[plug] [Fwd: FW: Leon latest update]

[Alex Polglaze]

Here is the latest update on Leon's condition.


Alex

This is the latest update on Leon so please keep on praying as you can see
he still needs our God to continue working with him.  Thanks and God bless.
Chris


-----Original Message-----
From: Lucy Brooks [mailto:lucy at brooks.fdns.net]
Sent: Thursday, 23 March 2006 8:52 AM
To: Chris Cobb
Subject: Leon latest update



When I went in to see Leon this morning,(he is in a private room, due to him
being infectious with something again) he called out a greeting as I walked
in, and I responded with how excited I was to hear his voice, to which he
replied that it was good to hear my voice in his universe too, as the people
currently populating it were a bit boring!
Sigh! I managed to distract him by reading silly stories from the Darwin
Awards (whereby people do idiotic things that result in their removal  from
the gene pool, thus helping along natural selection), and My Word, and was
rewarded with a prememptory "next" whenever I paused for a breath. I then
read him his emails, and chunks of Psalms and Proverbs and Malachi and had
to
choof off because it was rest period.

When I got back, Leon was on the bedpan, and was explaining to the guard
(who
sits and guards frontal lobe injury/confused/aggressive patients while the
nurse is elsewhere, preventing them from getting out of bed and/or injurying
themselves) that he needed the TV (mounted on the ceiling) down because he
wanted "to fill it with excrement, it looks a lot more comfortable than this
hard thing under me", and that he needed to check out his "hysterectomy in
the cupboard, in a manner of speaking".

He then told me that Annerose was in the hall, and that I needed to get out
there and keep an eye on her, not let her run around unsupervised. I
explained that she was at school, and that the children he could hear were
someone else's, and that all of our children were safe and cared for.

He asked for an update on their welfare, and after hearing me, he said "so I
hear you saying, correct me if I am wrong, that you haven't seen hide nor
hair of them for nearly four weeks! Just what do you think you should do
about that?" I just laughed! He also asked about Jane's work, and asked why
she had not been in to see him, was she too busy? I explained that she had
been to see him almost every day, bar the last couple, and that his memory
was playing tricks on him. He then asked about his business, and when I
explained  (and read the emails again) he agreed that that MIGHT work, and
who was I getting to take pictures for/of his clients? I said that I was not
aware of that component of his work, but I supposed that I could if
neccessary, or Jane maybe, depending on the need. He replied that he would
rather me be his front person, as I were the better photgrapher, and a much
nicer personality, but what his clients needed was someone boring, and that
Jane would fit the bill nicely.
 
I had to bite the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing!

He then tried to interest the guard in changing jobs, said that he could get
a
a better paying proposition working with boats, as he knew that he loved
them
(Dave the guard said at this stage that he loved street racing cars, and had
never been in a boat) to which Leon replied that he would love this job
then,
as it was in Albany (about 400km south) and had terrific pay, at about $40 a
boat, for cleaning them, and there were three or four to do, each one would
only take a couple of days, and you could take them fishing (Dave said he
hated fishing) and dump the catch over the side if you didn't want to eat
them....

anyway, he went on in a similar vein for quite some while, with me carefully
looking at the ceiling so that I didn't meet Dave's eye and burst out
laughing (or crying or something!)

On a positive note, Julien the Physiotherapist said that down in the gym
yesterday they
had Leon standing and walking, and that he was VERY pleased with his
progress, that he was testing high (scale is 5 for an able bodied person) at
a 4 for the right side (which has been atrophying in bed for the last three
odd weeks, and is really skinny and bony, not Leon's usual muscular-limbed
self. He has lost some weight off his belly too, but it is not as
noticeable,
as it was mainly fat there, and he has a barrel chest) and 3 for the left
side, which was very weak, now he can hold up his limbs against gravity, and
support and balance himself, (which he COULD NOT do a week ago) but not when
there is any resistance, ie a hand pushing down on an arm.

The upshot of that is that his chances for a full physical recovery are very
good, but his "frontal lobe manifestations" are the main problem. He MAY get
back the learned social norms in a couple of years, but it is not by any
means certain, and until those safegards are in place, he will not be able
to
re-enter society on an even footing. People tend to look askance at other
people removing theirs (or others) clothes in public, or speaking their mind
whatever thoughts cross through, or other unacceptable behaviours.

I ask that you make his full MENTAL recovery a focus of prayer, so Leon can
return to a full and useful life.

thanks for all of your supportive emails and cards, I read them to Leon most
days, and they fall afresh on his ears, as his short term memory is so
short!
He really appreciates them too. I also like to read them aloud, as I have at
least one staff member as a captive audience, and it is a great opportunity
to answer spiritual questions that they might never have asked me otherwise!

Lucy xx


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