Message Eight

Keep it brief- it's Sunday.

The word for today is sleep.  Elizabeth slept for the whole day with the odd squeeze of a hand.  She still has some infection and a raised temperature, but generally she was much more settled today than yesterday.  She now has only one cannula in her wrist and her blood pressure is stable.  Cousin Emma was with her most of the day.

The whole of the hospital seemed very sleepy and deserted.

Message Seven

It's good of you to keep looking at this.  It could go on for a while.   Today I was falling asleep in the waiting room, and musing that I'm living in sympathy with Elizabeth. Cousin Sarah at last saw Liz conscious.  Mary and Cameron, friends and flatmates for the last two years, visited.  At first it's a shock to see Elizabeth.  She cannot move her facial muscles much, but you can see the distress she experiences when she sees a friend for the first time since the hemorrhage.  Auntie Ruth then arrived on her bike from the station.  Next Cousin Emma.   At lunch time we decamped to the Botanical Gardens for sandwiches (made by me). 

Elizabeth is still exhausted.  She is producing a lot of saliva which has to be dredged as she cannot swallow it, or spit it out yet.  Her nurse Linda did feel the swallow is developing.  But the tracheotomy acts as a barrier to the stomach.  Today she was able to yawn.  Emma spent a long time wiping her face, and Liz began to be able to help with this.  I reflected with Liz that it is like being a newborn baby again.  She will have to regain motor control of nearly all her muscles including her neck and tongue. 

Elizabeth continues to be very rewarding to be with.  She says a lot with her eyes and hand squeezes.  We know that when she gets her strength back, she will have a lot to say, because she tried so hard to communicate last Sunday. 

Every morning I am up early to walk the beautiful footpaths around our hosts house.  We appreciate Sheffield.  

Message Six

This time last week Elizabeth was fine.  She returned from International Cafe with her housemate Elise.  They bumped into Cameron on the street.  He said she was upbeat and doing well.  Today Elizabeth had a general anesthetic and had a tracheotomy fitted.  As we sat will her, unconscious, this afternoon, I was very grateful to know that she is well as a person.  We understand that a lot of people do not survive.  Some people can stay in a coma for months.  Some people loose their memories, and some loose their intellectual abilities.  Elizabeth is affected physically, and we do not know what is in store for us.  Normally people recover most of their functions.  Young people have a much better chance of doing well.  However, we are open to whatever is in store for us.  We noted that the three of us were all independently prepared to loose Elizabeth, but she has been preserved.  We want Elizabeth to be fully restored, and a lot more.   We want all of you to be blessed too. 

Both Margaret and my employers have been very generous to us, and there is no pressure on us to leave Elizabeth.   Joanna has up to the 12th of October to decide whether she is going to start university this year. 

My mother and sister visited us today.  Elizabeth continues to be grinning and bearing it.  A doctor noted the new concern of depression that is of course very common in these situation. He felt that the tracheotomy would give her freedom to talk with us, which might make her feel better. 

Elizabeth saw her very good friend Anna, and her cousin Sarah, who has been with her already, but not when she has been conscious.

Tomorrow is a new day, and we look forward to seeing how Elizabeth gets on with speech.

Message Five

Firstly- we are so grateful to you for caring so much about Elizabeth and our family.  The numbers of people taking the time to keep in touch through this blog are amazing.  Elizabeth's community in Mizoram are very faithful to her.  She is likely to miss her trip there for New Year for which she was saving hard. 

Today we were all exhausted and semi-comatosed.  The three of us hold Elizabeth's good hand and let the hours drift by.

This morning Ruth Smith, Elizabeth's Student Worker from 'The Well', her church in Sheffield, beat us in. She brought lots of cards, including hand painted cards, from friends.  When Liz has more energy we will look at them with her. 

While Ruth was there, Margaret and I visited St Marks Church, which is right next to the hospital.  It acts as an appropriate metaphor for us as we have both had bombs land on top of us.  St Marks has been restored impressively.  You wouldn't want it to go back to the way it was.  It has light and life.  It's a centre of radical Christian thought and practice.  We wonder what our restoration will be like.  You will have to tell us.

In the afternoon we were delighted to meet Dorothy and Johnny, from the International Cafe/ Christian Union, that Elizabeth was helping to lead.  I think it's quite a shock at first to see what this thing has done to Elizabeth.  You might wonder what she is taking in.  Well she is hearing everything, and communicates with her hand signals which we are developing together.  She'll give your hand a tight squeeze. 

We ended today by visiting Elizabeth's house for tea with Elizabeth's flatmates, Adam and Elise.  It was strange to see Liz's empty room. 

Things are progressing.  The doctors removed an emergency cannula because they feel she is not at risk.  She still needs to develop her gag reflex.  Then the breathing tube can be removed, and she might be able to speak.  That would be wonderful.

Elizabeth's current address is:- Elizabeth Starr, Neuro Critical Care, Level K, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Rd, Sheffield.  S10  2JF 

Message Four

Today's word for me was 'endurance'.  A long day for us all with Elizabeth putting up with a very sore chest.  From time to time we got the message via pointing fingers 'very uncomfortable.' Time to get 'S', her nurse for the day.  A suction tube then has to go down her breathing apparatus and into her lungs to clean things up.  S then offers her some morphine in water.  Elizabeth says 'no', well most of the time she does.

