kp lasted 1 hour in the chair and the physios returned later in the afternoon to do some exercises on the legs and left arm. They have left us with some exercises to do over the weekend.

We had a cracking belly laugh from kp tonight. I read out Veronica’s blog comment to her and when we got to the mention of Veronica reading out the contents of kp’s vomit, she grabbed her belly and laughed for ages. It’s weird watching her laugh as since they didn’t sew her stomach muscles up (only the outer skin), her laughs seem to make her nearly burst open. She isn’t in any pain, but she could bounce a ball a foot in the air with the amount her belly expands during laughter.

Uneventful Night really apart from that.

Few Bowel Problems which they are sorting. Very tired kp generally for most of the afternoon and evening, but that is a known side effect of a stroke.

Good Night’s Sleep

Ate a good breakfast, but was too tired for lunch after an exhausting bedbath and change into clothes. When she got into the chair, I wheeled her outside for some fresh air. It was boiling and kp enjoyed it as much as she could given her bum was starting to hurt.

Only stayed 45 minutes in the chair, but enjoyed the time outside.

Adele, Michelle and Margaret are visiting today as Marie is enjoying a well-deserved birthday weekend in Cardiff.

kp had a cracking afternoon with Michelle, Adele and Margaret. Lots of belly laughs. Kevin visited also and she enjoyed his company. When Margaret left and said her goodbyes, Margaret started crying. I think they were tears of joy at Karen still being here. She had just seen the car accident pictures.

By the time I came back she was knackered. She was still in her tracksuit bottoms and T-shirt, so 2 nurses and I got her out of them into her nighty and BOY did we sweat !!! It’s been a swelteringly hot day today and with our plastic aprons and plastic gloves on, you only had to wave your hand to begin sweating.

kp was as cool as a cucumber after all the upheaveal, we three were in a heap on the floor.

I left at 7.30pm and she couldn’t stay awake.

One thing before I sign off. I forgot to write something up which happened this morning. This has happened before, and I may have written about it before, but I can’t remember so am mentioning it again just in case.

At the end of the bedbath, kp moisturises her own face and hands because she wants to and it’s also good therapy.

Being only able to use one hand, she can’t open the cream bottles so I do that. She asked me to put this hand cream on her cuticles (on her left hand (stroke side)) so she could rub it in with her right hand, which I did. She started rubbing the cream into each finger one by one. She can feel herself rubbing it in in her right hand but can’t feel the cream being rubbed in in the left hand. Part the way through her hand, I had to move her hand so she could get to her other fingers. Bear in mind, she tends not to look to the left and down, so she isn’t aware (apart from by touch) what she is doing.

In moving her fingers (which she couldn’t feel), she started massaging my fingers. She thought she was rubbing the cream into her remaining fingers, but she was actually doing my fingers. Moments like this make me very sad, I think because she doesn’t know she is doing anything wrong. I could have left my hand there and had a nice little hand massage and she would have been thinking she was doing her own hand. Very sad.

kp was on her own today at the hospital until 11.30am (by choice). She gave the nurses 8/10 for their bedbath. I’ll have to find out what I score. She didn’t eat any breakfast as she felt nauseous.

From breakfast time until 3pm in the afternoon she had sickness and diarrhoea and felt very unwell. Adele was on hand to assist kp. The nurses took some samples to check for infections. We’ll know the results in a few days time.

I took the bike to the hospital as usual. By the time I got to the hospital, my shirt was ringing wet through with sweat. It’s very hot under biking gear when its a hot day. I simply couldn’t wear the shirt when it was so wet. So, I took it off and hung it out of the window. kp didn’t want me walking around with no top on, and I didn’t want to wear my shirt until it had dried out. So for the next 2 hours, I walked around Ward 22 with one of Karen’s blouses on. I looked quite fetching if I say so myself !

