Today has been an exhausting day for me personally. The back of my throat is really sore and swollen. A 6am awakening from the dogs this morning after a bad night’s sleep wasn’t the best start to the day. Couple that with our oven has packed in so hot food is a bit tricky. Sod’s law that it will pack in on the first day of a Bank Holiday Weekend when you can’t get anyone out for love nor money. I also decided to cut the grass (1.5 hours) as it was the first sunny day for weeks, but did so on an empty stomach. So, come 11pm tonight after leaving kp asleep, I was ready to hit the sack and knew I would go out like a light. I was in bed and had just switched the TV off, when………………..

Phonecall from kp at 11pm.

kp:- “David, I need you to come in.”
dp:- “What’s wrong love ?”
kp:- “I just need you to come in”
dp:- “Is there someone there ?”
kp:- “Yes”

Of course there was someone there. She can’t use the phone without help.

dp:- “I’ll be there in about 30 minutes.”

Something was up, I wasn’t sure what.

When I arrived, kp explained that she couldn’t get comfy at all, the buzzer had broken so she couldn’t call for help, and when she called by shouting, noone came. She was really fed up.

I was sceptical about the buzzer being broken, so I spoke to a nurse who confirmed it was and that an engineer was coming out. I even tested it myself. It was well and truly broke. An engineer did indeed come out and replaced it.

Karen was absolutely exhausted and dying to sleep. But she really couldn’t get comfy. The next 4 hours consisted of the following routine repeated every 5-10 minutes.

The routine
kp:- “David, I need moving”
dp:- “Which side love ?”
kp:- “I don’t KNOW”

1. Blanket Off
2. Sheets Off
3. Remove Back Support Blanket
4. Remove Leg Pillow (used for cushioning)
5. Lay Bed Flat
6. Check catheter tube won’t be blocked by intended move.
7. Move kp to correct pre-move place on bed (hard work on own) (if she is being moved onto left side, she needs to be as far right on the bed as possible)
8. Roll up Blanket ready to prop kp up
9. Position in safe reachable place so it doesn’t fall off during move.
10. Put Karen’s left arm (dead one) on her stomach and ask her to hold it
11. Place Pillow between legs at correct angle so it supports kp’s top leg after the move.
12. Do the move itself, which involves supporting kp’s whole back and bum with 2 arms.
13. dp:- “3-2-1″
14. The Move
15. kp:- “Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow”"
16. Position Back Support Blanket in back so she doesn’t roll flat on back.
17. Position Legs in cocked position so they are comfy.
18. Replace Sheets
19. Replace Top Blanket
20. “Is that ok ?”
21. “Yes”

At this point, I would go back to trying to get some sleep, which isn’t easy with 2 chairs, very little space and to compound this routine, it was barrier care still, so I was wearing a plastic pinny and latex gloves which make your hands sweat like hell. Well, they didn’t last long. After about 10 of these routines, I was telling MRSA to “Come and have a go, if you think you’re hard enough”. (No gloves, no pinny).

I dozed a couple of times, but it wasn’t sleep.

If I was getting frustrated, kp must have been going bonkers, yet she remained calm throughout. She didn’t raise her voice once. I better repeat that. She didn’t raise her voice once.

There was just no getting kp comfy. kp said I should get the nurses to try. So, 3 female nurses came in and did the routine. 5 minutes later, I was sent for a specific named nurse who had the knack of getting her comfy. He tried. 5 minutes later, I was instructed to recall the named nurse and tell him “one last try”, kp had an idea.

No Joy !

So, it was back to me to keep trying. I was so so tired. The turning routine which probably takes about 2-3 mins if you’re on form was starting to take longer and longer. I couldn’t remember what to do next. I would stand by the bed and look at what I had done and try and recall what the next step was. The longer it takes the more uncomfortable it is for Karen. But again she didn’t complain. We did get lots of “Ow”s. But never did she raise her voice. When I was getting to my most frustrated later on, I wanted to say “Look, you can’t get comfortable, go to sleep uncomfortable”, but instead I said “I love you” and gave her a kiss. I think kp secretly thinks I was saying the former at times as she thanked me a few times on the night for being there.

