When I arrived tonight, the consultant was in with kp and she was asking him some of the questions we had drawn up for him.

Will I gain full mobility in my left arm and leg ?
He said yes. Personally, I am not so sure about the left arm. It’s very “dead” (for want of a better word). Although she can feel pain in it, she can’t feel light touches or even medium touches. And it never moves unless she is asked to move it and even then, she can only move her shoulder (slightly) and her thumb. Her fingers can do very slight movements on request. It sounds like I am being pessimistic, perhaps I am, but then anything else is a bonus. With the physio’s assistance, she could move her arm quite high so the consultant may be right.As for her leg, he didn’t see that being a problem.

When will I be out of hospital ?
3 months assuming nothing goes wrong. If you make exceptional progress and are ready in 2 months and can carry on treatment/physio at home, then we wouldn’t keep you in unnecessarily. Given that at one stage, we were told Xmas, this was GREAT to hear !

Will I be classed as disabled ?
No.

Will I walk with a hobble/limp ?
Probably

Will I be able to do the ironing/hoovering ?
Yes, and you should do this often. It is your duty to your husband.

Actually, I forgot to add that question in. But I feel sure that this is what the consultant would say !

Visitors
kp had 2 visitors today, Chris Jeffries from work (and Eileen) and Sam (a friend who was close to Lee, kp’s nephew). She thoroughly enjoyed catching on all the work gossip and hearing of Sam’s news after her year in France studying Law. She is supposed to be fluent in French, but when I said “Bonjour Sam”, she either didn’t hear or hasn’t picked any of the lingo up at all

Eating
kp has had lots of little things today and didn’t have a full meal. If she doesn’t have a full meal tomorrow, then I will be upping my persuasion. I’ll threaten to kiss her or something – that normally does the trick.

Concert Pianist
The consultant (when anwering the mobility question) said that kp wouldn’t be able to be a concert pianist. No big loss there. When Jane arrived for visiting, Marie was telling Jane what the consultant had said :-

Marie:- He said she won’t be able to be a, whats that name, Pianist !
(Pianist was pronounced by Marie as Penis)
Jane looked bemuzed and we then started on 5-10 mins of belly laughs with Jane having us in stitches about the fact that it was a shame kp wouldn’t be turning into a Penis. Jokes such as “You were a bit stiff in bed yesterday Karen weren’t you” were prevalent. I was tempted to say that the surgical stocking on her head was a bit like a foreskin, but I didn’t lower the tone to that level. Oops just done it !

kp was in absolute stitches. Generally today, she has been in the best form ever. She has been starting many conversations, where normally, she would just join in. It was my wife in all her glory.