When I arrived at 3.30pm, kp was feeling better in herself. She still had very little appetite and had not eaten any lunch. She was quite talkative in the afternoon and had some good chats with Adele and myself, that was until Adele nearly choked on a Polo and went bright red whilst laughing to herself at her predicament. kp + I were nearly having coronaries.

kp:- Slap her on her back !
dp:- errr, ok.

dp slaps Adele hard on the back.

Adele laughs more while choking.

Adele survived.

Mum and Dad visited again today. kp was quite perky for their visit having recovered from her sickness earlier. Dad let the cat out of the bag for a surprise that may be coming Karen’s way. Wendy (friend of the family who plays Cilla in Coronation Street) is rumoured to be getting some Coronation St. goodies (signed photos and things) for kp. But we didn’t want to say anything to kp, as the surprise would have been better. There is also mention of something amazing from Wendy, but I don’t want to mention it in the blog at the moment, because Dad managed to keep it under wraps after Mum and I hurled abuse at him for mentioning this topic at all.

I left a very tired kp at 8pm.

kp had a good night’s sleep and ate a hearty breakfast.

I told kp about her extra special surprise today. She was over the moon. Wendy (Cilla in Coronation Street) is going to arrange for kp to spend the day at Granada Studios AND to be an extra in one of the scenes.

Well, kp had the biggest of smiles. She couldn’t believe it at first and kept saying “NO!”, “Noooo!”.

kp (smiling) :- I could be sat in Roy’s Rolls having a cup of tea in the background.
dp :- Aye, or you could be in the Snug at the Rover’s
kp :- I could buy a packet of mints off Rita at the Kabin.

And this just carried on for ages. We were laughing our heads off.

Thanks for that Wendy !!! It’s something else to aim for !

Student Doctor
We had a visit from a student doctor who wanted to ask kp loads of questions about the effect of the stroke. I think he found kp’s experience interesting and he also made kp think a bit about the kind of question we should be asking the consultants, specifically, what is the likelihood of kp regaining full use of her arm ?! It’s the kind of question, you want to ask, but don’t want to ask (if that makes sense). I suspect she will now ask the question.

Physio
She had an excellent physio session. Lots of pain, but lots of gain in the form of free-er movement in her arm and legs.

The Chair
kp has had problems with this bedchair for a while and struggles to stay the full hour in it. Well, today, we realised that there was another configuration of the chair which means kp has a better sitting position. She stayed a full hour and 20 mins in the chair with less aches and pains. It will be interesting to see how this pans out and if in fact, it does allow kp to stay longer in it.

Whilst in the chair, Jane and I wheeled kp down to the coffee shop which has a nice outside quadrangle and we enjoyed a leisurely cup of tea/coffee.

Occupational Therapist (OT)
The occupational therapist spent 5/10 mins with kp today and was basically assessing kp’s ability to feel things in her left hand. She got a cup of hot and cold water and dipped a spoon in it and saw if kp recognised hot or cold on different parts of her arm. Mixed Success with this.

At some moments, she didn’t even know she was applying the spoon.

She got kp to close her eyes and put a pen in her hands and asked her to recognise what it was. She couldn’t.

OT :- Is it rough or smooth ?
kp :- Smooth

OT :- Is it hard or soft ?
kp:- Soft

When she opened her eyes she was a bit disappointed she hadn’t got it right.

It’s early days. A few weeks ago the same tests on her legs would have met with limited success as well. So there is a lot of hope here.

I left Jane and kp with bottles of champagne and orange juice, strawberries and extra thick double cream. They were going to have a cracking afternoon watching Wimbledon.

kp had a good afternoon with Jane Burns watching the tennis at Wimbledon. Strawberries and Cream (no champagne yet, didn’t feel up to it).

Before I forget, there is something I should have put in this morning’s blog relating to the physio. The physio has started to try and get kp to try and move on to her side by herself. She can’t do it yet, but he has broken it into about 5 moves. She can do some of them herself, like lift her knees in the air, turn her head, move her arm, but she can’t do the final move of the hips yet. When she cracks this, she will be laughing and less stressed. There seems to be very few people who can actually move her into a comfortable position. And if you are in a painful position for too long, it can be quite frustrating.

