What I've heard: Monday was pretty traumatic as Carl was moved to a rehab centre - but it wasn't what was expected, there's a lot of people in very bad shape in there and there was a worry that this was it, that progress would be minimal, and it all seemed pretty desperate. I called a mate of mine who's a surgeon at Walton Neuro (most stuff we do isn't brain surgery, or rocket science, but he wins that argument) and asked that as he's only in rehab now, would it be a good idea to get him home at this point. He said no for three reasons. The first is that as he's still in a delicate way the trip could be quite damaging and they should move him at a minimum, the second is that it will cost shitloads, tens of thousands (we've managed to raise over 1200 quid now on the off-the-boozathon over here in Waterloo, Liverpool but we'd need quite a bit more than that), and the third, and most important, is that the care he's getting in Dusseldorf and now Krefeld is second to none.
Then the conversation turned to prognosis. To paraphrase, he said that you get a lot of people that turn up and look completely stuffed, don't come round for months, don't respond too well to treatment, and six months later come back in with a box of chocolates for the nurses and are doing great. On the other side you get people who seem to be doing great, relapse and don't end up doing so well. There's no figures or probabilites, the injuries and people are unique, but Carl is getting great treatment and the fact that he's showing awareness at this early stage is great news and very positive for a good outcome.
Tonight I spoke to his wife who said that as Rammy had pointed out, he's trying to speak, and when the physiotherapist was round earlier asking him to move his thumb, he said 'thumb'. She thought he couldn't have as he has some balloon type thing in his mouth stopping him from being able to speak while he has a tracheotomy fitted, but when she mentioned it later to the speech therapist she said she'd loosened it and that he probably had managed a word or two. When his wife said she was sorry for not believing he'd spoken he smiled and rolled his eyes. Also, the speech therapist said that all the mouth movement is good and showing great signs of progress. The doctors also said that the drugs are only just clearing his system so he will gradually be getting more aware. To top it, when Lou Reeds Perfect Day came on the radio, his eyes welled up with tears - he's getting there slowly, and that's brilliant.
I think I'm off over on Wednesday and will let you know more as I hear it.