Karen hadn’t had a good night sleep due to a combination of frequent bowel movements and an inability to get comfy.

This morning was not a good morning for kp. One of the night staff hadn’t helped matters by leaving kp feeling like she was a burden.

kp:- “Can I be moved onto my back ?”
NightStaff Member :- “You’ve just been moved 10 minutes ago”

I suggested discussing this with the Ward Sister, but kp felt that the night staffmember concerned wasn’t the kind of person who would respond well to criticism. Instead Karen is going to approach a member of the night staff she gets on well with and see if she can solve the problem in a round about way.

She had a good breakfast. I read out various blog comments and a letter from my Auntie Sue, which kp appreciated. In the letter Auntie Sue mentioned how much she would like to meet Mrs Overall. We know what you mean Auntie Sue, we are very fond of her also !! She is a little eccentric but VERY lovable.

Lots of tears this morning. I think the night incidents left Karen very aware of how reliant she is on others and brought home how disabled she is at the moment.

kp:- “I just want to be able to turn myself in my bed, walk to the loo…”
She then looked at a photo of herself, myself and our niece Sophie on the hospital wall
kp:- “At least on that photo I was just overweight…..”

For the first time she felt angry towards the driver of the offending vehicle.

The physio came in in the middle of the tears to measure kp up for a wheelchair. She was very considerate and offered to come back at a better time, but I asked her what she wanted. When she told kp :-

kp (in tears) :- I don’t want to be in a wheelchair, I want to walk !!

It’s hard in the blog to get across how down she felt this morning and how upset she was. I complimented her on how well she is doing and the fact that it was amazing that she hadn’t had more moments like this. But nothing I could say could really help. She needs to cry sometimes and readjust her thoughts as to her predicament and today was one of those days.

She instructed me to continue with the bedbath as per usual which I did, but it was quite sad to see her washing her face, cleaning her teeth and crying at the same time.

By the time the bedbath had finished, she had stopped crying and was ready for a snooze.

But no time for a snooze, one of the nurses came in to redress some wounds. Then the doctor to discuss Karen’s pain medication which kp had requested be upped. He also gave her a good counselling session about her situation. He’s great this Doctor by the way, very naturally concerned about his patients. He asked if she wanted to thump anyone. He was standing on karen’s weak arm side, I was standing by the possible thumping arm and told the Doctor this. It got a smile from kp.

The Doctor also said at one point :-

Doctor :- “You know Karen, you also have Yewt on your side” (Youth)

Nothing was said about this at the time, but afterwards, I was giving kp a pepp talk and threw in :-

“And you also have Yewt on your side”

Smile No. 2 in the bag !

No lunch for kp. She really wasn’t in the mood for it. In fact she only stayed in the chair for 30 minutes. I didn’t argue with her on either point ‘cos I knew where she was psychologically at that moment.

I hoisted her back into bed and got her comfy and she was out like a light.

The consultant came not long after and agreed about upping the Fentanol Patch to 75mg to ease the pain.

This afternoon or this evening, Mr Cross and Mr Nanu (from Sunderland) should be coming over to check kp’s pelvic progress. This should be interesting.

kp had fallen asleep immediately on my departure and hadn’t woke up until 5 minutes after my return. Poor Marie Again !!!

We have got to the bottom of why kp has had a bad couple of days. It is because someone had forgot to change kp’s Fentanol Patch. This is the morphine-based patch that gives constant pain relief. Coincidentally yesterday, I had asked kp if they had changed it recently and she said they had, but I suspect for kp it is very hard to keep track of time and every 3 days is a hard period of time to keep track of. Anyway it has been changed now, and she seemed to feel the benefit later tonight. The Sister was very apologetic about it, but we made it clear we understand that mistakes will happen from time to time.

Mr Cross came tonight. He was very very nice and frank. Here are the facts as I can recall them :-

• kp will need another operation to the back pin site (the deep one) to clear out the gunk and check all is ok. It is a minor op and can be done at gateshead.
• kp won’t be able to walk for another 6 weeks as the pelvis isn’t sufficiently healed, but he has given the ok for her to be able to stand for a few seconds at a time.
• He said it is important to get kp playing more of an important role in moving from the bed to the chair. They are going to get a banana board (?!) and try to get her to move herself.
• We mentioned the problems with kp sitting up for more than an hour at a time. He told us how normal this was for pelvic op people and that the medium term fix was extra padding (pillows etc)
• He said as soon as kp has mastered the banana slide, she could go home. But then the sister came in and was a little more pragmatic and said although she COULD go home, it would be better for her to stay here so they can provide the rehabilitation that she needed. kp was ok with this.
• He got kp to lift her legs one by one and told the Sister that they need to be stronger and suggested exercise with sandbags on her feet to build strength.

That’s all I can recall. He was great and we felt positive after he left.

Tommy and Eileen (our neighbours) visited again tonight. I was concerned this morning that kp wouldn’t have the energy for visitors and even suggested postponing them given her state at the time, but kp wouldn’t have any of it, and wanted the visit to go ahead. It was a good decision as she really enjoyed their company.

After that, we watched the telly for a bit, seeing the death toll of the London Transit bombings rise to 37, and then I heard snoring.

See you in the morning love.

dp
xxxxx

Important bit of additional news I have forgot to add in !!

Karen has MRSA in her bottom cheek pin wound (the one that’s oozeing a lot). Nothing to worry about at the moment. I don’t think it is anything to worry about unless it gets into the bloodstream. Betina (friend of my mum) has provided multiple links to creams that combat MRSA, but unfortunately we can’t apply them to wounds.