Saturday

After the best bit of week on morphine and two long periods of surgery under general anaesthetic, it's not surprising that the last couple of days have been quite tough, and Harry has been pretty drowsy throughout. The most recent operation lasted about 3 hours but the surgeons were very pleased that they were able to save the fragments of bone that form the right elbow as they were concerned that replacing them with an artificial joint would have serious long term draw backs - particularly as they are mainly used in elderly patients and the joints are only expected to work for about ten years, which is not ideal for a 30 year old! Both elbows have been plated and screwed and the damaged ligaments have been reconstructed. Fortunately there was no nerve damage which had also been a big concern. Finally we seem to have Harry's pain under control and he is feeling a little more comfortable today.

Harry is being reassessed by the surgeons on Monday and we'll then have more of an idea about when he'll be able to go home.  At the moment he is able to move his fingers but after an hour and a half of determined effort trying to type one word on his phone we gave up!  All in good time.

We (more me than Harry!) managed to set up the European Championships coverage in the ward which was a good distraction and it was nice to have a visit from Laura B who came to watch with us. Huge disappointment for our team though and particularly Lucy who is always so consistent cross country. Great to see William and Chilli Morning put up an impressive display and fingers crossed for the show jumping tomorrow.

Photo: Harry watching the Europeans from his bed in Basingstoke hospital!