Update

Mum came home from hosital two weeks ago. We were thrilled and proud of her progress. She was not able to get into the specialist stroke rehabilitation unit immediately after leaving the severe stroke ward, there was a long waiting list, so she came home instead to convalesce.

Then it started to go wrong, badly wrong. Almost immediately, Mum went down with what was thought to be gastroenteritis which has left her exhausted, and very poorly as she can barely eat, keep down her pills, or drink. She has had this for a fortnight. We kept hoping she would get better. I did not blog about it. The doctor was called several times, and visited Mum at home.

Obviously she has not been able to make any recovery from the stroke, because of all this, in fact, she is now much weaker and more ill than she was when she left hosital. It appears that gastroenteritis may have been misdiagnosed and instead she has another gastric infection, which can be very dangerous. But we still don't know what the problem is.

The hospital doctors ran tests after the stroke. She has been diagnosed with heart failure and mylenoma and this may have contributed to her having a stroke in her early sixties, fit, healthy weight, lifelong non-smoker. The mylenoma is not yet presenting any symptoms.

My father is exhausted and afraid, but coping; so am I, the whole family is, we have to.
I can't do anything to help with this one, apart from try and keep it together and be there for my family, and it is so much worse when it happens to someone you love. I am frightened by the fact that I seem to be losing my ability to cope with bad things. I am reaching my outer limits and it scares me; I can't afford to go to pieces, not now.

Last week Mum got so ill that she had to go to A&E for emergency rehydration on a drip and stay in overnight, then they let her out but the sickness carried on.

Last night she had chest pains as well as the d&v. A locum came, this morning, he has ordered an ambulance to take mum to hospital. There is a 2 hour wait because she is not having chest pains now, so it is ''not an emergency''. I hope when she gets to the hospital they can run tests and see what is causing her to be so sick. I hope they can rehydrate her and help with the nausea, so she can start to get stronger, as she needs to be to recover from the stroke and everything else.

I hope. I hope. Because 2 weeks have gone by and she is getting worse, not better.

I am on standby to leave London and go to the hospital in Norwich, but there is nothing I can do. Nothing. That is the hardest thing.

I'll try and keep on top of messages but if you don't hear from me, this is why.