Just checking in. Darren is very tired still and feels like he’s losing strength. The shortness of breath makes it hard for him to have a long conversation and he has to slow down things like eating and moving. He finds it easier to break ‘tasks’ up with a rest in the middle – go up the stairs, recover, move to his studio, recover, do a bit of work, recover etc.
Eating is challenging. It always has to be fair; he’s been so dedicated ever since his surgery as the hungry/full signals simply weren’t there any more. He knows eating now is more important than ever and we are back to giving him an anti-sickness tablet before meals to help him. There are very few foods he feels like eating at the moment, things he used to enjoy just don’t appeal to him. We stick to what he feels like eating, and thankfully there are still some meals he enjoys.
Climbing the stairs has become very difficult, as has getting up from a seated position. It is the courageous nature of Darren that he is able to let me know when he might need help and then I am on standby. This is not easy for him, I can’t stress that enough. We have a visit from the occupational therapist tomorrow to talk about equipment he might need to help him to remain independent.
Yesterday we had a visit from Amber and we watched YouTube and talked about woodworking, formula 1 and holographic chocolate. It was lovely to sit on the sofa, listen to the eye-wateringly expensive wind chimes we bought in January and smell the lemongrass from the diffuser. Wonderful.
