Today two celebrated their birthday but only one was aware. The dog was oblivious to his second year on the planet but we wished him well anyway. More importantly it was my father in law's birthday which he unfortunately had to spend in hospital following a stroke the other week. That was hard for him and hard for his four daughters too.
A year ago he had just lost his wife and constant companion two months earlier before being left alone at home into lockdown. That must have been hard enough. The past year must have been a nightmare. But then being found in a bad way and submitted to hospital revealed bigger problems. I sort of mentioned it previously not knowing at the time the severity of his situation. He is 60 miles away and at that time we had no means of communication. All I knew is that the stroke had left him unable to speak, or that was what I thought I heard.
It wasn't until a video call was set up that I realised how bad things were. In my ignorance I expected him to be the same but struggling to get words out like someone with a sever stammer. I'd even suggested someone drop in a whiteboard and marker in case he got frustrated trying to say something. That is not how it was at all. It was gibberish mostly. He knows what he wants to say but the thoughts are not linking to the words to the speech. The odd word is OK but mostly it's gibberish that you cannot even guess at. That was very hard for my wife and kids. There is a helplessness on both sides and a sadness. Things have thankfully improved but not a lot. It will be a long time before he is out which is bad enough but whether he has a problem read and writing or doesn't have the will be appears not to be doing the things that interested him previously. Hopefully that will improve in time. But the call today was better, my wife seemed happier. He seemed more content and less frustrated. Its a slow process but hopefully this time next year things will be better for him.
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