Wednesday, Karen and Natalie went over to Seaham for a physio session with Steve. It was Steve’s opportunity for him to explain to Natalie all the exercises Karen needs to do to stop her upper left side from stiffening up. That went very well, and she came home with some equipment to aid this process.

Wednesday night, Karen had a bath, and her mood dropped like a lead weight to rock bottom. We couldn’t work out why   We decided to sleep on it, but in the morning, she felt no better and we were both concerned that it could be the start of another bout of low mood or depression and after such a good run, neither of us wanted that.

Fortunately, thursday we had the 2 perfect appointments for the dip in mood – the psychologist (a.m.) and the psychiatrist (p.m.). We went to Gosforth to see the psychologist. She asked what had changed and the only things we could think of were the 2 appointments today (both brain oriented) and that they may take her back (in her head) to unhappier times, or that Veronica (our good friend) hadn’t been in touch and we were both concerned about her and if she was ok.  The psychologist thought it unlikely to be either of those scenarios and thought it may just be an off day. “We all get them”. She thought that this was unlikely to be a long bout of low mood or a return of the depression, because it came on so suddenly.

What she said rang true with us, but at the same time, it didn’t help Karen. But, she suggested leaving it a few days and calling her this coming week if it hadn’t improved. We tentatively agreed.

Karen didn’t feel up to making the trip to Hexham to see the psychiatrist, so I rang him to arrange for a phone session, which he kindly obliged. Without prompting, he said the same as the psychologist, in that it was unlikely to be a long term thing, given the speed of the onset. So, feeling no better, we crossed our fingers and had an early night in the hope things would look rosier the next day.

I got Karen up in time to have a shower before Natalie got here, and she was in 2 minds whether to get back to bed, or get going with the day. She’d had a really bad night’s sleep the night before. Both would have made her feel better, but she couldn’t decide which direction to go. It really was 50:50. So, we let the iphone decide. I have a little application on my phone that makes a decision for you. And it said “Yes”, get going with the day, and it did the trick.

By the end of the day out with Natalie, Karen was feeling a lot better, and we hope it was just an off day. The girls had already arranged to go for some pampering at Whickham Villa. Unfortunately, the masseuse had called in sick, but the girls filled that slot with some shopping at Sainsburys. Karen enjoyed a nice float in the flotation tank. She was fast asleep when Natalie went back in when Karen’s hour was up. I find that very hard to believe

The girls then went into the Hydrotherapy pool for 30-45 minutes to do some limbering exercises and Karen came back feeling so much better. Great

Saturday (yesterday), Karen had already arranged to go and see her sisters over in Middlesbrough. They have a sister’s day once a year where they all get together, and Natalie came to take her over, and Karen really enjoyed it. There is talk of it being a monthly thing instead, which would be great for kp

Karen was gagging for today. A day when she can lie-in and just chill with her home’y (me). I was under instructions not to wake her up until she woke up naturally. Her sleep has not been too great this week generally, so she was eager to catch up. We can rule out sleep as being the low mood cause, because it had been fine up until then. So, when she did get up (about 11am), we made the most of the day and went dog walking straight off, for a lovely walk, after some horrendous weather overnight. So, good day so far.

We are trying to get a holiday booked for sometime in the near(ish) future. Egypt is the destination we are aiming for, but I detest trying to get the thing arranged, ‘cos it takes SOOOOO long. Far too much choice on t’internet.

So, good week overall, with a scary middle !

Busy week coming up. Pain in control with another reduction in the fentanyl patches coming this week. Sleep 8x better than previously, but a bit of a dip compared to recent weeks. Mood remains good, with a bit of a dip midweek. So, fingers crossed for a good week coming up !