The day with the Disco Dancing

When I arrived at the hospital today, Karen was extremely perky and very awake. She greeted me in true kp fashion.

kp:- “Good Morning. I have been disco dancing.”

The cd was playing by kp’s bedside and it was playing disco songs from the ’70s.

kp:- “We have been dancing”.

Apparently, the nurses had been making kp laugh by dancing to the 70′s music. kp had been doing the movements with her right hand and moving both her feet in time to the music.

She had a new trick up her sleeve that she was very keen to share with me.

kp (to the physio) :- “Tell David what I can do”
Physio :- “Karen can lift her left leg up.”

Sure enough with the physio guiding kp’s left leg (stroke side), she was making all the effort and the leg was rising under kp’s control.

It was amazing to see a previously dead weight of a leg once again under kp’s control albeit with very limited movement.

Karen has a very bad wound on the back of her head and a couple of scars on the sides. But the wound of the back of the head has required that the nurses cut away a lot of Karen’s hair at the back so that the dressing can protect the wound without coming loose. One of the nurses who Karen refers to as the gaffer, has arranged for kp to have a haircut tomorrow by one of the auxiliaries who is also a qualified hairdresser. kp is REALLY looking forward to that.

The Knickers Fiasco !

Karen had asked me to bring in some of her cotton knickers. Well, I thought all knickers were cotton so picked up a couple of pairs and brought them in. They weren’t cotton, they were probably wool or something ! But the Queen wasn’t happy. So Marie said she would buy her some new all-cotton knickers. So in comes Marie this morning with a 6-pack of knickers. They were all cotton all right !!!! They were also all thong !!! Marie, in her keenness to ensure all cotton had mistakenly got thongs. Not really hospital wear !

kp was amused !! Maybe we’ll crack the knickers situation tomorrow.

As per usual, I read out everyone’s comments from the blog and kp is very grateful for all the comments and texts she receives and specifically asked me to thank everyone. She was particularly amused by Mark’s comments equating Karen’s hard resolve to the hardness of the veggy sausages she cooked for him. If Karen’s resolve is half as hard as those sausages, she will be out of hospital next week !

The move to Ward 3 may happen tomorrow (thursday) – slim chance but possible. Karen is not looking forward to this and is quite anxious about being moved, what with all the new faces and the reduced level of nursing (1 nurse to 12 patients instead of 1 to 1 in ICU).

Marie and Michelle visited this afternoon and all 3 sisters enjoyed a boogie to 70′s music. I managed to get a bit of phone video footage of kp’s boogie action. And yes, that is Karen singing in the background. I used the word “singing” very loosely.

Try this 1st
Try this 2nd
Try this 3rd
Try this 4th
Thanks to Nigel for hosting this segment of video. One of these links should work on your machine. Try from the top down. They are all the same video clip.

kp really enjoyed the light relief.

She then asked for “Over the Rainbow” to be played (the Eva Cassidy version). I had a copy on my phone and played it to her, and within 30 seconds, she was in tears. It’s a beautiful rendition of Over the Rainbow and kp knows I want it played at my funeral. Once kp started, the tears spread, Marie, then Michelle, and I was on tissue duty.

That reminds me that I had kp crying again earlier before Michelle and Marie arrived. I asked kp if she wanted me to read out the blog entry from yesterday (the blog itself). I have done this before and kp cried and I am annoyed that I did it again even though kp said to read it out. We got half way and then it was time for tears and hugs. I will not do it again until she is well down the rehab road.

I do really enjoy some private time with kp. And the close family that can visit at the moment are very understanding of this. Thanks.

We even had some tears from one of the lovely nurses (Dawn) who started crying when she was reading the blog on the computer on the ward. She kindly said that the blog had given her a better understanding of the patient’s and relative’s view of ICU.

I rang kp a few minutes ago to wish her “Good Night”. She was upset because today is Lee’s birthday. Lee was kp’s nephew and he died of leukaemia a couple of years ago (aged 18). Kp ALWAYS visits lee’s gravestone to lay some flowers, but today she couldn’t. I know Marie (Lee’s mam) understands, but kp was understandably upset that Lee wasn’t here and that she couldn’t do her bit.

Let’s end on some highs.

Kp did some more “hold the belly” laughing today. We have some good friends who have a daughter called Megan who is very bright for her age. She is about 2 or 3 (sorry Mark/Tracy). But Mark and Tracy do this little game with her where they say a word such as “Fandooblydom”, and ask Megan what it means. Megan replies “It doesn’t mean anything”, but she says it in such a lovely way that kp and I have always found it very funny.

Well, something came up today (forgot what), and the phrase “it doesn’t mean anything” was a pertinent answer which kp gave in the style of Megan. We laughed, kp laughed holding her stomach.

Another good bit of news!

The consultant Catherine instructed the nurses to switch off all Karen’s monitors, as it was felt she didn’t need to be monitored any more. Yipppeeee ! Vicky made a bit of a ceremony of it, but unfortunately only I could see the symbolism as they are behind kp. But thanks Vicky. It is another step in the right direction.

Karen’s eyesight has deteriorated quite a bit as I mentioned earlier, but she has made up for it tenfold in the hearing department. So, a warning to visitors. If you whisper, it will be heard. Kp can hear a pin drop in the next ward.

Marie has agreed to coordinate visiting. And I know Karen is keen to see as many people who can visit as possible. So, we are going to divide up visiting times into hour slots in the next few days, and people can ring Marie (phone number to be provided over the next day or so) to arrange a time to visit so she is not overtaxed by 10 people by her bed. We will post more details when we know she is on the Stroke Ward (Ward 3).

Thanks again for reading and the messages of support. They really do touch Karen. I don’t know if I have said this before, but she really doesn’t understand why so many people have supported her with texts and blog comments.

She’s a star.

dp