Every day in every way….

…..she’s getting better and better.

Yes, Mags is making remarkable progress, sheer bloody-mindedness is driving her towards a complete recovery. She now has full tactile sensation in her left hand, and is able to distinguish between fingers, well, most of the time. Strength is also returning to her wrist, elbow and shoulder. She’s mobile and is able to climb stairs without assistance.

The next progress review was set for the 21st, next Wednesday, but, as she’s already met the goals set last week, we’ve brought that forward to Friday.

This afternoon when I arrived I had to ask where they’d put her. Her bed was occupied by another patient and I thought they’d finally got fed up with her cheerfulness and banter. In fact she’d been moved a matter of a few yards into the next bay in the ward. Where she’s been for the last 10 days is for new arrivals that need closer attention, now she’s in the chucking-out section, from where she’ll be discharged. I don’t think it’ll be long, now.

On the boating front, yesterday I headed down to beyond Bridge 45, winded and came back to the same spot. Then today I headed into Macclesfield, winded at the Hovis Mill and reversed to the water point to fill up the tank. Four pretty disgruntled anglers watched my manoeuvring with disgust. Ah well. Tough.

Autumn on Foden Bank
I’ll have to find somewhere else for that bike…

The canal is around 60 feet higher than the town centre making the start of my twice-daily pedal to the hospital easy, but then there’s the hill up the other side to deal with.

Looking across Macclesfield

Tanked up, we returned to Gurnett and I just had time to grab a bacon butty, walk Meg then it was time for visiting.

Mags has done well for other visitors this week; on Sunday we had a grand-daughter and two great grand-daughters at the bedside. Melanie, Emma and boyfriend Mark, and Laura had driven down from Ingleton. Then on Monday my Dad and brother Andy and sister Kay were there when I arrived. She enjoyed both days, and everyone commented on how well she’s doing. Mag’s son Howard is coming over from Eire at the weekend, so he’ll be here Saturday and Sunday.

Just before I set off for water, there was a knock on the side of the boat, and there stood Margaret off NB Willow. We’ve never actually met, but they read the blog (thankyou) and we’ve exchanged waves in the past. Anyway, the reason she’d come to find me was to send best wishes to Mags and to offer her and her husband’s help on Bosley Locks when we get going.  An offer I accepted with alacrity! I wasn’t looking forward to the 12 locks in the flight, they’re not very good for single-handers, with awkward gates and poor (none existent!) lock landings.
So that will ease my first day considerably. Thank you both very much. And Margaret, I’m so sorry I didn’t invite you in for a brew. It was very rude of me just to talk to you on the towpath.

Talking of getting away, our good friends and one-time neighbours Val and John have offered to put Mags up for the week it will take me to get to Mercia Marina. So when she’s discharged she’ll go straight to them. It’s the best solution; it’s got to be a fast trip to beat stoppages near Burton, and I won’t be able to give her my full attention while we’re on the move.
Doing it this way means that she’ll be well looked after and I can get on without worrying about her on her own inside the cabin.

So there we are. We’re both hoping that she’ll be out early next week. Fingers crossed…..

Once again, thanks for all the messages and good wishes. No time to reply to them all, but I do pass them on every evening.

Locks 0, miles 3¾