Weeping Wounds
One of the wounds on the back, which had been fine until today, has started weeping. It was dressed tonight along with her head wound, and a couple of front wounds. I don’t know if the heat encourages the weeping, but all the wounds seemed to come out in sympathy with each other today.

Comfy Position then Sleep
When i arrived tonight, I immediately got kp comfy, and she went straight to snooze. She was knackered. But before she had time to sleep, Dave and Yvonne arrived. She snoozed for a bit, but then woke up for some good banter. kp was belly laughing at the fact that when she had mentioned earlier she felt sick, Dave had bolted straight for the door saying “Oh hell”.

I don’t think Dave is too compatible with hospitals. Yvonne went on to say that if she was ill in hospital, he’d be hopeless and would probably only come in the hospital to visit if he could plane the doors or something (he is a carpenter by trade).

kp had a good laugh at this.

I was 15 minutes late today. Knowing kp would worry, I phoned the Ward Clerk and asked her to pass on the message that I would be late. It didn’t get passed on. kp was starting to worry. I was annoyed.

kp felt in good form today. She was full of life. She ate a piece of toast and drank some tea. The Sister came in to talk about the amount of food kp is eating. She was worried that she wasn’t eating enough and that if she didn’t eat more, her wounds wouldn’t heal quickly. The talk did good and kp polished off ALL her lunch. In the meantime, the housekeeper came in with about 10 different types of supplement build-up meals for Karen to try in case she ever didn’t fancy a meal. That was very kind of her. The Sister is also contacting the dietician to discuss other possibilities.

As soon as Wimbledon started, kp started watching it on the TV. I am very relieved she can watch Tennis on the TV, as it would have been very upsetting for her and the family if she hadn’t have been able to see the ball and enjoy her sporting highlight of the year.

No physio in the morning, it must be this afternoon.

The Policeman that attended the accident scene came this morning with the photographs from the accident. He couldn’t leave them with me as they are possible evidence if it goes to full jury trial.

They weren’t as shocking as the photos Kevin took as they were more distant shots showing where the vehicles were. The only surprising thing (to me) was how wrecked the 3rd vehicle was. Kevin’s car (the one kp was in) was hit by the van, Kevin’s car then hit another car, which then hit another car. This third car was a total write-off (as were all vehicles), but there was no boot left. It’s amazing how much energy the cage on Kevin’s Laguna must have passed on to the other vehicles. We are lucky it didn’t crumple further.

Shortly after the policeman came, Marie came to take over and brought Louisa (her granddaughter). kp loved seeing her, but Louisa was a bit wary of Karen in a wee-willy-winky hat. But after 5 mins was relaxed enough for cuddles.

Marie had a good afternoon with kp watching Wimbledon and Karen was in good form.

The physios visited for a brief session today. The physio told kp that the reason they didn’t have so much time was they were getting someone ready for discharge.

kp:- Is it me ?

LOL.

When I got home, I had a huge A1 sized “Do Not Bend” envelope waiting on the doorstep. Thank God, the postie hadn’t managed to post it, as no doubt Bonnie would have eaten half of it.

It was the goodies Wendy promised. There was a Coronation Street poster signed by the cast.

And an extra one from Wendy

Thanks very much Wendy – it is much appreciated !!!

kp was cream crackered on the night and would fall asleep mid-sentence. It was so funny.

dp:- So, how did Henman do today ?
kp:- He did well. He won. He’s playing…………….

Gone !

Another good night’s sleep for kp. It seems they have really cracked the pain and sickness medication and kp is able to consistently get a good sleep. Obviously now I have said that, she’ll have a stinker tonight. We’ll see !

The nurses came in to turn kp at 4am. Sometimes she wakes up, sometimes she doesn’t. Last Night, she woke up and ended having a really long chat with the nurses which she enjoyed (1 hour apparently).

