Termie termite

[JDS]

Glad to see Debs is looking far less 'beaten up' than we imagined ..... here's for a speedy recovery.

[Mr Termite]

Deb arrived at Le Grand Luce a fortnight ago tomorrow, and while things started a little slowly, they are now ramping up. The physiotherapist is doing terrific work, despite being on his own – i.e. with untrained assistants – and having a number of other “customers”. This afternoon he spent nearly an hour on Deb’s right knee, manipulating and massaging, then getting Deb to try and lift her foot off his hand, which she could just about do, but not very often, and not fully straight. She was working very hard. I counted marks from 40 stitches in her right thigh – but that was from just one of the surgical intrusions there! There are two or three others as well!

Tomorrow Deb travels to Le Mans at 10 00 for x-rays. Oddly, her elderly room-mate, who did the same thing today, had not returned by 1700, which seemed a very long time for an 85-year-old to be out. She, by the way, lives in Mulsanne - and knew Sebastien Bourdais when he was young! Thursday, Deb goes back to Le Mans, where some pins are to be removed. We don’t know from which limb or limbs – take your pick! – but it all sounds like progress to us. 

The amazing Autumn has enabled us to spend a lot of afternoons sunning ourselves under the trees, which is most pleasant for Deb. Given her history of wearing trousers all year long, bits of her legs are seeing more sun than they have in many years!

[nickliv]

Ian

I had the wires out of my wrist today, and whilst it's not an altogether pleasant experience, it does indicate another milestone, and a corner turned on the road to recovery, as thursday will be for Debs.

And maybe it's not my place to comment, but isn't it unwise to let a physiotherapist sit on Debs knee with all the injuries she's had? 

Please pass on my wishes

Nick

[Paddy_NL]

Hi Ian,

Sorry for not logging in here very often, but it did me good to see your Deb looks pretty good! Please send her my regards and best of luck. It's great to hear recovery is speeding up, and hope you will have her home soon!

Take care,
Patrick

[Mr Termite]

Deb has not had the best of weeks. On Tuesday, the trip to Le Mans for x-rays worked fine, but the radiographer was very brusque, pushing and pulling Deb around on his magic slab with scant regard for her comfort – or her injuries, it seemed. At least she got back in time for a late lunch – which was re-heated for her. Her room-mate (85) the previous day had been out for 8 hours and hardly eaten - at one point they took her blood pressure and found it to be 23, that’s 230 in UK terms, all due to the poor admin on her day out!

Thursday should have been Deb’s day for going to Le Mans again, to have pins removed. Err, no. She went to Le Mans alright, but on arrival found the doctors were on strike. It also emerged that she was not there for pin removal, but to be checked out for allergies to various anaesthetics etc, and to have her fitness for the operation verified. Sadly, the sole anaesthetist on duty – i.e. not on strike – had rather a lot on her plate, and none of Deb’s papers, which were at Le Grand Luce, where the surgeon was making his fortnightly visit – to see Deb among others. On returning to Le Grand Luce, by which time the surgeon had left, of course, Deb enquired politely about the papers, only to be told that had the people in Le Mans not been playing silly b*****s, they would have rung Le Grand Luce and faxed copies could have been provided. So now Deb has to go to Le Mans again on Monday (with her papers, natch) so the team there can assure themselves that she is fit to be operated on, on Tuesday…  Apparently it is the right wrist and the left foot that are to be relieved of their ironwork. One has to say that this is an extraordinarily high level of care for the patient, but we feel it a little unnecessary when Deb had spent several days under anaesthetic at Rouen and clearly lived to tell the tale. No matter, today she has had an ECG and a chest x-ray (the recalcitrant x-ray machine at Le Grand Luce was persuaded to produce a passable image at the second attempt, apparently) to confirm that she probably won’t peg out on the operating table come Tuesday!

Since the physiotherapist is on a long weekend off, he had kindly briefed Deb on how to do simple exercises on her right knee, and we spent 15 minutes helping her do those. She may see him Tuesday morning before her 4th trip to Le Mans, but if not, circumstances mean she will not have enjoyed supervised therapy from Wednesday to Wednesday, which is hardly the idea in her condition.

French healthcare is famously world class, but the scope for cock-up on the admin side knows no bounds either, we feel….

