I got a phonecall last night from Marie that she had read an article in the local paper that there is a new killer superbug and it had taken the lives of X people in North Eastern Hospitals (including Gateshead) . It was called Clostridium Difficil. That’s the same thing Karen has. Shine a Light. Both Marie and I were worried. I switched on the news just before I went to sleep and sure enough it was on North Eastern News as well.

I checked the internet for a good article on it. It reassured me that it was rarely a killer, and in the majority of cases it could be cured with an antibiotic and I recognised the name as the one Karen is now on. Marie had also mentioned that it was a certain strain of Clos. Diff. that was a problem. I made a point of finding out which strain this morning. It doesn’t look like it is the bad one (more later why this is thought to be the case).

Heading in the right direction again

When I arrived, for some unbeknownst reason, I broke into song to wake Karen up. It did the trick. I’d like to say also she appreciated it, but she didn’t.

She was a little more talkative than the previous day, but at that time not really feeling any better. We had a bit of a conversation during the breakfast where she said

kp:- I feel I am going down the pan.

My first thoughts with anything bad go back to something our first consultant said.

“Slow steady progress is what we want, not fast progress”
He made it clear that the people who make the slow progress generally do better. I know each case is indigidual blah de blah, but it was my first thought. And kp has made such good fast progress.

I reassured her why she was feeling under the weather but didn’t go into too much detail about my concerns about clos. diff.

She was going to have some Rice Crispies (half a bowl) for breakfast but was waiting for the anti-sickness drug. It didn’t come until 9am and the nurse who brought it unnerved us a bit. She said she didn’t want to give Karen’s drugs out until I arrived and then the first thing she said after that was to me :-

Nurse :- So, what drugs would you like ?

I was tempted to say 1/2 Kilo of Cocaine, 240 Ecstasy tablets etc etc…but resisted the urge.

This unnerved us both and we got confused as to which tablets were which and kp lacked faith in taking them because she didn’t know what they were.

We asked to see the Sister about this nurse for some reassurance and it was promptly given, so we feel a bit more confident now. The sister also stayed for about 10 minutes to give us a good talk about the future. Key elements :-

• Be prepared for hard work – Damn Right kp, the ironing is REALLY mounting up.
• People with just a stroke take upto 3 months to be able to walk again properly. kp has additional injuries which will make relearning to walk even harder).
• It is 4 more weeks (end of July) when kp will be able to weight-bear on her pelvis (end of July). The 3 months (minimum) starts then.
• First, she will have to learn to sit upright unaided and keep her torso balanced.
• Then they will get her to reach out for things, remaining balanced.
• Then the same things standing up.
• Then walking.
• Then hoovering.
• Then ironing.

kp was feeling a littler better by this stage and talking more.

Bedbath was uneventful which is good as there was no vomiting.

No time for a snooze today as a Doctor came in to check kp over. I managed to ask what strain of Clos. Diff kp had. He said they wouldn’t know for a few more days. Apparently, it takes a few days to grow the bacteria to know what type it is, and then even longer to know which strain it is. But he said he wasn’t worried as he could tell kp was looking and feeling better and therefore the antibiotics seemed to have started working.