Just before I got in, someone had had a heart attack on the ward and all the staff were rushing around (according to kp). They managed to revive the patient who when revived said “There is no need to shout” to the nurse who was shouting “Can you hear me X ?”.

Apparently the gentleman is well-liked and 2 of the nurses involved came in to kp’s room to have a good cry when it was felt they may not revive him. kp offered them wet wipes.

kp has been on really good form today. If she doesn’t eat a big dinner, I will be having words with her again. She has eaten 1/2 piece of toast, bowl of rice crispies, bowl of soup and bun and half a chicken sandwich, so she really needs a big meal tonight. Sorry if this is too much detail, but if I don’t record it, I forget it, and some of this blog has been quite useful a few days later.

Marie and I took kp outside today for some fresh air. It was lovely weather with a cooling wind. While we were out there, she was complaining that her eyesight had deteriotated today, so Marie and I did some tests. I held my hand over her left eye, and asked her what could she see, and she said she couldn’t even see Marie. This was of great concern !!

When we went back up to the ward we did some more tests. Same thing, I put my hand over her left eye, and asked her how many fingers Marie was holding up. She didn’t know.

Then Marie realised that I had my hand over the wrong eye. DOH !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her good eye is her left eye. The same tests with the hand over the right eye were fine !!

Although kp did still feel that her eyesight wasn’t as good. For now, we have put this down to watching Wimbledon for 5+ hours yesterday !

Lots of laughs this morning as well, especially when we were doing the bed to bedchair maneuver. It takes 5 of us to get her from the bed to the bedchair. kp had a good belly laugh when it came to Marie trying to get her leg on the bed (with her short legs) to pull kp over. The longer-legged nurses make it look so simple.

kp is feeling more up to visitors at the moment (now the sickness and pain are under control). So if you would like to visit Karen, please contact Marie on 01642-284812 or 07961-346149 to arrange a date/time. Visiting is 2pm – 7.30pm. Work Colleagues who can’t make those hours can come at other times, as long as we let the staff know the day before.

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.

Not a good night’s sleep and didn’t feel too bright this morning.

Did the usual Breakfast / Bedbath thing routine, but we delayed the bedbath until all her dressings were changed. It took quite a while for a nurse to be free and for the nurse in question to change the dressings as she had not done Karen before and was not familiar with her wounds. This made me start thinking that I could do the dressings myself. I have seen it done that many times and often the nurses ask me how did the previous nurse do the dressing. They are looking into whether I can do this or not. Looks hopeful.

This blog wouldn’t be complete without mentioning an incident today which made kp, myself and some of the staff laugh. I am going to be vague about people here purposely. We met a member of staff who kp and I both agreed was the Mrs Overall of Nursing.

I will relate a couple of incidents :-

1. This person was talking to me and walked into a walk-in cupboard. The door was an automatic door which shut behind her. I could hear her muffled speech still. She was still talking to me. This carried on for quite a few seconds, enough time for me to tell kp what was happening and for me then to open the cupboard door to see the person walking out still talking to me completely unaware what had just happened with the door. kp had big smiles.

2. This person was doing something for Karen and the person had some assistance from some colleagues. The person was discussing what he/she was doing on Karen and it was clear that he/she was not very sure about how to do it correctly. Karen had a big beam of a smile and the nurses could see kp had sussed the person out and were smiling back. I was holding back the laughter.

There was more, but I think any more would make it obvious to whom I was referring and I don’t want to offend anyone.

At 12pm we got kp in the chair, and took her outside in the shade. It was lovely. After 20 minutes, she wanted to go back in as her cocchyx was starting to hurt. She had lunch, not enough in my opinion. I made the point to her, and she wasn’t happy about me making the point. Marie is going to try a more tempting approach this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Out of Sorts
Karen slept a lot of the afternoon. She was a bit out of sorts and the best place to be was asleep, not Wimbledon.

Physio
The physio came round, but didn’t want to disturb her beauty sleep. The physio session went fine when he returned later in the afternoon.