[Leftie]

Ian,

Health Services the world over have f**k ups.

Give Debs my regards and please wish her a speedy recovery even with these setbacks.

Jerry

[Mr Termite]

Yesterday Deb had the pins removed from her right wrist and left foot. She was under anaesthetic for no more than an hour. The splint has been removed from her right hand, which is bandaged because of the surgery yesterday, but is now able to start working again. The left foot has a resin boot reaching about half way up her calf, to add support while she regains its use – it is now able to start bearing weight again. This is all significant in terms of progress.

Tomorrow, Thursday, Deb is to move again. This time it is to L’Arche, a rehab centre NW of Le Mans, in the village of St Saturnin, well known to the CA community, I think! The facility at L’Arche is much more about rehabilitation than convalescence, which is the forte of Le Grand Luce, where she has passed the last 3 weeks. Nevertheless, the increased mobility as a result of yesterday will enable much more work to be done than could have been achieved at LGL.

I will provide Smokie with full amended contact details when these are known.

[amazing 1]

Great news,glad to here the progress.
Please send my love.

Thanks
Randy

[Perdu]

Ian

can you PM me with the "surnom" for the card please

Or is Termietermite all I need

or just Debs?

I'm so glad she is showing all the good signs of healing and beginning to thrive

St Sat sounds far better for you both, so I'll send the card when we get the new details.

[mgmark]

All moving in the right direction it seems, which is v.good to hear  .  Hope the move to St S goes well today.  Give her our very best wishes,

Mark 

[Mr Termite]

Deb arrived at about 14.30. As at Le Grand Luce, I’d been and chatted up the admin lady and so most of the formalities were already done. She has a nice South-facing room to herself. The place is very modern – e.g. electric remote control blinds on the windows – and by the time I’d left at 1700, Deb had been seen by a nurse taking all sorts of supplementary details, including the layout of our house, the hotelier who discussed the week’s menu and took amendments as needed to suit Deb’s palate, and the physiotherapist, who checked all her limbs and pronounced himself very pleased with the shape in which she had arrived. This hospital sees some awful cases – paraplegic etc – so a patient with a fighting chance of true fitness is obviously a joy! She will typically receive 2 physio sessions per day – so the visiting hours are a bit unusual, being 1200-1400 & 1700-2100 weekdays, 1200-2100 at weekends.

Smokie has contact details.

[JDS]

Superb news Ian, sounds like real progress - to have the pins out and begin weight-bearing again so soon can only be good fro Deb's movement overall, not having the joints immobile for too long. Also sounds like they have moved to to a good facility - I'd have killed for multiple physio sessions daily - I'm sure it will be hard work for her, but ultimately very rewarding.

[Canada Phil]

Good news. Thanks Ian for your continued updates.
I know where St Saturnin is as do many others on here.
All the best to Deb
Canada Phil

[Lazy B'stard]

 Sorry I have not called in for a while but great to see Debs is on the mend and a little nearer home. Actually, looking at the pic, giving up the fags looks to be doing her a world of good- must try and stop myself!
 Best wishes from all the Barrel o Monkeys

[Mr Termite]

L’Arche is a quite different sort of place – different from any hospital environment I’ve encountered, anyway. Take lunchtime, for example. As visiting hours are 1200-1400, I quite expected to sit in Deb’s room while she ate. Wrong. Deb was wheeled down to a large refectory, where all the patients – or at least a large percentage – ate together! Imagine a large room with plenty of tables, around which are gathered, in the main, people in wheelchairs, some with limbs missing, but all talking and enjoying a communal meal – a very humanising experience for people who may have been through quite horrid times recently!

After lunch I pushed Deb around the grounds a bit – this is a big place, with big grounds and a very pleasant lake with perimeter path. Lots of trees, too. There is a basketball pitch, a football pitch, a room with archery targets – all classic stuff for getting unfit people limbered up again. Deb had had an initial session of physio in the morning, and twice a day is the expected regime. The physio building is well-equipped with physios and assistants, as well as all manner of the usual kit. There is an interesting debate about painkillers – which, remarkably, Deb has not taken in 6 weeks, since shortly after she woke up in Rouen. It is possible that the right knee might yield more movement sooner if Deb had an artificially-high pain threshold, so she may be encouraged to take the tablet before a session.