Thanks again guys for so many messages of support. I am deeply grateful and touched.
Chris is tunneling out of hospital tomorrow. She cannot come home immediately. Her care needs when she does so have been identified, and funding agreed. The problem is that we live at the extreme end of our Local Authority (those of you outside the UK imagine any decent sized administrative area is a LA) and it is hard to find an agency to provide the level of care that Chris needs to live decently at home, and to support me so I do not end up in hospital as a result of caring for her. Our hospital social worker might be able to put the care plan in place quickly and Chris might be home quickly, or it might take several weeks. It will take the time it takes.
So, she is moving into what here is called, "Interim Care". This is a residential nursing home where some staff are qualified as nurses and so can do the things that hospital nurses can do. Chris will receive physio etc just as she would on the ward.
The nursing home is half way between the hospital and home, so she will be half way home.
Crucially, she will be out of the infection-laden atmosphere that is a hospital. For anyone in the UK within hailing distance of Bassetlaw hospital, plead to be taken there should you need hospital treatment. You would not believe the lengths the staff go to avoid the danger of cross-infection. Chris was just plain unlucky; well, maybe not but she was very ill when first admitted - we are talking organ shut down and hours from death. Also, the food is magnificent and has played a big part in Chris's recovery so far.Chris has an unconfirmed diagnosis of Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. This disease is a bugger to fully diagnose, hence it being unconfirmed. The medics are still running tests to rule out other possible causes of her problems, but they talk in terms of, "assumed MS".
So, I am not sure how much her condition with two demic legs and a demic right arm will improve. She has limited functionality of her left arm - she can feed herself with a fork/spoon, turn the pages of a book - light duties such as those. Pressing the buttons on a remote control is difficult. Her cognition is fine - she fully understands everything she is told. Her short-term memory is improving from where it was a few weeks ago, when understanding everything she was told was one thing, but remembering it 5 minutes later was a bugger. Now, she is remembering events from the previous day, not just a few minutes ago.
I have no idea how much time Chris and I have together; I suspect this time is measured in years rather than decades. I think our original plan to enter the same care home aged 90 and expire within minutes of each other aged 95 is not going to happen. At least she is coming home eventually.
Guys, learn from my experience. Take some time out to count your blessings and try to remember this one unbreakable, unshakable truth: unless you have seriously considered it and are prepared, you will not appreciate what you have until you lose it.
Chris ain't home yet, but she is half way here.
