Thursday
Dear Elsie
Today was a rainy, misty drizzly day in Cape Town. Spring Solstice where the city should be warming, but instead the maximum temperature scrambled up to 15C and we all were in jackets and scarves. Julian and I walked to the shops for mince for spaghetti bolognaise this evening.
Not many people but lots of seaweed.
Work was relatively quiet. I worked less than 6 hours. Back at catland, Raiku had the right idea.
Claw’d wasn’t quite so well tucked up.
They hardly went out today.
Someone else who didn’t go out today was David, but that’s nothing new. He did go out on Tuesday. He went to Kommetjie Lighthouse and did the 900m walk/jog – but more walk. He has recovered well. When we reflect back, we are realising we are seeing a tiny improvement. We don’t want to get too excited. We learned a while ago this isn’t going to be David waking up one day and being 100% better – sure, God can do that, but the improvement is going to take time – it’s a very slow process. But, when I looked back on my blog, I found that on 3rd April, before he started his triple therapy anticoagulant treatment, we went to the same place (Kom Lighthouse). It was a sunny day but our hearts were bleak because it was the day David was initially due to leave for China. Stuart left and David didn’t. It was just a hard reality kind of day. David wanted to try to walk 250m & it was painfully slow. On that day, I wrote, “He did it but it was exhausting. He had to sit down half way and when we got home he was finished.” He slept for 2 hours. This photo was taken on that day…
On Tuesday 19th September (yes 2 days ago) when he went to Kom Lighthouse, he drove himself; he left his stick in the car and he mostly walked, with intermittent 1 minute jogs, getting his heart rate up to more than 150bpm. He did 900m. When he got back, he was tired to be sure, but he climbed the 100 steps back up to the house and he rested. In the evening he was okay. The next day (yesterday), his legs were very heavy, but he was okay. He even had a friend visit in the afternoon. This morning, he came up for coffee and he was fine. And even though he has had a very busy day today and this evening he is tired, he hasn’t had the devastating crash that came after dawdling a painstaking 250m on 3rd April. In comparison to 3rd April, he’s a bit better, but compared to his normal self, there is a tiny improvement.
And we’ll take that! He has been much better at managing his energy levels, so rest is key to his recovery and he’s focusing on that. He’ll go for his next round of blood tests in a few weeks time to see if the microclots in his platelets are any smaller. That will be another indicator that better health is ahead. Meantime, he’s off sugar and most dairy which has been tough, but he’s determined to try anything.
I read an excellent quote from CS Lewis today. “You can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
Psalm 150:3
Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre…
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