I went in to see Isobel at a quarter past five. Her file for recording food and drink intake had gone walkabout and the morning staff were not available so it was not until much later that that I found out what had happened earlier in the day. Isobel had eaten most of her bowl of porridge for breakfast, followed by yogurt and a pot of balanced supplement. She had however only had a few spoonfuls of her lunch.

I was surprised to find a radio playing at the head of Isobel's bed (especially as the television was also on!). A couple of hours later I found the explanation in a note from Pat Ball who had come to see Isobel this afternoon and left the radio playing classical music. This is a good and kind idea, but a surprising though consistent aspect of Isobel's illness has been that at an early stage she seemed to lose almost all interest in music. When traveling by car the only music Isobel expressed a preference for was the incidental music to the Lord of the Rings films and Nina Simone; she liked these played over and over again but then lost interest even in these.

Isobel's tea arrived just before half five. Eating was extremely slow and difficult with a lot of clenching of teeth. It took almost an hour to finish half the main course (which of course was cold by then)and about a quarter of a beaker of high energy drink; Isobel then fell soundly asleep.

I tried to wake her after an hour without success. After two hours I was able to wake her and she finished the drink very slowly. We moved on to the yogurt dessert and this was eaten slightly more quickly. During both stages of the eating and drinking Isobel was liable to minor coughing and spluttering. She was not able to speak at all today. Isobel was generally not very responsive but seemed to be comfortable most of the time. When she had finished the yogurt she fell very soundly asleep. I went home at twenty five to ten.