Saturday 24th October

Helen had an energetic morning - she and Peta B went on a wheelchair excursion to a local cafe where she had a quarter strength decaf latte. Strangely she enjoyed this - sounds awfully weak to me - maybe it was the company! She had a good long talk to her sister Jennifer in New Zealand who is about to go travelling for 6 weeks - they hope to see each other when Jennifer returns.
We had planned on another out of hospital excursion - Louis had thought we would go to the Greek restaurant near the goanna in West End. However, when we arrived she seemed pretty exhausted and we agreed to give it a miss for today. When I checked in later on it turned out that as well as exhausted she had been quite breathless - so much so she couldn't settle for a nap. Luckily one of the food attendants offered to put on her oxygen nasal prongs and apparently this made her feel much better. Medication rationalisation is continuing - now off all antibiotics. Still on steroids, epilim, olanzapine, temazepam and amphotericin lozenges plus her every day old thyroxine.
Strength and energy are much better than before and she is still sleeping and eating. Although talkative definitely insightful and able to be interrupted.
We had a lovely few hours together sipping Jaegermeister and gossiping (with the oxygen on). Each of us had a go at recording "the Body Monologues" for next weekend's Nati Frinj - not too bad barring a few small slips. I'll upload a version soon - voice and text for others to enjoy. Those coming to the Frinj I think it's on at 4ish on Sat 31st in the ShadowLab at GAS.
On which note I am going home to Natimuk after Monday - to touch base and to go to Frinj. Louis isn't sure but at this stage is thinking of staying here. Hence it is a good week for people close to Helen to spend some time with her whether in person (preferred!) or on the phone. Having said that please be very mindful of her energy - both in terms of overstimulation and exhaustion and remember she needs to be encouraged/supported to eat even when spending time with people. Short walks and exercise are good but wheelchair trips are also an option and probably necessary for going out of hospital.