WOW !
Have I got some good news for Karen’s friends and family ! I will come to that in chronological order.

Good Night’s Sleep
Karen had another good night’s sleep and this time it was without Tamazepam, simply because she threw it up. When I say a good night’s sleep, its not what I personally would call a good night’s sleep, but its what kp is happy with. She woke up a few times and was sick a few times, but for Karen that’s a good night apparently. I think the key thing is that she got some good segments of sleep.

Physio’s Timetable
One of the first things I did was to check the timetable of events that we should be following.
8am should have been breakfast followed by a bedbath. Well, no sooner had I sat kp upright for breakfast than she was sick. Of course, she didn’t want breakfast then and passed on it completely. Karen insists I buzz whenever she is sick which I duly did and a lovely auxiliary nurse (J) came in to help her and to arrange some anti-sickness drugs (taken intravenously).

The next thing on the timetable should have a bedbath followed by some physio at 10am, but the movement needed for a bedbath would have caused too much nausea and she was exhausted so the bedbath was postponed.

Instead, I got kp into a nice comfy position and she fell straight asleep. I pulled up my bed (kp’s chairbed) and brought it alongside her bed and went to sleep myself. I was exhausted as well. It sounds pathetic, but visiting really takes it out of me. I didn’t get home until the early hours of this morning, and was up at 6am walking the dogs. I went out like a light. It’s a shame the hospital is so far from home. We slept for about 90 mins-2 hours and completely b+ggered up the timetable but we both felt better for it.

Bedbath
The nurses had been in while we were asleep apparently and left us sleeping. But they returned to do the bedbath and kp really enjoyed it and had a good laugh at the same time. Two of the auxiliary nurses did it as it was felt that 2 of them would be able to do it quicker with less faff for kp. One of them is originally from Sweden (B) and still has a strong Swedish accent (although she does a mean “Way aye man”). The other auxiliary nurse (J) was talking to the Swedish one (sorry about not being able to name the nurses) (both are lovely), and was asking her to pronounce various words knowing full well that her strong Swedish accent makes the words come out strange. J was doing this to keep kp amused. Anyway, they got on to an occasion where J had asked B how she made her hotpot dish she had cooked for her husband. The ingredients she put in included various items and “piss”. Translated into English, this is “peas”, translated into Geordie, this is “peas man” (but her Swedish roots make it difficult to pronounce the “e”).

Well, Karen found this very amusing and I was laughing out loud.

Apologies if that’s not funny thirdhand, but we were in stitches.

The nurses are excellent at bringing some humour into most situations to brighten the day.

Visitor for Karen
Gill (from work) visited kp today and brought some audio books to listen to. Thanks Gill. She arrived at 11am, but because of the skewed timetable she didn’t get to see kp until 11.30am. She stayed a short time because kp was getting tired, but kp really enjoyed seeing Gill and commented afterwards that she enjoyed seeing her.

When Gill left, it was time for the physios and here comes the amazing news.

Physios Visit
The Physio (X) does an excellent job of challenging kp. No Pain, No Gain. All necessary of course !

A funny moment before the good news.

She did all the usual stretches which hurt and then got to this specific one, where she lifted Karen’s left arm (stroke side) in the air. Now this REALLY hurts.

X asked kp to watch her arm go in the air and X counted to 10 whilst holding the arm in the agonising position.

Then she got kp to count. She raised the arm into the painful position and the conversation went like this :-

X:- Now, watch your arm.
X raises kp’s arm
kp:- Ow, Ow, Ow, Owwwwwwwwwww!
X:- Count to 10 Karen
kp:- 4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Nice try love !! We were in stitches at her subtle try at shortening the duration of the pain by missing out some key numbers.

The same thing happened again and this time kp counted from 1 to 10, but really fast ! More laughs. She wasn’t intending to be funny which made it all the more funnier.

kp can read now (as mentioned in yesterday’s blog). She can also tell the time which she wasn’t able to do before, but here’s the fantastic news.

After the physio had done this painful maneuvre a few times, she asked Karen to lift her left arm (stroke side) herself. Sure enough, with X’s guiding hand, kp could lift her arm about 2 inches. FANTASTIC !!!! But it gets better !

X:- How far are you raising your arm ?
kp:- Dunno
X:- Look at your arm and raise it.

kp raised her arm about 2 inches.

X:- How far are you raising your arm ?
kp:- A lot !

Well, we all laughed because it was only a slight raise and we were ecstatic that should could do any raise at all.

The other physio (Y) raised kp’s right arm (the good one) and raised it very high and said that that is “A Lot !”

X then did some more painful maneuvres lasting about 5 minutes and got Karen to watch her left arm and raise it herself again.

Well, Karen raised her arm from the bottom to above her head (with a bit of pain). We were over the moon and spontaneously burst into a round of applause when she did it.

Is my wife a star ? Or is she a STAR !!!! So proud of you love.

kp was chuffed to bits as well. Well done !!!

Doctor’s Rounds
The doctors came round to discuss pain medication. They are going to try some new pain medication and yet some different anti-sickness drugs. She has an E. Coli infection in her water works and unfortunately it has spread to her blood stream. But the increased anti-biotics should sort that apparently. They didn’t seem unduly alarmed.

Blog Discussion
After the morning was nearly over, I was asked to see the Matron and Sister about something. I knew instantly it was about the blog. It was like being called to the Headmaster’s office (only kidding C & A). They were concerned about a previous blog entry involving a lady who was crying out a lot and that they would appreciate being told of any problems with kp’s care so they could address them rather than just read about them in the blog.

