Food and Travel

Mary has been offered a few things to eat recently. I'm not quite sure what they tried, will recommend chocolate and champagne next time as she hasn't shown a desire to open her mouth, chew or most importantly, swallow. I doubt the hospital food has seemed very appealing, and she has expensive tastes in food and drink as we all know.

So for now Mary will continue on 'peg feed' - food that goes directly into her stomach. Because of her previous chest infections and the lengthy weaning process off the tracheotomy they are not pushing food by mouth at this time as her swallow reflex still may not be strong enough. Many people do remain on the peg feed indefinitely and this has not been ruled out yet.

Mary has made it to her own side room today, a room with a view - a grubby bit of hackney - Mary's favourite. This move has been to allow less distractions for Mary so that she has more energy for her therapy sessions. You may find her more alert when you visit as a result. Mary is showing better responses from short sessions. If you visit try a short piece of music or chat and then a short rest before you start again, this helps her concentrate more and gives her an opportunity to process information.