Food
Marie had persuaded kp to have some snacks on the afternoon. They probably made up for small breakfast/lunch portions. I would have liked to see her polish off a full evening meal. She had a full bowl of soup and 1/4 of a portion of mince and dumplings.

Tomorrow lunch is Fish and Chips so she should polish that off.

New Bed
kp is excited that she is getting a new bed (another one). The current one is a gel bed that forms to your body, but it has allowed a body sore to appear on her rump where one of the fixators was. The next bed is like the one she had in Intensive Care. It pumps air to different parts so it is effectively always support her in different places.

Visitors
Eileen and Tommy (our neighbours) visited this evening. kp had a really good chat with them and it seemed to be the best bit of her day. Eileen and Tommy have been very kind to kp and I over the years, and especially helpful to me while kp has been out of action. Eileen has been letting the dogs out for us frequently during the worst times of kp’s battle and more recently inviting me for Sunday lunch. Thanks Eileen/Tommy !!!

Thanks
I should take a moment to thank everyone for all their support. People have helped in so many different ways, from

• the cards they have sent Karen (103 in total, hey I get bored !)
• the presents they have brought
• the time they have given
• for reading the blog and posting comments to encourage kp
• for keeping kp amused
• for caring for kp

I am so very grateful to everyone who has done any of the above. kp has such a positive attitude at the moment and I feel sure part of it is down to the wonderful support she has received !

My best mate and his wife invited me to their barbecue tonight. Nigel promised me a scabby sausage. We laughed. I attended. But that’s what was served alright !!

All joking aside, thanks Nige and Terry

It was lovely

dp

Good Night’s Sleep

Ate Good Breakfast

Speedy bedbath ‘cos kp + I were both knackered. By 10am, we were both snuggling up in our seperate beds for a snooze. Apparently I was snoring. At 11.45am, we were woken by the physio who did a few moves with kp before we all got her into the chair.

Quite an uneventful morning.

I had to leave early today, but hopefully kp will have polished off her Fish and Chip Lunch.

The Doctor did his rounds this afternoon. He’d come round in the morning, but he had seen kp and I fast asleep and didn’t want to disturb us. He is a nice man and was just checking kp was not in pain or feeling sick.

She slept a good part of the afternoon and was fast asleep when I arrived. I tried to creep around her room quietly and not wake her up, but everything I touched seemed to make a noise. Marie went from smiling to laughing at my attempts to be quiet. Within 2 minutes of arriving I had woke her up. I couldn’t be a mime artist.

kp ate a bowl of soup and tried a sausage from her sausages and mash which was brave of her, as I love sausages and wouldn’t have touched it. She has eaten ok overall today, with lots of fruit snacks provided by Marie.

Nigel and Terry visited this evening, and we had a good laugh together. kp was in good form and really benefited from their company.

I did my first dressings tonight – wahey !! I was turning kp when I noticed one of the dressing on a bed sore on her back had come off. I was already going to redo her head one as it had come off also. I asked the nurse for some adhesive allevyns, a non-adhesive allevyn and a dressing pack. And she was happy for me to do it – yay. I really appreciate doing it myself. I get bored sitting around and I know how kp likes it doing ie. Preparation first, and dressing done as fast and efficiently as possible. I am not boasting when I say kp is more comfortable with me doing it than Mrs Overall.

If they do any more surgery on kp (unlikely), I am going to ask if I can do it. Can’t be too hard. I can say “Scalpel nurse” in a posh voice. Nay worries ! Let’s gan on and cut wor Karen up Noorse and then will gan to the pub for a bottle of Newcastle Broon Ale. Way aaaaaayyyy Man.

Good Night’s Sleep and fast asleep when I arrived – Looked as snug as a bug in a rug.

Adele had some personal issues to deal with today, and kp spent a while on the phone to her discussing them with Adele.

Ate a good breakfast and lunch. Nice Bedbath and Leg Shaving.

Both had a snooze in the morning.

