Things slowly started to get better with time. My wife was brought out of sedation, and over the days was more responsive, eating solid food and drinking bottled water. The children visited a few times and after two weeks or so, she was moved out of ICU.
I then had a battle with insurance – as she had come in through A&E, it was harder to get her moved to a room with a bed, rather than a ward. Anyone who has met my wife will know she is very particular, and having noise and movement around her didn’t help her mood, or aide her recovery. Thankfully everyone played ball, and within a few days she was moved to the Marsden in Sutton, closer to home.
I’m not going to go into too much detail of the remaining few weeks – that isn’t the point of this. The immediate threat was over, now we had to deal with the recovery, which was slow, but after 5 weeks in hospital, she was able to come home.
But it was a very different person who came home – after leaving the home she had had near total major organ failure, a stroke, lost sight in the left side, and was now dependant on even more drugs. And the toll on the rest of us was hard – we had been planning a holiday, and now had to increase the care around the house. We had had relatives staying with us constantly – and that causes strains. We appreciate their help, but sometimes need to be able to close the door on them! I hadn’t coped well with the stress, and neither had my mother in law, which meant things were not easy.
So where are we now, nearly a year on from that momentous few weeks? Thankfully my wife is slowly getting better – the steroids have decreased, however the eyesight still isn’t fully back. There are improvements, but not enough to drive. We have to be aware of any small slight illness – a cold for you and me, might be something more sinister for her. Never again will we leave things, and discount them as not serious.