Tuesday 29th December

Yesterday we took Helen on a wheelchair walk along the river by the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and then to a cafe on James St in the Valley. Doug, Louis, Jed and me. She didn't enjoy the cafe much - anxious about getting back to the hospital plus didn't feel like eating plus can't have anything to drink - maybe not such a good call on my part - but the walk was fun. She said the wheelchair vibrations felt like a massage as we negotiated speed bumps, boardwalks and bicycle paths.

In the end they deferred the blood transfusion so I imagine her Hb remains in the low 90s, her Sodium continues to creep up and is now 131! Yay! There is definitely a corresponding improvement in mental function although apparently in can take some weeks to recover from the insult.

Medically Helen's main issues remain the low sodium - thankfully responding to the stern fluid restriction, ongoing muscle wasting and weakness (probably cancer driven although other factors contribute). She is aiming to have at least 3 walks with her walker a day and although she does find it hard to get up from sitting once she is up seems to go ok. The nurses have told me to let/make her do things for herself - just to supervise and be available to help. The depression , anxiety, negative thinking and catastrophising continue but are not omnipresent. The psychiatrist's advice is to challenge negative beliefs and statements as they arise and try to avoid them becoming too entrenched.

From tomorrow (the 30th) Doug and I will go away down to Northern New South Wales. I will not post again til I get back - probably on Sunday so Louis will be the point of contact in the interim. For those considering spending time with Helen visits and outings will be good - even if she doesn't seem to want them. Her mental functioning is now good enough to experience boredom and this is not particularly good for her state of mind. Tomorrow - the 30th the afternoon will probably be taken up with having a session of chemo but in fact there's no reason she can't have visitors down there as you are just sitting in an arm chair letting the drugs flow in...