Yvonne brought her iPod in and played kp a tune or two while I was there. She played Mambo No. 5 and it sounded great. I was dancing to it and kp was strutting her stuff too. Smiles all round.

Fast Asleep when I arrived for the evening shift. Ate a good tea. Watched some Wimbledon before falling asleep again. She woke up for a turn and during the 5 minutes she was awake explained that she doesn’t seem to be able to concentrate as much on Wimbledon. She watches points and then doesn’t know who’s in the lead at the end of it. Very unlike Karen. Normally, Wimbledon contact Karen if they have lost count of what the score is.

When she fell back to sleep, I left for the evening.

A very disturbed night’s sleep because of bowel movements.

Enjoyed hair wash and bedbath by 2 of the funniest loveliest nurses. I had the morning off for good behaviour. They had kp in stitches as they went about the bedbath routine. Jokes such as the following were flying across the bed between the double act of nurses.

Nurse :- “I see you have the Irish Shampoo”
Karen :- “What do you mean ?”
Nurse :- “Tim O’Tei” (pronounced in an Irish accent like the name of an Irish man)

She didn’t eat much breakfast and hardly any lunch. She slept MOST of the afternoon and it was a DEEP sleep : the kind of sleep where every so often I would glance at her chest to check she was still breathing. At some points of her sleep, she had her eyes wide open – very disconcerting. Looked like something from the Omen Films. Karen Pollard aka Damien.

When Lillian and Bernard visited, she didn’t even hear them come in and chat to Marie and I for 5 minutes. Marie brought her back from the dead with a loud “Karen” and she went on to enjoy her visitors’ company and especially Lillian’s Ham Shank Soup. She had a GOOD size portion and polished the lot off. Nice one kp.

By 7.30pm she was knackered again, and doing her “I’ll fall asleep while I am in mid-sentence to my husband” routine. I left her to sleep.

Better night sleep, but still disturbed with too many bowel issues.

Had a piece of toast with some tea for breakfast.

Then the choice – snooze or bedbath before Lydia’s visit. We were both keen on a snooze and so grabbed an hour. Bedbath followed. kp was laughing at me at one point. There is a remote control unit for the bed on a bouncy bendable stem. I moved it out of the way and it bounced back and headbutted me. I instinctively raised my fist at it which made kp laugh as I am not generally an aggressive person.

Lydia arrived for visiting with loads of goodies – thanks Lydia. Scones, Butter, Strawberries, Fresh OJ etc etc…. I may let kp have some later on.

We had a good laugh with Lydia then the physios came to get kp into the chair. When Lydia left, Marie and I took kp outside for some fresh air. It was a scorcher. We had about 20 minutes outside, took some photos which I will put up later on with kp’s ok and then returned for some more of Aunty Lillian’s Ham Shank Soup.

And so concludes the morning…..

When I arrived, kp was asleep. Asleep is too light a word, she was very very deeply asleep. She didn’t hear

• Me arrive
• Marie tell me everything that occurred on the afternoon
• Mum and Dad arrive
• Mum and Dad discuss things
• Nurse shouting at her if she wanted soup

She even scratched her head in her sleep, said “Ow !!!!” ‘cos it hurt and still didn’t wake up. Seriously.

I can’t remember if it was Marie shouting “Karen” or something else that woke her. Even when awake, she didn’t realise Mum and Dad were here for a minute or two.

She had had a VERY tiring day. The morning I have already mentioned in Part One. The afternoon was jam-packed according to Marie.

• The nurses came in to change all kp’s dressings.
• The consultant who performed the initial pelvis operation on Karen visited to see how she was doing and to inspect her wounds. This meant all the newly done dressings had to be removed.
• He was very pleased with the wounds and advised a new type of dressing.
• The nurses came and redressed all the wounds according to the consultant’s wishes.
• Then the physios arrived and gave kp a gruelling physio session with lots of pain (all necessary of course). At one point, the 2 physios were each working on a different kp body part and both were painful. The physios couldn’t work out if kp was saying “Ow!” at the move they were doing or their partner physio was doing. They asked Karen to come up with a different “Ow!” for each physio. Oh, how Karen laughed !
• Somewhere in the midst of all of this was a change of sheets requiring multiple moves.

