Before they left UCLA Medical Centre, Pat's neurosurgeon, Dr Carton, suggested to Dahl that immediate and intense stimulation might be the best chance for her recovery; they should start speech therapy and mental rehabilitation right away. Not a single day must be lost. This was just what Dahl wanted to hear, that you could actually do something to take control of the outcome. Carton arranged for a speech therapist to visit Pat daily at home. Dahl asked Jean Alexander, the nurse in whom they had such confidence, to also come as often as she could. Plus of course there were many friends who popped by. Well-wishers continued to send cards and flowers, including Frank Sinatra, whose chauffeur delivered a portable gramophone and a stack of records.

Pat found some of the guests were hard work. The worst would talk nonstop, allowing her no time to digest what was being said; or they would speak to her like a baby, assuming that she was simple. The more visitors there were, the harder it was for her to follow. Trying to listen to two people was like watching a tennis game, and a roomful of guests was like being on a firing range, words shooting past like bullets.

‘Once in a while there would be a word I understood, and for a second I knew exactly what was being said. But before I could focus thoughts and trap words of my own, I would forget what I had heard.’

Pat learned that she could lean forward with her head at an angle, smile and nod occasionally, and everyone would assume she was taking it all in, though quite often she hadn't a clue who they were, let alone what they were talking about. Her best visitors would know intuitively when to talk, and when to shut up. The actress Anne Bancroft, who had previously been a rival for the top acting roles, and replaced Pat in Seven Women, now became a great friend. She visited often, and seemed to know instinctively when to hold back and give Pat a chance to speak a few words. Dahl described how Pat would watch his lips carefully. He would speak slowly: ‘Tessa’; she would try, fail, try again and eventually succeed.