They were exceedingly nice (like Mr Kipling’s cakes) and I totally understood where they were coming from. At the same time, I expressed the importance of keeping the blog accurate so that when kp reads it, she recalls the situations in question. I offered to tone down the relevant blog entry relating to the lady (that has now been edited down). With regards letting them know of any problems, I explained that as far as we were concerned, there were no outstanding issues and I would, of course, let them know any problems with kp’s care before recording them in the blog. This is something we have done from the start and I reassured them we would continue to do so. Both C & A have the best interests of Karen and the ward at heart and I will support them in this regard whilst at the same time recording events.

What a cracking day – When I thought it couldn’t get any better…….
When I arrived tonight (7pm), kp had been having a helluva crack with Marie, Michelle and the comedian that is Jane B.

It carried on for a good 20 minutes with kp holding her belly laughing. They sleep is the best medicine, well laughter must come a close second.

Marie was keen to pass on kp’s latest good news.

1. kp had eaten nearly her whole lunch and whole dinner.
2. kp can read without the aid of the magnifying sheet.
3. kp’s itch

Eyesight
Fantastic. After this morning, my only concern was her eyesight and that looks like it is on the mend. She read out a card from Sue, Alan and Danielle Brady that had just arrived. She had read it out earlier to the girls. When she read it out to me, she got it nearly correct. She read it all out perfectly, but where the card might have said “Love and Best Wishes”, kp said “All the best”. I didn’t say anything. It reminded me of a child reading when they think they know what the next bit says, but can’t quite read the words out. I think she was just tired.

All the work is done through her left eye (stroke side strangely). Her right eye can’t see at all. This has been referred to an eye specialist.

The Itch
Another thing Marie relayed from the afternoon, was that kp had an itch on her left side and she instinctively tried to move her LEFT arm to scratch it. Previously, her left arm just sat there like a dead weight and now it was moving on an impulse.

Me + kp
A few more belly laughs later and it was time for the girls to return to Middlesbrough. That left me and kp for the evening.

We sat and had a chat about what I had done on the afternoon (mow the grass) and a few other titbits.

J, the auxiliary nurse, came in and together we gave kp a bedbath and changed a dressing that was weeping. With new Nighty on, kp looked very settled. Unfortunately within an hour of the bedbath, kp’s nighty was in a right state because the pelvic wound was weeping badly. They are going to sort that out later this evening.

E. Coli 156
Before Marie left, she told me that had a certain strain of E. Coli in her bloodstream. Apparently, there are many strains, but the strain kp has E.Coli 156 (which I am sure we are all familiar with ) isn’t too bad, whereas another strain is bad. She is on an IV drip of Omoxycilin to sort this. I say she is on a drip. The doctor came round and simply couldn’t get a new Venflon (sp) into her vein to give her the drip. The doctor tried about 3 different places and then referred it to the Senior House Doctor to sort. That was being done later tonight as well.

kp has the worst veins in the world. When she used to give blood, they always struggled to find a good vein.

Sickness Cracked ?
kp wasn’t and didn’t feel sick at all tonight despite lots of moves. So we may have the sickness cracked now. I do hope so, because it makes the day much worse for kp. Finger Crossed, Touch Wood Etc…

Stiff Left Arm
Tonight her left arm (stroke side) was a bit stiff after all the physio. So I did all the exercises we have been taught to loosen it up and then asked Karen to lift her arm (as she had done earlier). It takes a lot of concentration for her to tell the muscles to move in a certain way. But, unlike the physio, I didn’t guide Karen, I just waited until there was a bit of movement in the right direction and then coaxed her on.

Well, when the arm lifted to her head, I started crying. She was lifting her arm, without ANY support from me. I couldn’t have been happier. kp did a huge smile, because she knew how much it meant to me. Hugs time !

But then of course, I got carried away.

Can you bend your fingers ?
Tiniest of Bends

Can you bring your arm to your chest ?
Yes

Can you do this …..?

Can you do that …..?

kp:- David, I am not a performing animal !
dp:- Sorry love.

She knew I was excited and it was a nice way to end a dp physio session.

kp Phone Home
kp has made such progress over the past 24 hours, I thought we could see if she could do something practical which she hadn’t been able to do previously, namely use the phone. This was a problem before, because her hand-eye coordination was poor and when she tried to replace the phone on the tv (where it sits), she would just end up pushing the tv away. She also couldn’t dial because she couldn’t see the numbers.

So, I brought the phone into range, and suggested making a phonecall.

kp:- I’ll phone Marie

Sure enough, she could lift the phone off & dial the number. A huge smile appeared when Marie picked up at the other end. I think she was chuffed with herself. Could she replace the headset however ? You better believe she could !

That’s about all I can remember.

So, all in all, an absolute cracker of a day. I can’t help but think back to something F said, (the consultant in ICU). He said the patients in Intensive Care that do the best are the ones that make slow steady progress,. I am ever so slightly concerned that kp is doing too well. Stupid really. She is not in ICU, so maybe it no longer applies, but its at the back of my mind. It’s also on kp’s mind. She doesn’t know F said this, but she said to me yesterday :-

kp:- It’s just my luck that after all this effort and progress that something else comes along and kills me off.

Obviously I reassured her to the contrary.

Well done Love for today. You’re storming !!!!

dp
xxxxx