Well, bad start to the week, but good week overall, with a bit of a physical downer at the end.

Monday and we were both a bit glum in the morning – a bad start to the day. Karen was due to go to South Shields for a drive out and some lunch, but in the end kp didn’t fancy it and went to the gym instead (with Nat). Turned into a good day by the end. She’s keeping a food diary to illustrate her poor appetite. I won’t put it in every week, but will for this week as an example of what she’s eating

(10am Bran Flakes, 1.30pm Tea/3 biscuits, Banana, 6pm Small portion of Pasta with Tomato Sauce)

Monday night was a great night’s sleep, SO GOOD, that Karen had a bad back the following day.

Tuesday and the order of the day was a trip to the Psychologist (with me). It was quite a teary session. Discussed was Karen’s low self-esteem, and how she tends to feel that she’s unattractive. Jane does a good job of trying to pick kp up out of the negative thinking so associated with depression. By the end of the session, she had tried to get Karen to accept that her thoughts and feelings tended to be both wrongly negative because of the clinical depression. She may feel that she’s unattractive, but if she asked people around her, they’d tell her she IS NO less attractive than before the accident. So, her thoughts and feelings weren’t in sync, typical of depression.

So, psychologist’s orders….She has to say to herself…..

kp:- I may feel less attractive (part of the depression, negative feelings), but everyone is telling me I am no less attractive, so I must think I am no less attractive than before the accident. My feelings and thoughts are out of sync because of the depression. It is my feelings that are wrong. My thoughts are right

I had a devil of a time trying to explain this to Karen after the session, ‘cos it hadn’t properly sunk in. But hopefully, now I have regurgitated it in the blog, when she reads it, it will make sense to her.

So, good session despite the tears and upset. Snooze was the order of the day when we returned. They are always very tiring – lots of thinking.

I did a full Roast Chicken with all the trimmings, but kp felt nauseous and had no appetite. The dogs were happy though.

(11.30am Bran Flakes, 6pm Tea/3 biscuits, offered Roast Chick (all trimmings), felt nauseous, no appetite)

Wednesday (day off) and Karen had arranged to get her hair and nails done in time for the holiday next week. She was having a colour put in, and this hard stuff took off her nails. It’s all very complicated to a man, but it’s something she wanted done, and of course, they looked great.

In the afternoon, the highlight of my week, she made a loaf of Parmesan and Sun-dried Tomatoes bread (with Nat). It was absolutely gorgeous. Best load of bread I have ever had. We all loved it. Karen and Nat had a bit (to try it), and Adele and I pretty much scoffed the whole loaf the following day. Mmmmmmmmmm !

(10am Bran Flakes, 1 apple, 1 banana, Chip Butty and 3 pieces of Fillet Steak for tea)

Thursday and it was double physio and this is where the “Physical Downer” comes in. Karen had asked Steve to get some aims set up, and one of the ones she wanted to achieve was to improve her walking, so she doesn’t appear to walk with a hemiparetic gait. To do this, Steve had her on the floor, lifting her legs in the air, and her bum in the air. Little did any of us know, that this is not a move that suits kp. She was in LOTS of pain later that day, and was taking morphine and codeine for the pain to get her through the night. Of course, with those tablets, comes the increased anxiety over constipation, so she has to up the anti-constipation tablets to counter them (codeine being a worse offender than morphine). Thankfully, this didn’t become a problem, but the pain persisted until today (Sunday)   She won’t be trying to correct her hemiparetic gait again !

After physio and a lunch out with Nat, they went shopping for some small containers of cosmetics. We are going to Egypt for (just short of) 2 weeks next week and need to keep the weight down so I can take all my diving stuff. So, kp come up with the idea of mini-deodorants, mini hand-creams etc etc….Success on the shopping trip.

Pain Meds were reduced today also. Gabapentin down from 200mg (3x a day), to 100mg (3x a day). Nice one.

Thursday night was a bit weird. She drank some orange juice and within 2 minutes, was projectile vomiting in the bathroom. Karen is not phased at being sick at all. I would need to be held down and have psychological counselling for a week after throwing up, but she takes it in a stride. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of Karen vomiting and not being able to kneel in front of the loo, is that her aim wasn’t assured. Needless to say, there was a “BIT” of cleaning upto do, but I’d much rather clean it up, than “BE” vomiting !

(7.15am Bran Flakes, 2 bits of Caramel Bar, Cheesecake)

Friday and kp was still in lots of pain after the physio. Her mood dipped with the pain. Nat and kp had planned to go to the Metro Centre to get some last minute holiday shopping, but there’s no way she could have made it round there. The wheelchair was suggested by Natalie, but kp hates it, and only puts up with it at the airport because she has to. So, Natalie was sent home and we did the bath routine to ease the pain. She sat the rest of the day out, watching tv etc….It was the right thing to do.

(Bran Flakes and Roast Ham/Chips for tea)

Saturday and the pain was still there, enough that I walked the dogs alone and it was a chilled out Saturday night with Pizza, but it did the trick with Sunday Karen feeling much better (pain-wise)

(Bran Flakes and Pizza on the night (8inch Chicken Kiev))

Sunday – good day today. We walked the dogs in the morning. And it was the first sign of Spring. Lovely sunshine, but cold with it in the breezy Westerly winds. And a snooze followed with Dancing on Ice tonight.

So, good week overall, with some sad moments. We are both looking forward to some sun in Egypt and we are both crossing our fingers (so much) that Karen may be able to come on a short dive. Blogging from Egypt may be tricky, but with a bit of luck, I may be able to do daily or (at least) weekly updates. It passes the time, when kp is fagging it.