In a nutshell, kp had a very active afternoon. When Mum and Dad arrived and kp finally woke up, we had some really good laughs. I was amazed that kp had the energy as I could have sworn she would not wake up.

One particular moment I can recall was when Mum was trying to reassure Karen that she would get some compensation for everything she had been through.

Mum:- Oh, you will love. You were nearly dead !

kp was belly laughing at this !! She knows my mum can be a bit “foot in mouth” at times.

Another moment of hilarity is when a member of staff, (Mrs Overall), came along the ward and we could hear her say many times to each different patient :-

Mrs O :- Would you like some Butterscotch Pie ?

This got funnier and funnier as she got closer to Karen’s room. She speaks very like Mrs Overall and when she said it in our room, we had to try very hard to mask our laughter. Mum failed dismally.

Lots of laughs – a great night with a bit of a downer to end.

kp had some sickness and diarrhoea which wasn’t very pleasant. As soon as she had finished, she was out for the count. I barely made it to the door before she was fast asleep.

The Day of Realisation

No laughs this morning. kp was very quiet, hardly talking at all. The first thing she wanted to do when she woke up was to go back to sleep

I persuaded her to have some breakfast and then we had 45 mins kip. We then started on the bedbath. Half way through, kp broke down into tears. She said she felt so helpless. I was moving all her arms and legs to allow for washing, and I could tell that for the first time, the reality of her situation was dawning on her. I told her to hug me, and she did. 1 minute later, I tried to move away so we could talk, but she didn’t let go. I tried to comfort her and tell her the things she has got to look forward to like “coming home, having a bath, a shower” etc…. And her reply was “Why should I have to look forward to those things ?”. She is dead right of course. They are all things we take for granted and now they are things that Karen has to aim for through no fault of her own.

Shortly after the upset, the physio came and halfway through the physio, kp broke down again. The physio didn’t know if he should push on or talk to Karen so he asked her. She said “Carry On”. So kp was crying while the physio was carrying on his arm/leg-bending.

I have been amazed (as a lot of people have) at kp’s progress to date. She works hard every day to make herself better. But every so often, she is going to have days like today. I tried to explain this as best I could to her – she is a very positive person and I feel sure she will bounce back within the next day or so.

When Marie arrived, kp hardly said a word until 30 minutes after we had took her outside. Her first real words were :-

kp:- “David, tell Marie what your mam said yesterday !”

I did. Marie and I laughed. kp smiled.

The results of some tests came back today and they confirmed that Karen has an infection in her bowel. I can’t recall the exact name, but it is a form of Chlostridium (not Botulinum that’s for sure).

She is very lacking in energy and just sleeps most of the time at the moment. For the first 20 minutes of Debs’ visit she was zonked. A Doctor had visited kp on a number of occasions today and kept leaving ‘cos he didn’t want to disturb her, but this time, he had to wake her up or he would never have seen her.This is when she realised she had a visitor.

I don’t think Debs got the best visit in the world, but thanks for all the goodies Debs. The Madeira Cake and Lemon Cake were lovely. Karen didn’t feel up to them, but it would be rude if I didn’t try them for her.

He checked her chest and a few other things and informed kp and Marie of the infection. She needs to drink 4L (8 pints in Geordie) of water a day. If she doesn’t she will be put on a drip to try and clear away the bowel infection. They don’t want to put her on a drip if they can help it, because of the risk of infection.

Today has been a low day for Karen – A trough in a sea of many crests.

She has hardly eaten anything today. Bit of breakfast (slice of toast), half a bowl of soup and a bread bun and nothing for tea apart from some cherries. Maybe that’s enough for someone who is in bed all day, but I, for one, would feel better if she ate more.

