Day 101 - Quality of Life.

ome years ago I was tasked with setting up a quality system for a company where I worked. Now, an integral part of that kind of framework is the idea of Continuous Improvement. Based on the premise that whatever you have today (whether it be a process, service, or whatever) it can likely be bettered by examining, rethinking, questioning, and developing what you do and how you do it. In the case of cleo's Road to Recovery there is much happening along the same lines. Each day we look for improvement, even in the smallest things, but which we can set against a measure from yesterday, or last week, or last month. If we can see some kind of change or improvement then we have achieved something.

If we don't see something getting better then we might look at alternative ways to approach whatever it may be.

Two examples have struck me today. Firstly, when James was working with cleo today, he has obviously been thinking carefully about how he can get her to maintain and improve tone in the muscles of her arm, hand, ahoulder, leg and hips. He has tried several different types of exercise and has come up with some new ones today which seem to help her hand and arm especially. These are also things which she can do at home, and which enable him to work more on the improvement side of things rather than the maintaining which has been happening of late. Each day he spends time getting her back to where he left off the day before, meaning that precious time is wasted. Now that cleo has these very specific things to do at home, she can get to physio better prepared.

Second, quality of life is a good measure of progress too. Getting in and out of the bath when she first came home was a definite struggle, especially before we got the electric bath hoist. Now, with that and with her increased strength, and having worked out the best way to get her on and off the seat she can relax in the bath and it is far less stressful for us both to get her in and out. Just like the Quality System idea, we have taken a process, and refined it to suit us, in such a way that we manage it efficiently and safely. Net result of that is that bathtime is easier, and can therefore be undertaken more often, creating a happy cleo. There are many other things that might seem minor on their own but which all add up to continual improvement in cleo's rehabilitation. Getting into the car is another example; three weeks ago i would have to lift her leg into the car once she was on the seat, because she couldn't do that herself. Now, once at the door she can sit in the car, and get her leg inside, and close the door without my help.

All these things and there are many when we think about them, lead me to say that her quality of life improves daily, and her journey along the Road to Recovery is moving at a good pace. A measure of the quality of life is probably that she is less tired, provided she gets enough sleep of course, and that overall she has far fewer emotional troughs compared to say, a month ago.

I have no doubt that we are going in the right direction, and that with James' help and her determination, cleo will continue to improve every day for the forseeable future.

Oh, and the home care team are still being held hostage by aliens.