TODAY by Helen Mead, Beneficiary
Sorry it’s been a long time since I have updated you all on Jack’s condition. I have been waiting, hoping for a definitive out-of-the-woods message for over a week now but unfortunately we aren’t quite there yet.
Jack was critically unwell with Covid in hospital after testing positive at the beginning of February; and last Tuesday, after nearly a month of treatment, he was transferred back from the medical ward into the neuro-rehab ward. Which was very good news indeed.
His Dr says it’s “very difficult to know when he will be out of the woods” -
But certainly he has been stable the last couple of weeks and that is “reassuring”.
He is still on a “trickle” of oxygen at rest and although he has now had a number of negative Covid tests, and has just been transferred back to a bay in the main ward yesterday morning - his lungs are still “angry and inflamed and a little damaged” and “like a wound healing it just takes time”.
He has been having physiotherapy to stop his lungs de-conditioning - after being in bed for so long - and it’s very counterintuitive to him at the moment to engage with this as he needs much more oxygen when he moves. His Dr says it’s “slow steps” and “could well take a long time”.
Now the priority is building his strength back up- luckily his appetite hasn’t been affected, his lungs healing and not needing the oxygen.
Jack, thou still demonstrating his super dry sense of humour, is currently more confused than he was before Covid. This could well be down to the steroid drugs he needed to help beat the Covid pneumonia, and the Dr hopes this effect on his memory, will clear in the next couple of weeks. Thankfully- those steroids have also helped keep the vasculitis at bay so there has been no progression in this. The hospital hope to be able to resume the original treatment plan soon.
Last Sunday as well as enjoying a football match on his iPad courtesy of lots of extra work from Ruby, a most amazing nurse who has been tweaking it for him; he also had his favourite meal, a cheeseburger from Honest Burger. Incredibly Alex, the assistant manager at the local branch- not only made it personally, he also delivered it to the hospital door for him - and has arranged the same for him every Sunday.
These acts of kindness from strangers towards Jack - discovering people who go the extra mile - has powerfully transformed this whole experience. It makes you feel so much more at ease. More connected. More hopeful. Allows a world to come into focus that is built on love not fear. Believe it. Beauty is all around us. For now Jack gets to experience this through his iPad - which as he puts this evening: “is better than nothing” (haha)- hopefully we will be able to visit him in person soon - he says he’d like that.
Helen Mead 11/3/21
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-jac...m_campaign=p_email+1137-update-supporters-v5b