Editor's note: As many of you know, Hugo Brown suffered a massive stroke on June 6, 2011. Since then, his wife Louise has been giving us updates on his recovery progress. We receoved the following message from her late on Wenesday, Please read on and send Hugo your good wishes for continued recovery. You can send an e-maiul to him via Louise at louisesbrown@me.com.
Hello everyone,
Hope
this is not too late for tomorrow's get together. I had intended writing
to Wendy with an update but had not quite got around to it. Caring for
Hugo is pretty much a 24/7 task so not too much spare time.
I
asked Hugo's permission to write this and he wanted firstly to pass on his thanks
to everyone who had been in touch and been so supportive over the last year.
Physically
he is doing remarkably well - when you consider he was paralysed for so many
months it truly is a miracle that he is walking and is quite stable on his
feet. He only uses a stick when he is out and about - more for security
and perhaps if there is uneven ground. He has physical therapy each week
at our local hospital and we do exercises at home to try to build up his core
strength and his balance - all of course, lost, when you are paralysed for so
long. He has managed 4 holes of golf with Ed Jenner (not sure if any of
you will remember him from Fernhurst) - but is never likely to play
competitively again and certainly could not physically manage much more than
those 4 holes at present. We reckon that he was asleep by the time Ed's
car was out of the driveway when he dropped him off! We try to build up
his stamina and he manages to use the exercise bike most days.
He
looks absolutely amazing and is in good spirits most of the time and has a
little insight into his condition but thankfully has no memory of what happened
to him and has only limited memory of the end of his time in hospital (5 months
in total). One of the greatest blessings is that he has not lost his
wonderfully equable nature - this is often a massive problem with stroke
patients so we are extremely fortunate. Nor does he have any speech
problems but he has lost some field vision so will never drive again - a source
of much distress on his part.
The
major difficulty is with the cognitive impairment which is what I was warned
from day one - but of course, not only did he have a massive brain haemorrhage
but this was followed by meningitis so it truly has been a double whammy in
that respect. He knows who everyone is and can have a very lucid
conversation with everyone but does get very forgetful and confused but not at
all like dementia - it is classified as a brain injury and we have pretty much
reached a plateau with not a lot of likelihood of much more of an improvement.
Thank goodness for sport on tv - he is as much a fan of sport as ever and still
tries to do the crossword each day and read the paper but does not use the
computer or send emails and of course, I had to close down his consultancy
business.
It
does appear that there has also been a little bit of residual heart damage -
not surprising again when you think of what he went through so in addition to
neuro psychologists, occupational therapists, urologists, etc. etc., we are
back at the cardiologist as well on a regular basis. We do seem to have
endless medical appointments but that is better than the alternative!
I
now have quite a lot of extra help as he cannot be left on his own at any time.
This enables me to get out and about and in addition I have lots of
gardening help but as I am sure you can imagine, we are thinking of downsizing!
Too much pressure looking after our big garden and we need to simplify
our life. Our goal is still to get back to our beloved Sanibel Island
and we should hear next month if Hugo will be allowed to fly - only problem
with that will be travel insurance but 3 months there next winter would be
wonderful for both of us.
Our
children, Stuart and Katie, are still in Singapore and Barbados respectively
with 3 children apiece but we so miss seeing those grandchildren as of course
we would have been to visit them both in the last year. However Thank God for
Skype - I bought an iPad when Hugo was in hospital so he could see them and
they are in constant touch. All of them are home over the summer so
really looking forward to their visits - it will give us such a boost.
I do
hope this brings you all up to date - we talk often of our 5 years in Oakville
and Stoney Creek and in fact had a visit only last week from a friend we made
there. Some of the best times of our lives were had in your wonderful
country and some amazing friendships formed.
I
would like to add my heartfelt thanks to all of you who took the time and
trouble to get in touch with me - it meant so much and I have saved all the
cards and emails and frankly, they still make me cry when I read them - still
haven't shown them to Hugo as it would be a bit too emotional for him.
Hope
you have a wonderful time together and our love to all
Louise
and Hugo
