Action Packed Day – I just hope I can remember it all.

Good Night’s Sleep followed by a full breakfast.

Bedbath, Sheet Change, Dressings Change done nearly perfectly apart from :-

• One moment where I tried to move a sheet and caused kp a lot of pain on her head. I would have been hit had I been on the side with the good arm. Must remember this for whenever we have an argument – always be on her left side.
• Ripped part of kp’s nightie as I tried to pull it from beneath her. I actually don’t have a problem with this as it is only the frilly edges that make the ripping noise (not the nightie itself, which is fine). They shouldn’t make nighties that can’t be pulled from underneath someone without ripping. Simple !

We had about an hour’s worth of snooze and at about 11am, the 3 amigos arrived (Physios). Today Karen was going to do her sitty up maneuvre, which she was a bit worried about as she didn’t want to do any worse than the last time, i.e. she wanted to see an improvement.

Well, she has improved. It was wonderful, really wonderful, to see Karen’s BEAMING smile as, after 10 minutes worth of exercises to make her supple, kp could sit in the upright position unaided !!! By that, I mean they put her in that position and then the main physio just kept one finger pushed in her back, so he could detect if she was losing balance. She was thrilled. I was thrilled. All the time, kp was looking down at the floor to keep her balance or if she dared, straight ahead. So then, the main physio asked her to look at me (I was 90′ to her left), and slowly and surely she turned her head (maintaining her balance) until she was nearly looking at me. She did the same maneuvre to her right and eventually could turn her head all the way to me. She had such a big smile on.

Now, could it get any better than that ? You better believe it !! Because Karen’s chair is kaput, they had been given the go-ahead to try the hoist. It was felt her pelvis/hips would handle that ok by the orthopods. If kp can manage the hoist, she can have a real bath, real shower, and sit in a real chair !!!! So we wheeled her bed into the ward bathroom as her room doesn’t have a hoist in. And within minutes, this was the spectacle :-

Minutes later :-

The hoist has opened up lots of possibilities for Karen whilst on the ward, so we are really looking forward to them !!

Some rooms have a hoist built-in, some don’t. Karen’s doesn’t. But, within 30 minutes of kp managing the hoist ok, we had a new room for Karen allocated. It’s private (again!), own bathroom, and has a hoist built-in. She is moving this afternoon. For visitors, it is a lot closer to the main door. It is the room next to the nurses station, so she should be able to get all the gossip from the nurses’ chatter. If she can’t hear them, she’ll no doubt shout for them to speak up a bit !!

That’s all for now….oh, one more thing !

Marie and I saw kp’s x-ray of her bottom part of her torso. It is amazing to see all the screws she has and the plates. I got the ok to take a photo, but no sooner had I got the camera out, the doctor had put it away !!

She has 2 long screws in either side of each hip. And a plate running from one side of her pelvis to the other. It looks like a lot of rings linked together (more than a flat plate) and from this plate are about 12 screws heading downwards into the pelvis. Amazing !

That really is all for now, apart from a treat for bloggers (courtesy of Gillian (from the Shetlands) who visited on Sunday). Here are some photos she brought of Karen and other family members from earlier years !!

When Flares were in !

Quite a few of the family plus kp

Marie already giving kp a hard time !

Forgot to say the bed move is happening this afternoon. Spare a thought for Marie putting up 110+ cards on kp’s new walls.

Also….I received a very special surprise for Karen this afternoon. All being well, I will post more about this tonight.

dp

Karen is now happily in Room 2 on Ward 22. It is next to the kitchen and the nurses’ station and is a much more central location ! Lots more activity, but still quiet if the door is shut.

The orthopod doctor has analysed the x-rays and to stop the bum cheek wound healing he has advised a certain type of dressing to be applied to kp’s wound. If you imagine the wound to be one that you could stick your finger into, out of which comes loads of gunk, you wouldn’t be too far wrong. The dressing that has been applied is like loft insulation in rope format, and this has been inserted into kp’s wound to stop it healing up, allowing the gunk to flow out. The rope comes quite a bit out of kp, and it looks like a bit of touchpaper on a firework. But apparently, we are not supposed to light it, tempting though it may be.

The new room feels like home already. Marie has put all the cards up and everything is in the same relative position as the last room, which is great, as I get very easily disoriented. Until you look outside the room, you wouldn’t know it’s a different room.

kp was kn-ckered tonight. She had been down for a number of different x-rays. These had been ordered by the orthogod that is Mr Cross (from Sunderland). Lots of different and painful angled x-rays to ascertain how well kp is healing. Any movement on kp tonight was painful. I am pleased that her usual comfy position is still comfy so she should sleep ok.

The exciting news of the day is that I received a parcel at home tonight that contained a letter and cd from David Lodge. He is the chap that bought the Acorn Antiques tickets off ebay and sent an Acorn Antiques programme. He also said he would be sending something else that might cheer kp up, knowing she likes the musical Les Miserables. Well, he came up trumps and we are very grateful for his efforts and those of his Amateur Dramatic thespian friends. They had sent a specially compiled cd for Karen consisting of :-

A nice intro
A Les Miserables special
A “thousand years” lovely song (that suits mine and kp’s situation beautifully) and
“Over the Rainbow” which Karen really likes.

All of the above are SUCH a kind gesture and we both REALLY enjoyed hearing all your efforts. When I played them to Karen, we both had tears in our eyes at different points. We both laughed at the “Les Mis” twist, but felt a great deal of love when listening to the “thousand years” song.

Thank you SO much David, Gary, Gina and Mike !!!! You have brought a great deal of joy to us both !!!

Here is David’s Letter :-

Here are the songs they sent on the cd. Enjoy !
The Intro on the CD
The Les Miserables Twist
The Poignant Song
Over the Rainbow

Karen was fast asleep by 6.45pm tonight after a very eventful day.