Archive for June 3rd, 2005

Day 35 – Thursday 2nd June – Addendum

There’s a couple of things I forgot to mention about yesterday. I can only remember one of them. :-(

The one I can remember relates to a visit we had from Karen Lax’s husband and daughter. Karen Lax was next to Karen in the Intensive Care Unit. She was a little older than Karen but similar in many ways, very loving husband and family, big Donny Osmond Fan and you might recall both Karen’s were due to see Donny Osmond in concert in September 2005.

We got quite close to the family and enjoyed hearing each other’s progress.

Sadly, Karen Lax died in Intensive Care. Marie arranged for a card to be sent to the family to say how sorry we are that Karen didn’t make it. Today, Karen’s husband and daughter came in to see how Karen was doing, which was so nice of them. Karen’s husband was understandably still upset and this made the visit so much more special. Thank you !!!

They brought with them a card and a Donny Osmond photo that Karen Lax had. This is now on Karen’s wall.

Thank you.

You are all in our thoughts.

Day 36 – Friday 3rd June

Not too much to report today. Marie was on the early and she reported that the consultant, dietician and tissue viability nurse had been in.

The dietician, aware that kp enjoyed soups, had advised that if kp wasn’t eating very much she could have buildup soups. Nutrional soups by Nestle with additional vitamins etc…

The consultant didn’t say much of note.

The tissue viability nurse had advised that kp’s head wound needed redressing and swabbing. Ditto for her groin wounds where the X-Fix was that kept her pelvis together in the early stages. I have seen all of these wounds. The head wound (at the back) is a big head wound and is looking a lot healthier that in the early days when it was one green mass. It is like a big crater, probably 10cm x 10cm, but is now showing signs of healing. I don’t think she will need surgery on this now. This needs daily redressing as it weeps a lot.

Her wounds where they inserted the metal rods for the X-fix are deep. You could probably put your finger in and if you pushed hard enough see it coming out of the other side of her body. So far, I have resisted the temptation. But I get bored easily, so expect a photo soon of me passing a piece of string through kp’s front, coming out of the back of her body.

That will be pay-per-view only ! ;-)

The head wound is still infected with MRSA and we still have to go through the rigmarole of barrier nursing (gown and gloves) which is frankly a pain-in-the-$rse. Mum’s cream arrived in the post today (the MRSA cure). I asked the nurse if we could apply it, and she said she would look into it. She hadn’t heard of it, but when I left tonight she was busy researching it on t’internet.

Veronica (kp’s friend from London) arrived today. She had been dying to see kp for ages, but couldn’t because of infection control in ICU. Also, Mark (from Southampton) and Margaret from Middlesbrough visited. kp was pleased to see all of them, but was too tired for any conversations of note. Poor Tracy and Lee (kp’s workmates) also visited, but kp hardly woke up at all during their visit. I am sure it is nothing personal Lee and Tracy ! :-)

kp has been in a LOT of pain today. She had a physio session this morning and was in tears this afternoon with the pain left from the physio.

She had 2 Tramadol for the pain and tonight had a double-dosage Fentanol Patch put on (double the dose of the last one).

This seemed to ease things.

When everyone left, kp was kn+ckered and was boiling hot, so I gave her a bedbath which exhausted her further, changed her nightie, sheets etc…with the help of a nurse and I left her very settled.

She should sleep like a baby because of the tiring day and the drugs she took before I left.

Let’s end with a vaguely humourous moment. Tommy and Eileen (our wonderful neighbours) lost Tommy’s mum last week, yesterday was the funeral. Eileen has been brilliant and has been letting the dogs out for us. Well, yesterday, I came home during the middle of the mam’s wake, and Eileen rushed to the fence to give me some food from the gathering. I am not a fan of cakes, so took the cake in to Karen to see if she might like it with a cup of tea.

Shortly after I arrived, I said to Karen :-

dp:- Karen, do you fancy a bit of cake from Tommy’s Mam’s wake ?

Veronica just laughed and commented on how appetising that sounded ?!

It was funny at the time.







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