having a bit of an off day!

We're off to a support group we've joined for bereaved parents tonight so that should be helpful. We have a follow up appointment next week at Royal London (not with the same consultant thankfully).

Some of Luke's friends popped 'round after school yesterday which was lovely - Will W, Andy W, Luke M and George S. It was good to see them but a little sad too when they'd gone. Thanks boys.

The girls are dropping in Friday so that will be lovely too.