Good Day Overall

kp had been worried before I got in this morning. She had forgotten that I don’t come in until 10am weekdays now, and at 9.15am (45 mins late in her eyes) was concerned that I had an accident. The nurses were helping her find my mobile number, before one of them said “Doesn’t he come in at 10am now ?”. All was then fine.

When kp relayed this story to me it threw me for the whole morning and all I could think of was the worry she had gone through. I was in a stupor and the bath routine which we went straight into went at a snail’s pace. I couldn’t think of the 101 steps that it seems need to be done to get kp in the bath. After the bath, we went for a long sleep. I laid out on the floor and we must have had a good 2 hours. It was lovely sleep. We were woken by a nurse wanting Karen’s blood.

The physio session today saw the return of the main physio from his hols. He was well pleased with Karen’s progress and spent most of the session assessing kp’s movement in all her limbs (probably about 30 minutes) and then finished the session with some stands. This time there were only 2 physios to help kp.

Karen had to work a lot harder herself today. On the first couple of attempts she got upright but was unable to lock her knees. It seems her muscle contractions (according to the main man) are in more short bursts (on/off) than prolonged sustaining of the muscle action. So from a low sitting position, her stand effort got her to near-standing but didn’t do enough to lock the knees. So the main man had to support kp’s knees. I could see this happening and immediately stood up in front of Karen (so she could see me) and started doing pelvic thrusts to try and get her to thrust her bum more forward. It didn’t work and I looked a pillock so sat down.

He raised the bed so that she was higher in the standing action than the low sitting position she had started in. This time she got to full standing with no more pelvic thrusts from me. Her knees were locked and I got the impression she could have stayed there a while. She stood up for about 30 seconds before controlling her sitting action. The physio said the main point of today was for him to assess her current movement capabilities now he was back off his hols. He was delighted with kp’s progress.

kp’s left arm has been giving her jip today. It has had a constant ache no matter what position it was in. At the physio session, she mentioned this and asked if she would get full movement back in her left arm. The physio was very nice about it and said he wouldn’t put his life savings on the fact that she would get it to the same level as her right arm, but he also said that he wouldn’t bet she wouldn’t either. I came away from that conversation thinking it was unlikely to get to the same level, but who knows with kp !!!!

Another thing that became clear from today’s session was that her left leg (stroke side) isn’t as strong has her right. Funnily enough, I noticed this earlier on, when I asked kp to lift her left knee so I could get the sling underneath her (to hoist her into the chair), it came up and flopped over to one side. Early days, the first 6 months are where most of the improvement comes so fingers crossed.

So, a good physio session.

After physio, the doctor came to see kp. kp mentioned to her that she sometimes struggles to find certain words. The doctor did some memory tests on kp, and she was spot on.

Doctor :- Remember these 3 words, “Cup, Bowl, Spoon”
The doctor checked kp’s Date of birth, Address and a few other things.

Doctor :- What were those 3 words.
kp said them fine
Doctor :- What’s 100 – 7
kp said the right answer
Doctor :- Take away 7 again
kp said the right answer
Doctor :- Take away 7 again
kp said the right answer
Doctor :- Take away 7 again
Doctor :- What were the 3 words I told you earlier ?

I hadn’t a clue !!! kp got it straight away. I have loads of excuses for not being able to get them, but I’ll keep them to myself.

So, no problems there for kp.

kp asked if she still had MRSA. She went away to check. And her last tests show she is CLEAR !!!! of MRSA. Yay !!!!!!!!!!!! Very pleased at that !

All in all, a good day.