I went in to see Isobel at a quarter to five. She was half asleep but woke up when I manipulated her right arm. I left finger manipulation until later. The neck was about the same as yesterday. Isobel ate a couple of squares of chocolate.

I read a few pages of Isobel's book to her, we chatted about it but Isobel talked much less than yesterday, most of her responses were single words. For tea Isobel had ham sandwiches and fed herself the first three, holding the sandwich in her left hand. I fed her the fourth sandwich as her hand seemed to be getting tired. I also fed her trifle and cream for desert. She had some tea to drink, she needed reminding to swallow it, and then had a couple more squares of chocolate. After a couple more minutes Isobel had a sip of tea. When she had another sip she started to choke and to my surprise coughed a large amount of chocolate that she had been holding in her mouth over herself and the bedclothes. It appears that although the chocolate had been eaten several minutes earlier, Isobel had not swallowed it. After I had cleaned up Isobel she finished drinking her tea but needed reminding to swallow each mouthful. Then we watched the second half of the African Cup of Nations. Isobel was very passive and said little although she seemed to vaguely follow the game and my comments.

Dallas and Mike dropped in at a quarter past six, on the way home after a visit to the Victoria and Albert museum. While we chatted, Isobel said nothing despite our attempts to include her in the conversation. I thought Isobel seemed much worse than usual, but Dallas said that she had been even less responsive the last time they had seen her. Mike kindly got involved in re-configuring my mobile 'phone and it was I think after half seven before they left. Isobel had her evening mug of tea just after they left, I gave it to her using the spout on the beaker, she needed reminding to swallow after every mouthful but no problems arose.

Isobel did not want me to read any more of her book. I spent some time manipulating her arm, then I fed her some grapes. I worked for some time on her hand and fingers. Eventually I managed to fully straighten the second finger. Once it had been straightened, it became much easier to move and after a lot of manipulation the whole hand seemed to be less swollen (I don't know if this was self deception on my part). Isobel drank almost a full glass of blackcurrant cordial using a straw. The first two thirds were drunk very quickly, at the speed I would have expected a few weeks ago. The final third took five minutes. The doctor is seeing Isobel at about 3pm tomorrow. I finally left at almost half past eight, Isobel was very tired and probably fell asleep quickly.