Author: LT

So the big news for this week is that Mum is not coming home at the moment but is staying at SACU. This is to give my Dad, Aunt and Uncle more time to get their ducks in order in terms of caring for Mum at home. At this stage a move to Brisbane is still on the cards,…

Imagine for a moment that you wake up in a strange room. The phone is ringing, you’re confused about where you are and what’s happening, you’ve had an accident in the night and are wet and alone. Someone comes into the room and asks you the date and time and for a moment you don’t…

…It’s off to rehab we go. Mum has been referred to the Belgian Gardens community rehabilitation centre. This is where she will access her allied health support once she’s been sent home (probably next week). Dad and I took Mum out to the centre yesterday for her initial assessment. We also discussed what rehab will be…

As you all know, Mum enjoys writing poetry. But lately it’s become somewhat of a cathartic activity for her as she comes to terms with the long-term implications of her stroke. In particular, Mum has been struggling with the purpose of physio when she’s suffering from so much neuropathic pain. After a particularly bad day…

It’s been an interesting year for stroke research and, in honour of stroke week, I’m devoting a short blog post to some of the developments in stroke research this year. Probably the biggest breakthrough this year unfortunately came a few months too late for Mum. That was research looking at combining clot-busting drugs and scans with…

Last time I was in Townsville I attended the family meeting. While that was a few weeks ago now, I thought I’d still put up my notes from it as it will provide some insight into Mum’s progress eight months in. Firstly, Mum’s pubic fracture has finally healed and her most-recent CT scan on Friday…

As you know by now, Mum is a physio pin-up girl. Mum has good days and bad days in terms of her ‘Ts’ but on a good day she wrote the following poem. It’s very much a work in progress but showed her positive and enthusiastic state of mind at the time. In the past,…

It’s National Stroke Week this week and the Stroke Foundation is out and about trying to raise awareness of stroke in the Australian community. The website is here.

It’s now time for Mum to head home. As mentioned on the blog over the past few months, Mum’s Allied Health team is of the opinion her progress has plateaued and it’s time for her to transition. The current plan is for her to go home to the Townsville house in early October (about four weeks). This…

Nothing Mum likes more than her Sunday morning tea in the lovely gardens at SACU. Dad reads her the paper and she looks for imaginary possums, bilbys and koalas in the trees and gardens. I took this photo of Mum in her brand new shirt, which she loves. She’s bright and happy this morning and…