Back to semi-normal life

Paul had a long and restful night of sleep with watchful Anne-Marie.

He ate a mankouché (lebanese thyme pizza) for breakfast.

Mike, the nurse in charge of Paul, removed the drain and the thick bandage on his whole leg.

Paul was able to move his leg better and managed to bend his knee by 45 degrees. He will be allowed to go home as soon as he is able to bend his knee by 90 degrees and climb stairs (with crutches), and if his temperature is stabilized at 37 degrees (where it is currently).

Mike said he could perhaps be discharged as early as Saturday (that is in two days!) or more likely on Monday if he continues to improve at this rate.

Paul saw a movie and read very much.

The crowd is still as dense around him with Corinne who arrived today from Hamburg doing the night shift.

The weather has been generally excellent at Stanmore which is a place largely open on the outside, to such an extent that there are signposts inside the hospital, warning people to be careful not to slip in bad weather.

Paul's supporting crowd was able to sunbath profusely, while two wild geese were resting a few meters away.

This hospital is not at all about appearances: Ventilation is largely natural and only a few years ago, the two-hundred meter passageway taken by patients in their beds when going to the operating room or back to their rooms from the High Dependency Unit and which is now somewhat protected against rain but still open to the wind and outside temperature, didn't even have a ceiling. In times of rain, nurses would carry an umbrella above the bed or protect the patient as much as possible. This is in Great Britain of the 21st century!

But inspecting teams are seemingly always chasing dust or any sign of lacking hygiene and it seems that this hospital has the lowest incidence of infections in the UK. Natural ventilation may be a good thing after all. And we don't have enough words to describe the exceptional dedication of its staff and the excellence of its surgeons. An absolutely great hospital!

And we thank you all, family, friends, old and recent, met in London or on the internet (Susan, Kelly), for your thoughts, your prayers, for being and staying there really.