Well, it would be hard to top yesterday with news, but I am pleased that we have something better to report. Thats better !

Today I arrived early to get kp bathed and ready for an early physio at 10.45pm. No time for lipstick this morning (for kp that is).

No hoisting was done at all today, kp doing all her own transfers from the wheelchair to the bench and back again. Actually come to think of, she never sat on the bench and did all her work today in standing. Just before she stood up from the wheelchair, she was eyeing up the physios arms and she said :-

kp:- X, I must tell you. I could get blood from your arm no problem. You have great veins.

We all laughed. There then followed a discussion on blood donoring and I think kp may have persuaded X to give blood again in the future. Lee would be proud.

She stood from the wheelchair with help from the main man and his cohort. At one point during her stand, she wasn’t being assisted AT ALL apart from the very slightest pressure on her left knee, but I think this was more for the main man to feel if she was about to fall rather than to assist her maintaining the stand. He got her to raise her arm in the air whilst transferring weight between legs and she did it great

All pictures can be made larger by clicking on them

That is the first time I have been able to truly gauge how much assistance she needs. Don’t get me wrong, she does A LOT of the work herself, but when the physios have their hands on her (as they nearly always do), you just don’t know true percentages of how much work she is doing. I would say she was
doing the stand 80% herself
maintaining the stand 80% herself, but later in the session 98% herself

So, the physio got her to transfer her weight from one leg to the other. At first her left leg needed a lot of persuading to lock and hold the weight, but kp, after a while, got the hang of locking her left knee. It doesn’t come naturally at all, but she can do it if she really thinks about it.

Then without any warning with all her weight on her left leg, he asked her to move her right leg forward a step. She did it brilliantly, HER FIRST STEP ! When she was safely on that leg, he asked her to do the same with her left leg. Now remember kp has little sensation and awareness of the left leg but she moved her left leg forward. It didn’t look at all as fluid as the right leg, in fact it looked like she was moving her left knee forward by taxing the thigh muscles and the rest of the leg (knee downwards) just dragged along the floor. She was completely unaware of this as the physio helped her left foot come forward. She was so chuffed. This continued for another 2 steps, making a total of 4 steps in total. I was so proud. I have learned from previous days NOT to tell kp how much assistance she was getting and just to praise the positive. She has done absolutely superbly I have no doubt about that, but I think kp thinks she has done 4 steps and that her left worked as well as her right.

It was actually quite sad to see her left foot/shin just drag along the floor, but in time, hopefully she will be able to get more movement out of it.

During the session, kp was asked to open her left hand fully. She opened it “fully” and looked at her hand and it was only partially opened.

kp:- You see X, I think that hand is fully opened but its not.

He went on to explain that the body thinks things are in a certain position because it has learned how much exertion is required to do various positions. In a nutshell, this explains quite a lot of things we have seen about Karen. She thinks her left leg is locked, when it isn’t, she thinks her bum is tucked in (for standing) when it is sticking out etc etc…..It was very interesting.

But hopefully, she can relearn these things. While we are talking about kp’s left side, she has a LOT less feeling in it than in her right. I can put the cold shower on her left leg and sometimes she feels it, sometimes she doesn’t. She can have a bit of food on her left cheek and not know it’s there. I can hold her left hand and she is unaware of it sometimes. I was stroking her thumbnail (left side) today, and she had no idea.

I don’t want to make today’s physio sound negative, because she took her first steps, but there is still a long way to go.

kp was over the moon with today’s session and no sooner had she got back to the room than she was phoning all the family with the good news.

We didn’t have too long to think about her achievement as we had arranged for me to go and pick Angela up and bring her in. Angela is the other lady who was in the car in the accident. She is out of hospital now and can walk a few steps unaided which is amazing to see. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing about her experiences at home/walking etc….It really is like someone is testing the ground before we walk on it (pardon the pun).

Here is a photo of kp and Angela having a cup of tea in the cafe at the hospital. We also enjoyed a Fish Supper in kp’s room.

When I returned from taking Angela home again, we had a little natter before Jane, Michelle and Ronnie arrived. It was heavy conversation in no time. Bras, Tops, etc…. They had been shopping for kp and were all threatening to get their breasts out to try things on. Definately my cue to leave. There may have been only 4 women in the room, but there was more breast in that room than any man should have to see in a day.

When I got home, I was greeted with this site.

Tommy (our ace neighbour) had only built another ramp to go up the final step into the house and it also provides a bigger platform on which kp could be turned around in her wheelchair. Thanks again Tommy. Your DIY skills are nearly as good as mine (ahem !).

Here’a a closeup

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