Benchmarking my Bride

Rating my wife of nearly 40 years on a daily basis, on a scale of one to ten, may seem to be the absolute height of unreasonable behaviour. However, it helped to tell a story that I believe was instrumental in saving her life.
After her stroke Diane was discharged from hospital and moved into a home with full nursing care. I needed some means of gauging her condition and progress in recovery; not just from a medical standpoint, but to give a clearer picture to friends and family. They were naturally keen to interrogate every morsel of information for signs of improvement.
I therefore prepared a schedule of her condition (see below), with criteria for each level. Each day I would dispationately (well, as much as possible) attribute a score. 10 being her normal self and 1 being too personally troubling to define.
Diane left hospital at level 5 and wavered around that mark over the following six months. Some days higher, some lower. Over time I began to plot this data on a spreadsheet and with some simple help from Microsoft Excel (other speadsheet software is available!!) it became clear that the trend line was going down.
This benchmarking helped to reinforce my general view that the bleed in her brain was ongoing and her condition worsening. I was also able to demonstrate to the surgeon that there was still some hope if the operation proved successful. The details are in the book (now available as an eBook too). We are living in an age where data is king. My uneducated guesses as to Diane's deteriorating condition didn't count for much with the medical profession, even though I was there, observing her, for many hours every day. Also, when something is right in front of you, you can't always see the bigger picture. The simple act of generating some data (albeit not grounded in any scientific rigour) did help to focus minds on the issue and - in my humble view - enabled the decision to operate and remove the cavernoma.
And, as an update, using the same criteria, she is in the region of an 8.5 - 9 now. Of course, to me, Diane will always be a 10.

Benchmarking Assessment Criteria

10 Fit and as well as can be expected. Reasonable general capacity. Able to walk successfully unaided. Reasonable communication. Can make her own decisions.

9 Able to manage unaided walks to bathroom etc. proper ablutions. Can use mobile phone/iPad/TV remote without assistance.

8 Able to manage aided walks to bathroom etc. Can use mobile phone/ipad/TV remote with assistance. Able to use cutlery in the proper sense and without mistakes.

7 Good regular answers to questions with a few mistakes. Completion of sentences with some thought. Regularly out of bed in chair. Able to use cutlery with few mistakes. No longer incontinent. Requires assistance for ablutions. Not yet able to walk but can use hands/arms/legs to manoeuvre position.

6 Good awareness of circumstances. Knows individuals. Improved communication and response to questions. Able to eat and drink mostly without assistance. Use of cutlery. Left and right hands in use. Regular right leg movement. Still incontinent. Can be out of bed fully aided for reasonable periods.

5.5 Awareness of circumstances. Knows individuals but may not remember names. Improved communication and some response to questions but confused. Able to eat and drink with limited assistance. Some use of cutlery. Left and right hands in use. Some right leg movement. Still incontinent. Can be out of bed in chair for reasonable periods.

5 Basically aware. Recognises individuals. Some yes/no ability to basic questions. Eating and drinking with assistance or finger feeding. Still incontinent. Able to be out of bed fully aided for short periods. Awake during the day (odd naps) and asleep at night. Left arm/hand in use. Left leg mobile. Right leg active. Right arm/hand in some use. Generally comfortable and not concerned/upset/scared.

4.5 Basically aware. Some consistent recognition of individuals. Left side mobility only. Limited response to questions. Eating and drinking with assistance. Still incontinent. Sleeping consistently at night and parts of day. Generally comfortable and not concerned/upset/scared.

4 Not aware. Limited or no recognition of individuals. Left side mobility only. Very limited or no response to questions. Eating and drinking only with assistance. Incontinent. Sleeping consistently at night and during the day. Generally comfortable and not concerned/upset/scared.

3 Medically challenged. Aware of assistance being given but not necessarily by whom. Poor or no eating and drinking. Full welfare assistance. No regular arm/leg movement.

2 Seriously medically compromised.

1 I don’t want to know the criteria for this level!