JL’s rehab

After a slow start, JL has made a lot of progress in the last couple of days. One problem has been the number of different medical staff looking after him. Every day it was a different nurse: not one of them white Australian. This is not meant to be a racist comment. It’s just that it was often difficult for him to understand their accents and there were so many of them coming and going. Some were good and others were useless! There was a definite hierarchy to be learned, so that a request for painkillers could be made to the right one. Then the key had to be found and authorised, which all took time to eventuate. Every day there was someone coming to check his cognitive function by asking him the date or the name of the Prime Minister.

The standout person has been Keely, the chief physiotherapist, who came to see him at Royal Perth and has attended to him every day at Bentley. She is now preparing to get him fit for coming home on Saturday or Monday. There is a well equipped gym where he has exercised every day, just enough to work his muscles till he is tired out. There are also several physio  students from Curtin observing and helping. He has lost 2 kilos in weight through the ordeal and looks very thin in the face. I will have to fatten him up with rice pudding when he gets home. He was sharing a room with a very nice man who has now gone home, but now has a single room with a view:

Virus news:

We are lucky in WA to be so remote, as a 2nd wave is breaking out in Melbourne, which has just been locked down for six weeks. This was apparently started with lax security guards at a quarantine hotel not following the rules. Here in Perth the few recent cases have come from inbound travellers returning to Australia from overseas. The government is now trying to limit these arrivals to 245 per week, spaced out to every three days. They always go into hotels for two weeks at our expense.

The powers that be have been exercised by worries about the AFL football league and how matches can still go on. Teams from Melbourne will come here for three weeks and remain in hotel lockdown except for training and playing at the Stadium. I don’t know how these young men can be trusted to obey the rules. This morning I noticed fencing being erected on the grass in front of us (the former golf course) and went out to investigate. A worker told me it was for Collingwood to train. Let’s hope they stay inside the fence!