Eastern Europe Trip

Well, this week has certainly been better than last week, for a couple of reasons...

First, we received another letter from Slovakia, once again in Slovak. The first letter was a simple one from the courts notifying us that they were prosecuting the truck driver for causing the accident. The second letter was much longer, and again I sent a copy to a colleague at work who's husband is Slovak for a quick translation (as well as sending a copy to our solicitor). Well, it turns out the court has found him guilty and wholly responsible for causing the accident, which is great news as it should make our claim for personal injury and losses much simpler. In addition to being found guilty he was sentenced to 10 months in jail, suspended for 2 years, and banned from driving for a year. The court has given us permission to sue for damages (which we intended anyway) and this should allow our solicitor to finally make some progress, although we still expect it will take a long time to resolve, as we'll need to understand the true extent of Tracy's injuries and what limitations they will bring before settling anything.

Second, was today, when Gerry the plastics nurse came to change Tracy's dressing and take a proper look at how the grafts are healing. The visit last week was cancelled due to other priorities, and I'm glad it was, as today her arm is looking much better. The improvement is marked, with really good skin now covering most of her forearm, some wet patches on the top of her arm, and only one area that is still pretty raw in the crook of her elbow. Gerry was really pleased with the progress, and has changed the type of dressing being used to one that is only applied to the remaining wet areas, with the majority of her arm now being treated simply with E45 cream and wrapped in the foam dressing and a crepe bandage. This will hopefully mean that when she has the dressing changed in future it's less painful as the new skin is less likely to stick to the dressing (as the dressing is localised to the remaining patches of wet skin). The prognosis is looking good for the skin grafts to heal in the next few weeks, and at that point, she will not need the dressings at all, which will be another milestone on the road to full health.

With her physio appointment booked for next week, things are starting to look up again, although Tracy is concerned the physio exercises will bring on yet more pain (which seems inevitable, as they work to get some mobility into her elbow).

All of this great news has certainly improved the mood in the Beattie household, although I've had to discuss taking my remaining leave and then going on unpaid special leave from work as trying to work from home is proving impractical. I still intend to keep dipping into my work email to keep in touch, but taking the pressure of trying to work off my shoulders will enable me to focus on ensuring Tracy's spirits remain high...