Thousend times thanks!


To all the followers of the blog, to anyone who has been supportive of Frank or us in the last months and especially after his untimely death we want to say thanks from the bottom of our hearts. In the week after his passing we received so much warmth, stories, care and love, hardly describable. To us it was a very precious and valuable week and it was so good to have Frank at home where so many of his friends could visit him. And all the help, stories and info shared in that week led to a beautiful goodbye ceremony on a beautiful sunny autumn day. For those of you who could not attend, or those of you who wish to reread the funeral speeches, we publice them here (in dutch and english) with some pictures in grateful memory of, and tributed to Frank.We will miss him dearly, thanks for being with him and with us, one way or another,

On behalf of my family and his closest friends, Esther

Foto's Frank

woensdag 27 april 2011

The Prince and his Paracetamol.

It's good to read in the post below that Frank had something to cheer him up last monday. When I visited him that afternoon, he was not feeling well. He wasn't much company at all in fact, constantly drifting off and barely speaking. Eventually we watched a movie and gave up on trying to talk.
Yesterday, he was doing much better. He was wide awake, talkative and alert. Both days just go to show that Frank has good and bad times but I'd say he is improving all the times: the good days get better and the bad days aren't as bad as they were.

Frank did complain of pain yesterday, saying that since his move from Margriet to Kalorama he frequently experienced pain all over his body. Could it be the food, the medicines or the more intensive physical therapy? I have no idea. He could describe his own pain though and was clear about what he wanted as the nurse offered him a variety of pain killers: two paracetamol would do. The pain soon got less after that.

Another point worth noting it that yesterday we spotted Frank's second hallucination. This time he was convinced words were written on the window. When I asked what they said, he said a queen had left him a get-well-soon-greeting, scratched into the glass. He also considered himself her prince. Does he miss his fantasy games or has he just been watching too much BBC?
He does not just make these things up: he explained quite clearly that he really sees them. This need not be a reason for concern, it's not that abnormal to have these experiences after a stroke. Still, it's something the doctor should of course know about, so if any of you heard Frank say anything similar during a visit, could you let us know?

That's all the updating I can think of for now. More and more of Frank's library seems to be moved to his room, and he clearly enjoys that very much. He also spends a few hours a day in his wheelchair and gets physical therapy almost every day, so he has some ways to get through the day. Still, what he always speaks most fondly about is the visits he receives, so to all of you who have paid or will pay a visit to Frank, I'd like to say: thank you.

-Rense

2 opmerkingen:

  1. Test... Ah, it seems to be working again.

    Last Saturday Frank started about this alien race, the Zuni X or something, that really existed. One of his friends (forgot the name but I'd heard it before) was their Queen and he was the Prince-Consort. When I commented that that was a step up from being her shoeshine boy he grinned, but it did leave me with an odd feeling. What do the doctors say - contradict him at the risk of upsetting him, or leaving him in the delusion because it'll go away anyway?

    Walter

    BeantwoordenVerwijderen
  2. Sounds like much of what he was talking about yesterday. Mayby he was just remembering thing but could not link it up with the propper event(s).

    BeantwoordenVerwijderen