And so another Friday comes to The Lishman. It has been a week of trials and tribulations,
tinged with a mixture of sadness, yet happiness today.
Our dear friend and fellow FNDer, Francis King was
discharged today, returning home to Family and Friends after 5 months within
the Lishman Family. A much changed and
renewed Francis by all accounts; a more mellow, balanced and functioning (as
opposed to “functional”) person, one whom can now go forth and experience renewed
relationships with his family, enjoy new experiences with his independence and discover
a new pathway through life, full of fun and exuberance (and running up along the
foreshore as the trains chase him along the track?) J He will be sorely missed and has left a large hole
in the group here, (not meant as a reflection upon his physical stature, purely his personality........honestly!). We shall have to
regroup and reform, perhaps with Steve joining us a little?…………….Many, many good wishes and hopes for a very bright and
enjoyable future Francis! We shall not forget!!!!
On a similarly sad note, poor Annie has been cooped up in
her room for the last 5 days as she is having an extended VEEG, wired up to a
recorder with 28+ wires attached to her personage! She was due to stop this afternoon and be able
to go home to her little one and hubby, but due to a little glitch yesterday where
the recording stopped, undiscovered for a few hours, she’s being left attached
all weekend. Mind numbingly boring I’m
sure, but Leoni pops in often to cheer her up and we all “FaceTime”(this new-fangled technology and terminology is beyond me!!!) each evening
for a virtual supper together! (Us men being not allowed into the ladies’
corridor, we cannot visit :-( !!!)
My week has been spent somewhat under a cloud. I had another collapse on Monday (I think it was?)
evening after supper, longer series of seizures this time on the floor and then
started a headache on Wednesday morning about 1am that stubbornly refused to
budge, despite a 4-hourly bombardment of codeine and paracetamol. Being very light and noise sensitive I stayed
in bed with the curtains closed, although numerous nursing staff tried their
best to wind me up by turning lights on and trying to open curtains, asking me
to join the rest of the group!!……………wish they’d speak to each other more and pass
information on!!! Eventually around 3pm I went into a series of seizures
lasting about 30 minutes and then fell asleep/comatose, but awoke 20 minutes
later headache-free!!! J Is that weird or what???
I am finding more and more obviously that my “fuzzy” periods
and “mini” seizures lead up over a few days to a larger series that then seems
to clear my brain and let me function more normally for a few hours. It does highlight also the need for sufficient sleep/rest to counteract the stimuli of living.
Today we went on a trip to the hospital restaurant to mark
Francis’ leaving, discuss a project he has been working diligently on for the good of patients yet to come to the unit, (“Oxford
Comma”!!J) and
enjoy some fresh air and different surroundings. 4 patients (2 in wheelchairs) and an OT went
and we bumped into another patient, Ed(ward) and his OT there so we had quite a
party with camomile tea, coffee and hot chocolates all ’round. Unfortunately I found the noise and LED
lighting all too much after a few minutes and scared the **** out of some around
the table by putting my anti-tip wheels to a very strenuous test! J. However I and all the others enjoyed a laugh
and the great company. Hopefully many
more to come. (Plus they have a great menu apparently, sooooo much better than
the narrow selection on the ward currently - more to come on this).
And so, here I sit at nearly midnight, Leoni and Ed playing
cards, the TV blaring in the lounge and my eyes growing increasingly heavy,
despite my 2 hour sleep this afternoon and another 2 hours this evening! Well, perhaps I should refer to them as “restorative
power naps”???
I hope this finds you all jogging along comfortably. If it does not, then HUGZ to you and best
wishes for a better day tomorrow.
Nighty night 
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