Not a good night’s sleep and didn’t feel too bright this morning.

Did the usual Breakfast / Bedbath thing routine, but we delayed the bedbath until all her dressings were changed. It took quite a while for a nurse to be free and for the nurse in question to change the dressings as she had not done Karen before and was not familiar with her wounds. This made me start thinking that I could do the dressings myself. I have seen it done that many times and often the nurses ask me how did the previous nurse do the dressing. They are looking into whether I can do this or not. Looks hopeful.

This blog wouldn’t be complete without mentioning an incident today which made kp, myself and some of the staff laugh. I am going to be vague about people here purposely. We met a member of staff who kp and I both agreed was the Mrs Overall of Nursing.

I will relate a couple of incidents :-

1. This person was talking to me and walked into a walk-in cupboard. The door was an automatic door which shut behind her. I could hear her muffled speech still. She was still talking to me. This carried on for quite a few seconds, enough time for me to tell kp what was happening and for me then to open the cupboard door to see the person walking out still talking to me completely unaware what had just happened with the door. kp had big smiles.

2. This person was doing something for Karen and the person had some assistance from some colleagues. The person was discussing what he/she was doing on Karen and it was clear that he/she was not very sure about how to do it correctly. Karen had a big beam of a smile and the nurses could see kp had sussed the person out and were smiling back. I was holding back the laughter.

There was more, but I think any more would make it obvious to whom I was referring and I don’t want to offend anyone.

At 12pm we got kp in the chair, and took her outside in the shade. It was lovely. After 20 minutes, she wanted to go back in as her cocchyx was starting to hurt. She had lunch, not enough in my opinion. I made the point to her, and she wasn’t happy about me making the point. Marie is going to try a more tempting approach this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Out of Sorts
Karen slept a lot of the afternoon. She was a bit out of sorts and the best place to be was asleep, not Wimbledon.

Physio
The physio came round, but didn’t want to disturb her beauty sleep. The physio session went fine when he returned later in the afternoon.

Food
Marie had persuaded kp to have some snacks on the afternoon. They probably made up for small breakfast/lunch portions. I would have liked to see her polish off a full evening meal. She had a full bowl of soup and 1/4 of a portion of mince and dumplings.

Tomorrow lunch is Fish and Chips so she should polish that off.

New Bed
kp is excited that she is getting a new bed (another one). The current one is a gel bed that forms to your body, but it has allowed a body sore to appear on her rump where one of the fixators was. The next bed is like the one she had in Intensive Care. It pumps air to different parts so it is effectively always support her in different places.

Visitors
Eileen and Tommy (our neighbours) visited this evening. kp had a really good chat with them and it seemed to be the best bit of her day. Eileen and Tommy have been very kind to kp and I over the years, and especially helpful to me while kp has been out of action. Eileen has been letting the dogs out for us frequently during the worst times of kp’s battle and more recently inviting me for Sunday lunch. Thanks Eileen/Tommy !!!

Thanks
I should take a moment to thank everyone for all their support. People have helped in so many different ways, from

• the cards they have sent Karen (103 in total, hey I get bored !)
• the presents they have brought
• the time they have given
• for reading the blog and posting comments to encourage kp
• for keeping kp amused
• for caring for kp

I am so very grateful to everyone who has done any of the above. kp has such a positive attitude at the moment and I feel sure part of it is down to the wonderful support she has received !

My best mate and his wife invited me to their barbecue tonight. Nigel promised me a scabby sausage. We laughed. I attended. But that’s what was served alright !!

All joking aside, thanks Nige and Terry

It was lovely

dp