8th October: Superbug

Had a good start to the day, worked on some papers then into see Simon briefly for lunch. Caught the end of the speech therapy session where, sure enough, Simon had imposed his own agenda and had the therapist helping him to send text messages! Had to dash away for my lecture starting at 1pm and made it in good time. Unfortunately, the video recording of my lecture yesterday had great visual but no audio, the lapel mic wasn't working and because I move about constantly the lectern mic didn't pick up much. I now have the task of recording a podcast this evening. At today's lecture I stuck myself to the lectern and told the students to signal to me if they saw me drifting from my post. It was really quite uncomfortable being forced to stand in one place, not my style at all. However, it had the desired result and the broadcast is fine (apart from my mobile ringing, most embarassing). At the end of the class a young man waited behind to talk to me, he is about 23 years old and has an acquired brain injury from which he is now nearly recovered. This happened in a car accident over two years ago, and the effect of the injury is similar to what has happened to Simon. He generously shared information about his journey to recovery. His speech is fluent, he can use both hands, and he walks without sticks. I was so inspired and thank him if he is reading this blog today. I told Simon about you, he says "terrific".
Unfortunately, the phone call during the lecture turned out to be from the hospital. Simon has tested positive for an MRSA, a superbug. He was extremely upset about this. Instantly the staff implemented barrier nursing procedures: masks, gowns, gloves; he is being kept separated from other patients as much as possible, and they plan to move him to a single room tomorrow. So he and George will be broken up. This is such a shame, and I know that the move tomorrow will be stressful. Worse still, I cannot be there because I have a full teaching day. I had a quick look on the web about MRSA, and realise that I just don't know enough about microbiology to be able to offer any suggestions. The path lab were still working on finding out which strain we are dealing with.
Managed to help Simon to bed with only one nurse assisting, I think that I can do this on my own now, and will attempt this tomorrow. The only positive spin on today's news that I could think of was that Simon having the privacy of his own room opens up all sorts of possibilities....
I was warned early on that there would be many set-backs on this journey. Send up some prayers please.
Love Marian x