I forgot to mention a couple of key things today – Memory like a sieve !

First of all, a big thanks to the Dennison Family who sent the loveliest, tallest bouquet of flowers in to Karen. She was well chuffed. There was also a box of chocolates as well – THANKS ! The address, btw, for anyone who would like to send flowers is :- Karen Pollard, Room 2, Ward 22, Q.E. Hospital, Sheriff Hill, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

Second of all, I was on a mini-outing to get something from somewhere on the ward and when I got back to kp, she was staring at her left side intently.

dp:- What you doing love ?
kp:- I am trying to move my left arm.

Sure enough, she was trying to get her left arm on to her stomach. It didn’t work for a while and I recalled something the physio said about her movement being all shoulder-based on her left arm and could see that’s what she was trying to move.

dp:- Crikey love, that’s really close

She tried and tried and eventually she got her left arm on to her stomach. We both had big grins for each other and I told her how chuffed I was.

Not a very good morning for kp

Although she started with the best of intentions.

kp:- Why don’t I get in the chair for breakfast each morning ?
dp:- Dunno, never thought of it I suppose. Do you fancy it ?
kp:- Not really, but I should.

I got kp into the chair.

She ate all her breakfast only to throw it all up when she took her tablets. Unfortunately she had just had her pain tablet when she threw up and this means she could be in pain later on as they don’t reissue tablets when they have come out again.

Lots of bowel issues at the moments which really pisses kp off.

She isn’t feeling mentally right at the moment. She is on a real low at the moment. She was concerned that she has had a bad 2 weeks of physio because of all the ops and next week the senior physio is going on his hols and kp was worried that she won’t be progressing at all in that time.

I caught her other physios and asked for a word with them to tell them of kp’s concerns and how down she was at the moment. They are going to pepp her up a bit this afternoon and give her some mini-goals to aim for and to reassure her that she will still be progressing despite the main physio’s absence.

She has hardly spoken this morning and certainly not laughed or smiled at all. She doesn’t see the point in carrying on, and when I came up with some things to look forward to at the end, she wonders “if it is worth it ?”

There is not much I can say at times like this apart from “You need bad days, otherwise we don’t when the good days are good days” and stuff like that. I am no Socrates.

She didn’t want any lunch and couldn’t be arsed getting in the chair again. I just hope she picks up for dinner. Fingers crossed AGAIN !

The afternoon consisted of some sleep, a visit from the tissue viability nurse and the physios.

The physios took kp to a new location today. It’s amazing how something as simple as this can spark interest. According to kp, they got her to sit on the edge of the chair and put quite a bit of weight on her feet without standing up. She said they were pleased with her progress. They have also took delivery of kp’s new wheels. If anyone has any go-faster stripes or wheels of fire type stickers that they don’t want or need, feel free to send them to

Karen Pollard
Room 2
Ward 22
Q. E. Hospital
Sheriff Hill
Gateshead
Tyne and Wear

Anything to brighten it up would put a smile on kp’s face.

This evening was not a good evening for kp. It started with bowel issues from hell, followed by a waltz through the valley of projectile vomiting, ending up with “what’s the point ?”.

Poor kp. Mum and Dad visited again tonight and no sooner than they had arrived, they had to be kicked out for bowel reasons. When they returned, kp was tucking into chicken and chips, which she really enjoys, but halfway through this, she shouted “David”, and threw up her dinner. She put as brave a face on as she could for Ma + Pa, but they could tell she wasn’t upto much in the way of visitors and left.

She is very down at the moment. She is trying so hard at the moment to kick herself into good health. She ate every meal today as best she could, before throwing it up, so effectively, she hasn’t eaten anything today. The nurses are aware of this. Of course, if you are sick so much, you are reluctant to try food, because you know the pattern. The nurses are going to raise this with the doctor tomorrow.

I spoke to someone today who suggested getting a psychologist in for kp. It had helped him with some similar issues. Excellent Idea and I mentioned this to kp tonight and she wasn’t against it. I’ll bring this up tomorrow.

So, not a good day generally. kp’s last words to me before falling asleep tonight were

kp:- “I really hope I feel better tomorrow”.

Me too love