It's really more of the same, Colin's sleep pattern is poor and unpredictable. There have been occasions when visitors have turned up as planned and he has been asleep. Trouble comes when he wakes at the end of an afternoon and then is fully awake when it's time for bed! I'm following up the theory about light sensitive cells in the eye (not the seeing variety) and, even though his eyesight doesn't appear to be working, ensuring that during the day he keeps his eyes open as much as possible and we get the light as good as possible.
I've had numerous people ask me if Colin knows me or them. Well.....yes!!! He can even identify some visitors by their voice. And yes, he can remember his friend who worked with him at CRL and now lives in Edinburgh! Things haven't got that bad yet! When he is not sleepy he is fully conversant with what is happening - whether that's being read articles from the scientific literature, other books, doing the crossword, whatever. He can even picture a crossword grid and give me solutions faster than I can think of them sometimes! I know he often gets into another world but that seems to be when he's heading into a sleep of a kind.
Thanks to those of you who have kept going with the visits and those who've had the courage to visit for the first time this year. Please do keep it up. Across the page you will find a link to the visits calendar. It doesn't always get updated immediately but it will give you a heads-up if someone has already planned to visit on a day/time when you might have been thinking of visiting. Do please let me know in advance though so I can keep this updated as best I can or if I know something is happening I can then let you know, and also I can plan my visiting and meals around others' visiting so that I'm not rushing around like a mad thing!
Two days before Christmas, Colin's made-to-measure recliner arrived. It's had a tweak to the back rest already and a further tweak to the headrest is now underway. But on the whole, it's made a huge difference to his comfort. I wish we could obtain a more supportive bed.....things seem to take forever!
Jane.