5 days in a row!

This is unprecedented :-). Good news for 5 days in a row.

Yep, Husband is still up and about, he is still walking and walking all round the house, back and forth; he doesn't spend a lot of time in bed at all, until night time - just brief 5 minute rests whenever his upper back and shoulders start to ache. He has also started slowly exercising his arms - I have wrap-around arm weights which weigh just 1kg each, and he uses those to do bicep curls. He DID attempt to pick up the dumb-bells to do that - and promptly dropped them as they were 5kg each!!!!

He has started taking photos again, as of today! He is back on his computer from time to time, surfing the net, reading email. And, after some gentle nudging and reminding from me that he has family in the UK waiting to hear from him, we spent almost one hour last night talking to his eldest daughter, Debbie. Well, Debbie and I were online on Skype for the one hour, while Husband had to keep going to lie down to rest his shoulders and then he would be back again to continue the conversation. I call him my beloved Jack-In-The-Box, as he keeps popping up and down just like one! We have also arranged with Husband's grandson to set up his laptop this Saturday so that his mum (Husband's youngest daughter) can also spend some time talking to Husband. And, not forgetting Jason, Husband's son, he has been calling almost as regular as clockwork, every week too, while Husband's sister, Avis and her husband John, keep in constant contact via email and skype calls. Hmmm, what would we do without all this technology?

This is not to say that the pain is completely under control. The pain in his upper back and shoulders is constantly there now - he describes it as a constant dull toothache type of pain. It does not seem to be helped at all by the morphine or the fentanyl patches, but, believe it or not, Panadol Extra helps a great deal! *The "Extra" is 65mg of caffeine over and above the 500mg of paracetamol. A couple of Panadol Extra tablets every 5 hours while awake.. and that helps to manage that.

He sleeps reasonably well - takes him at least 1 hour just to fall asleep, but once he does fall asleep he stays asleep for at least 5 - 6 hours at a stretch.

His left arm pain is still there, but much more manageable than before, and now more reduced to pins and needles and a dull ache as opposed to a PAIN.

The nausea, unfortunately, is still very much a part of daily life for Husband - sometimes he actually does puke, sometimes it is just the intense sensation of nausea without any puking. The good news is that he does not allow that to spoil his generally upbeat mood nowadays :-).

The physio is coming again this afternoon - to check on Husbands condition and maybe identify some new exercises for Husband to do.

My Mum is coming back from India on Saturday afternoon, being picked up by my sister. I always end up feeling so guilty that it is my sister who does all the picking up / dropping off and sometimes chauffeuring of my parents, and at the same time I am so very very grateful for having such an amazing and supportive family - with the added advantage of having 3 doctors (my bro, his wife, and my sister's husband) who are always able to advise us and help us with all our medical questions. I honestly don't know how we would have managed without their constant help!

OK folks, that's it for now. Please continue to keep Husband in your prayers, that we can continue to manage the pain situation, and that Husband can at least enjoy some quality of life as we move forward.

Till next time, stay safe, stay HEALTHY!