She could barely keep awake tonight.

To end on a positive
The doctor informed kp that the consultants had given the ok to put Karen in the hoist. This opens up a lot of doors for Karen that were otherwise closed such as

• Having a Bath
• Having a Shower
• Going in a normal chair
• Having a ride in a hoist

Which reminds me that the physio is going to dangle Karen on the end of the bed so her feet are hanging off the end. This will be weird for Karen after nearly 9 weeks of something always being beneath her feet. It is supposed to give her the sensation of going to stand up in preparation for that day.

I feel sure I have forgot some things, but the gist of this blog entry is that it has been a bad day for kp, upsetting, sad, and a generally low day.

Let’s hope a good night’s sleep does the trick, which reminds me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The “Chillow” arrived today. I took it in for kp and set it up. The “Chillow” is the chilled pillow – it was something her work team wanted to buy for her. It is basically a bag with some foam and water in, but after following the instructions I must admit it feels cool. We’ll know if it has been of benefit in the a.m.

I thought the tide may have turned on the bad day from yesterday as kp said she had had a good night’s sleep and her first few sentences were typical kp. This changed very quickly however. My first job in the morning is to get her sitting up for breakfast, which I did and within seconds of being sat up, she was very sick. She hadn’t eaten anything overnight, which made the process of vomiting even more tricky and there were a few tears (not though upset, more through the strain of being sick I think).

No breakfast today.

She didn’t feel like a bedbath today either. Not surprising, given the number of moves required for a bedbath, so instead, we both had a sleep. I was snoring again apparently.

When the physio came at 11.15am, he did a good workout on kp and I could see progress in her right foot. Previously, it wasn’t able to get as far as 90′ to the leg, but today, she could manage it. Very important for walking apparently.

She didn’t really want to get into the chair, but together we all persuaded her to give it a try. She managed about 40 minutes. Not bad for an off day. We also persuaded her to have some soup and bread that Marie and I had brought in. Within 10 minutes of it going down, it was back up again

She is on a new drug to fight the infection in her bowel. Apparently, one of the side effects is increased nausea. Well, we can definately confirm that !

Adele came with Marie today but it was very difficult to get any conversation out of kp even for us family. We asked her what she wanted to do about her visitors and she asked that they be put on hold until she is feeling better.

Hopefully that won’t be too far away.

kp is still out of sorts. Not eaten anything all day (that has stayed down). We had a few smiles from her tonight when Adele showed her some phone video footage of her daughter (2 year old Louisa) playing with a spider and shrieking.

Most of the afternoon and evening was spent watching the tennis & sleeping – very little talking.

By 7.15pm, she was fast asleep.

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.

Poor Marie. Shortly after I left, kp had her physio session, then kp fell asleep until the moment I arrived back. Marie didn’t get any private time with kp to have a natter. Maybe tomorrow.

The physio has said that tomorrow they are going to put kp on the edge of the bed with her feet dangling off to give her the sensation of balancing her torso in preparation to standing up. Very exciting ! It’s something for kp to aim for and look forward to.

Dinner tonight was Cottage Pie and Sliced Potatoes. kp gave it a go and ate all the cottage pie element of the meal, which was good. Her appetite is picking up slowly. Tomorrow is Fish and Chip Day – it’s lovely. In Ward 3, an extra portion would appear from nowhere for me, which was great. Tomorrow, I’ll just tell Karen that they have missed you today, how do you fancy some soup ?

After dinner, I was falling asleep while kp was watching the tennis. I couldn’t bear the grunting women, so fell asleep with my head on the bed. That got uncomfortable so I got the bedchair out and had an hour on that. When I woke up, kp was out for the count. She woke up when I tried to quietly put the bedchair away unsuccesfully. We had 5 mins of natter, but she wanted to sleep again. I prepared the room for the sleep (buzzer, sick bowl, water, phone) and did my usual “See you tomorrow, love you…” and left.

kp was asleep by 8.10pm tonight

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