Bonfire day

I love bonfire day. 

It was also cheese day and I made a Gouda using raw milk, so that I can compare it in due course with one made last weekend from pasteurised milk.

It turns out that brother #3 has rallied a bit since the multiple crises of a week or two ago. 

One of the huge disadvantages of being so far away is that I am completely reliant on updates from four people who are on the spot.

One of those people provides unreliable information because he doesn’t like to give bad news. 
One provides me unpredictably irregular information depending on what he thinks it is ‘useful’ for me to know.
One has been very reliable, until this week when the stress of the last few months has caught up with him.
The other only contacts me in a crisis.

As a result I’ve been in a bit of a vacuum for several days, other than seeing some very sad photographs of my brother.

Late last night I had a long update from one of my other brothers. To my amazement #3 brother has been more conscious, and even happily aware of being outdoors on occasion. He’s been drinking regularly, eating a little high-value puréed food twice a day, and has also been helped to stand on two occasions (for the first time in two months or more). 

This isn’t to say he’s not still terribly ill and he is spending most of the time in his own strange world, but his current quality of life is better than I had been imagining.

Although this is all quite cheering, the doctor has warned us of a rapid collapse of my brother’s organs. His kidneys have been under pressure for weeks now, and his lungs and digestive system are also compromised. And that’s just what they know about…

However it is extraordinarily reassuring to know that the staff at the nursing care home are making real efforts to provide him stimulation and comfort as long as he’s with them. I can’t speak highly enough of the care he is receiving. If only all care homes were that good.