We were visited by our pastors, David and Susan, Claire and James this afternoon.    The staff are getting used to constant prayer meetings in Critical Care.  We don't believe in 'wishing on a star'.  Stars are reliable but not very powerful (speaking personally). We want strength to endure the pain and suffering, for Elizabeth to feel able to be released from the breathing tube.  We want her to start feeling in her left arm. Elizabeth is getting stronger on the right side.  She is able to pull hard with her right hand and arm.  Her eyesight is still not coordinating.  She was given an eye patch because she has double vision.  We are greedy.  We want Elizabeth to be healthier than she was before with no threat of any re-occurrence. 

Today we were kept in touch moment by moment with an amazing thing happening in Surabaya, Indonesia.  Our little niece, Allegra, had a sister.  Bravo Marcella and Dwi - miracles are happening all the time.  (Don't worry Mum - no secrets here.  We were recorded as Allegra's Aunt and Uncle when she attended nursery in Leicester.)

Message Three

We are staying in Loxley now, proving that the people of Sheffield are remarkable.  We are 15 minutes drive from The Royal Hallamshire Hospital and feel very comfortable.

It was particularly painful to leave Elizabeth today.  She has been dozing, still not well, not really opening her eyes at all.  She didn't feel comfortable.  Not a hint of complaining though.  I saw her Physio this afternoon and she said  continue to massage her left arm. Perhaps the massage helped, but by the time we left, we were encouraged that there was some movement in her arm.  Liz says she doesn't feel anything though.  We want her to feel touch, and pain in that arm.

With the other arm we are communicating.  D, Elizabeth's student nurse, has a 13 year old daughter with learning difficulties. She has been teaching Elizabeth to use makaton.  We are all now learning too.

Elizabeth's main nurse is H.  Today we were with A, and B helped out too.  They are a great team, and always ask for consent from Liz before they do anything.  They regularly ask her if she is comfortable.  We were really impressed by the way she is not infantalised by anyone.

No visitors today, which was needed.   She is in the process of building up her strength, ready to breath independently.

She waved us off at the end of visiting time with the look that said "look after yourselves, and get some rest."

Everyone in Sheffield knows this familiar sight.
Elizabeth is on level K (10th floor). The views are stunning.

No photos of people so this is off the internet.

The Botanical Gardens are nearby and Margaret and I went there today
for some fresh air.  Jo stayed with Elizabeth.

Message Two

I realised today what everyone says, that hope builds, you have visions of progress, and then things feel more challenging.  Today poor Elizabeth had a temperature, and was feeling unwell.  She had lots of visitors who she loves, but as Joanna said, it's tough when you also feel under the weather.  We decided we must check things out with Elizabeth more when planning visits.  Sorry people who want to see her.  I know she loves you but she is still very fragile. 

Elizabeth helped us complete a questionnaire for the nurses about her likes and dislikes.  Also her interests and personality.  I thought it was a questionnaire more for us, than the nurses.  It was a celebration of Elizabeth. 

Helen, our dear friend's mother, has fixed up our stay in her house so we will be there from tomorrow. 

By the way- the problem she faces was a bleed at the base of the brain in the Pons

It is important that her body does not respond to this with inflammation.We did see some twitches in her left arm, which was positive. 

Message One

We are wanting you to know how our Elizabeth is doing. Sorry not to send a personal message.

You may have heard what a weekend we have had- and we have already had so many wonderful messages of love and support.

Our dear Elizabeth tried to get up in the night on Saturday morning in her student flat in Sheffield, and found that her arms and legs weren't working.  She fell on the floor.  At 12.00 her flatmate Adam found her and immediately called the emergency services.  She was put under sedation.  

Then how to contact us?  Amazingly Adam was able to get hold of Margaret.  She and Joanna were on their way to university in London.  Joanna never got there, and headed back up the M1.  I was on a walking party in the Quantocks, far out of mobile and internet coverage.  Again it was a mercy that  a message got through via a number of people to my Godfather who I was walking with who accidentally strayed into coverage.  

Ruth, Sarah and Emma (Margaret's sister and nieces) were the first to get to her.  Then Joanna and Margaret.  A kind friend joined me on my journey to Sheffield.  I dropped him at the train station and he ask someone in a car to lead me to the Northern General Hospital, and they agreed.  (No satnav in my car.)

Today Elizabeth is awake.  She has left sided paralysis at the moment, and can't speak because she has a ventilator, and it's early days.  She is now in the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, with wonderful care. Granny was able to visit today by train.

She is determined to communicate with us.  We eventually got some paper and a board, and she  showed how upset she is that her arm and leg are not moving.  She wrote one word we could make out. It was Jesus.  

She is amazing, and she knows what is going on.  We have been lent a house in Sheffield.  Joanna is with us.  Elizabeth is alive.  We've cried a lot together.  Our pastors from church will visit, also my Mum and sister.  

For our praying friends and family we are requesting:-

Elizabeth gets her swallow reflex back.  That's key for breathing safely.  Also she would love to see some movement in her left side.  She is concerned for her flat mates, and so are we.  It's been traumatic.  Pray that they cope with the trauma.  We want her fully restored of course, and that something good will come out of this.  

We are taking it slowly now.  Thanks you for your love and prayers. We will keep you updated.

Andrew Margaret Elizabeth (in Hospital) and Joanna.