Awful Night
When I arrived at 8am this morning, Karen was fast asleep. This could mean 2 things. She had either had a cracking night sleep or an awful night sleep.

It was the latter.

She had been in agony overnight and in tears. The nurses were great and responded promptly to her buzzes. They discussed pain relief and Morphine was even mentioned as a possibility, but thankfully, they opted for Metadopperlopperforzymylinepopper (or something like that) which she is taking every 4 hours. We will see today if it does the trick. They have arranged a visit from the Pain Relief Nurse Specialist tomorrow to discuss suitable pain relief systems.

Oooooohhhh Matron
About 9am, the Matron and the Stroke Nurse came in to discuss the issues we had had over the weekend. They listened as I went through all the issues and then kp piped up that things were ok now and if things carry on as they were, there was no longer an issue.

Knackered dp
I was knackered for the visit today. Had slept through my 6am alarm. And today Karen asked if she asked me to stay the night would that be ok ? I said I would stay the night if at all possible but that I also need my rest. I explained that I was exhausted and that I need to be strong to be able to look after her on a night and not in my current state. I think she understood.

Physios
The physios came round today and did some exercises on Karen’s limbs. She has quite restricted movement of her left arm and hand (stroke side) and her right leg. Karen found the exercises painful, but this pain is necessary to stop the limbs ceasing up.

Some Laughs
Later in the morning, we enjoyed a few good laughs.

I have started recording (on my phone) key events of the day, because I have an awful memory. I speak into the phone and it records what I am saying.

After speaking something into the phone, Karen said :-

kp:- Alan Partridge

I laughed as did kp. (If you don’t know Alan Partridge, that won’t be funny to you)

Another laugh we had was when the physios were doing their thing. One of the physios was exercising her left arm and holding it skyward in the air.

kp:- “To infinity and beyond”

Lol !

Finally, I was explaining how bad the traffic was this morning, and how big the queues were. I mentioned that it would have took me a lot longer if I wasn’t on the motorbike.

kp:- Did you get your knee down ?

Well, this was so out of the blue, it floored me and I was giggling for ages.

Love you kp. See you in a few hours.

dp
xxxxx

PS – Here is a photo with Karen in her new head attire which aims to keep her bandage on the back of her head in place until they can shave her head later today.

Wee Willy Winky !

Not too much to report from the evening shift. Marie had done the day shift and she caught the consultants visit. She reported that kp may need an operation on her head to clean up the head wound. It does look awful.

Changing Rooms
Karen has changed rooms today. She is now in a larger private room. The other one was a little hard to navigate round. This one is much more roomy. Marie had the unenviable task of doing the move and had to move 60+ “Get Well” cards from the wall in the old room to the new. Shame I missed that job. Marie, you didn’t get them as straight as I had them in the old room.

When I arrived for the evening shift, Marie was like a woman possessed. She had been reborn as a cross between Hitler and Mother Theresa. I have never heard so many orders issued to me in such a short space of time, all in the best interests of kp, so I didn’t mind !

Visitors
My mum and dad visited this evening. Karen was not really in the mood for company today, and it was Mum and Dad that were the unlucky visitors. They thought she looked great compared to a week ago, but I could tell she wasn’t her usual chirpy self.

Pain Patch
kp has a patch on that lasts 3 days that gives her a constant supply of pain relief. It is much smaller than a nicotine patch and is transparent. It looks like the kind of thing they stick on Oranges. In fact, I think it may well be. They are probably doing it cheap and just hoping for the placebo effect.

Tired Eyes
Karen was very tired tonight and fell asleep constantly. Some days we can’t get her to sleep for hours because we are forever looking for the elusive comfy position. Today, there are a lot more positions that are comfy, and she had no problems sleeping.

When I told her I was going, she said I should stay and talk to her. I told her she was falling asleep all the time. I stayed and talked to her about some topic or other…It went something like this…..

kp:- Can you get me some lipbalm ?
dp gets the lipbalm and puts it on kp’s lips.
dp:- Do you know when you were sedated, I would say “purse your lips” and you would !
kp:- Was…………………..?

Gone !

Fast Asleep !

Cracking Conversation kp, thanks !!!

G’Night

dp

xxxxx

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