Monday 11th July 2011

Well the mysteries continue. Today Helen has been pretty confused, weak and sleepy all day. Still eaten well and managed short walks (almost as far as the toilet then needed to be wheeled). The lovely Dr M and Nurse RG from palliative care came for a home visit mid morning (triggered by our contact last Friday). When they arrived Helen was complaining of pain of 7/10 - almost unheard of for her. Jo said this started while they were walking to the toilet but then seemed to resolve. Dr M examined her and found an area of significant bony tenderness in her upper L chest which she thought likely to be a broken rib. We were all puzzled and concerned by this as if it is then by definition it has occurred with minimal trauma and would be likely to be either a bony metastasis or an osteoporotic fracture secondary to her steroid treatment. Dr M organised for us to have some strong painkillers available as well as regular panadol and planned that we will test her urine and bloods again - however in the end none of these things worked out for one reason or another! One difficulty (which we have had before) is that when she is very weak and reluctant to move around it is really really hard to get a urine specimen.
On the positive side howeverHelen really doesn't seem to be in any pain to me (and has not even had her regular panadol).
Tomorrow I depart for a week and Louis returns and the day after that Susan returns as well so she will remain well looked after. Helen has been really looking forward to seeing Louis again so I hope tomorrow is a more withit day and they can both enjoy it.