Day 83

Christmas came early this year. This week has actually been getting better and better.

Colin got his ripple mattress which will assist greatly with not getting bed sores. This is a huge win for him. He is currently struggling a bit with the cushion of his chair, and tonight I noticed that he is starting to get a pressure sore on the back of his thigh. We will need to keep an eye on this, but the mattress will help a great deal for his sacral area.

He also has been struggling to drink enough water because he finds it difficult to remember to ask people to give him a sip of something, and also, he forgets if it is not right there. One of the newer inmates mentioned a CamelPak (a sort of mini backpack that holds liquid and has a long drinking straw) as a possibility and Colin asked me if I could see about one. I was a bit surprised about how expensive they are, but I found a no-name brand one for a third of the price of the others, and this one also holds 2 litres. Win-win. I took it to him today as well, and he is so pleased.

I had to do some lateral thinking on how to attach it to the back of his chair, but it was simple enough. He puts the straw end through his splint, and is able to drink like that whenever he wants. Here are few pics of how he is set up to drink:

from the back: (and you can see the addition of a super hi-tec rubber band:

We have also figured out a low-tec way of holding up his iPad – it is kept in place by a bottle of Marmite (or yellow Bovril as it is known at our house), as well as a bottle of water with a drop of sugar free cordial.

Here you see the ads that kept popping up while we were trying to set up a few things, but he is back on-line, and loving it. I cannot explain the amount of renewed energy, joy, hope, love, and happiness I feel knowing that we can now chat during the day 🙂

Here is my lumpy looking a little thinner, and the wounds from the op and trachy are fading so fast, and healing so well:

I have to say that his glasses are manhandled quite a lot by several people, not the least of which is Colin, himself. When we got them before whenever it was, we got the special anti scratch coating, and it really works. They are washed at least once a day with the special hospital soap, dried on the yucky paper (paper!) hand towels, and they still look new. It is actually amazing.

All in all, it was actually a rather magical day today, and we have both had a wonderful week. <3