By about 3am, it was clear that moves weren’t working. kp was sick of being moved and uncomfortable and just wanted a sleeping tablet to put her out of it. I spoke to the nurse who said the only thing that would knock her out was “Tramazopal” (something like that), but that if she took it at this time, she would be asleep all day. kp said she still wanted it, so he checked with the Doctor, who reitereated what the nurse said. A few more turns, and 20 minutes later kp was “in agony”.

kp:- “I want some painkillers”

I got some painkillers from the nurse and 2 moves later at 4am, kp was sleeping like a baby. GOAL !!!!

I rang Marie and asked her to come in for 8am (I was on that shift) went home, hit the sack, and slept.

Hope she is feeling more settled today.

The day of the complaint
Marie was on early shift today and she took the opportunity to lodge an informal complaint with the Head Nurse on the Ward about the level of Karen’s care.

According to Marie, the Head Nurse concerned was very attentive and sincerely wanted to make things better and assured us he would have words with the main individual. Since this, Marie and I both felt that the care for Karen has definately improved. Let’s hope it is a sustained improvement.

Visit from ICU Outreach Staff
The Intensive Care Unit have a group of nurses who go out onto the wards to follow the Critical Care Patients for a few weeks after they have been in ICU. They visited Karen today, and it was Karen’s opportunity (with Marie assisting) to explain how poor her care had been at Ward 3. At times, she got upset during the conversation. They will take this back to the ICU ward so we may see some results from that.

General Health
kp was still lethargic today and hasn’t eaten as well as she could have. When we try and encourage her to eat, she reasserts that she isn’t a 5 year old. I won’t be pushing on this front again and may need to speak to a doctor/nurse to get them to have a word.

One of Karen’s wounds on the bottom of her back is weeping badly. It needed to be redressed twice today. This will not have been helped by the lack of turns she has been given. A new bed is on order for kp which will help alleviate bed sores, by changing pressure points every so often. She had one of these in ICU and it worked very well.

Visitors
Kevin visited today. He is the driver of the car that Karen was in. Karen was very pleased to see Kevin and vice-versa from what Marie told me. He will be off work for a few more months as his collarbone and ribs fix themselves. Kevin has some photos of the cars involved in the crash. Hopefully on his next visit, he will bring these and if I can I will post them on the blogsite.

Jane and Guy (my sister and brother-in-law) visited also. Karen really enjoyed their company and they brought with them a video of their 3 year old daughter (my niece) saying “Hello Karen. Hope you get well soon. I love you.” It was a bit prompted but this made it all the more funny and good to watch. We got a few smiles from kp out of that.

Karen then wanted to call her great-niece and nephew, which she promptly did. They were thrilled to hear from her.

Loves from Michelle
Karen was in need of a few hugs today. She didn’t particularly get upset but just wanted hugs. Karen doesn’t do hugs as a rule, and she is very choosy who she hugs, and Michelle was the chosen one today.

Not really much else to say today. The big fear for Karen and myself was that she would have another night like last night. To preempt this, Karen was put on a stronger sleeping tablet (Diazopam). I reassured her that this should do the trick and there was no need to be frightened etc….I stayed until she fell asleep and for a bit after. She was very asleep when I left, so, fingers crossed, she will get a really good night’s sleep.

Request for Visitors
Today was a good day overall and one of the reasons for this was a different set of visitors. So, if you would like to visit Karen, please contact Marie on 01642-284812 or 07961-346149 to arrange a time. We would love to see you. If Marie doesn’t answer, leave a message saying who you are, what time etc….

Boggett
Whilst I was trying to get Karen off to sleep tonight, she asked me to talk to her about nice things. I did the dogs, the garden, holidays. She started to get very sleepy and became quieter in voice and asked for me to tell her some more nice things. So I came up with some more. She became even more asleep. One of the last things she asked for was

kp:- Tell me some things about the Boggett.

She meant the blog !

Soon after, she was VERY asleep and didn’t stir whilst I made a racket arranging her buzzer, water etc…

Sleep well my love

dp
xxxxx