Grandmother Update.

Neither my father or I have actually visited my grandmother today (29/9/11) but we've got about a week to ten days to catch up on.

When I visited my grandmother last Thursday (22/9/11) and Friday (23/9/11) her condition had dramatically improved. Although there is a limit to what can be achieved through bed rest alone she was calm, lucid and relatively happy. She was able to engage with and follow a conversation about my mother's recent wedding and associated cousins. She was able to recall names, anecdotes and ask relevant questions such as whether photographs of the day are available unprompted. She was also able to remember and tell me stories about other patients on the ward. Far point one of those patients - who was in her 80's - was absolutely convinced that she was in hospital to give birth to eight babies but that's hardly my grandmother's fault.

When I left I promised that I'd visit again on Sunday (25/9/11) but failed to do so as I was really busy with menial tasks and really tired. According to my father's less then accurate reports my grandmother's condition dramatically worsened on Sunday and she spent the next three days being depressed, confused and aggressive. When I visited again on Wednesday my grandmother had been given a special bed with no legs meaning that she was essentially just lying on a mattress on the floor at a much lower level then the other patients. While I sure there was some valid medical reason for this my grandmother clearly found it to be a very demeaning experience and reacted in the way my grandmother has always done to such circumstances by becoming very verbally aggressive to everyone and anyone. As a result it was a very short visit.

All this indicates that my grandmother's mental status is responsive to emotional stimuli rather then being the result of neurological impairment. She is also displaying the cyclical recovery pattern that is common amongst psychiatric patients. So all we're really waiting for now is for the hospital to provide a valid diagnosis so we can start treatment and discussions about after care. Unfortunately they still seem highly resistant to do this because they seem to have got all confused about the strong rumours from last weekend's IMF conference that Greece will be allowed to default on or not pay 50% of it's debt.

So I should explain that the main part of that story is about finding a way to solve the Greek crisis without costing Italian banks so much money that they fail and drive Italy into crisis. However if you want to think about it in terms of code then Britain (the Greek) owes two large debts. The first is to me and my kin. The second is to all the nations that it convinced to go along with this scheme on the promise of some high quality scientific research. So with all these other nations saying the Greek doesn't have to pay half their debts they seem to be saying that Britain still owes it's debt to me and if it wants to continue on it's current path it will do so alone.


I should also point out that my father still doesn't know about the Section 4 request so I wouldn't put much faith in what he says or does when he's not in full possession of the facts.