Spoke too soon.

When I knew the District Nurses were on their way, I ordered the pizzas thinking it would be some magic wiggle they did and all would be fine.

They examined kp and the catheter and explained that it was situated ok and that they are very hard to dislodge, and the fact it was still draining meant it was ok. So, kp felt reassured and the nurses left. They were very nice and said if she had any doubts to call them back.

Immediately after they left, we started to get kp back in the wheelchair to go through to watch X-Factor with the imminent pizza. But the pain was back and is probably better described as “agony”. It seemed to come and go like labour pains. Her whole body would crease up, and her left arm would go very tight into her chest. Her left leg shook violently (which it tends to do after heavy exertion (something to do with the stroke)). It was hard to watch, and all I could do was comfort her.

We called the district nurses back. In between these spasms of pain, I got the oven on a low heat to receive 2 pizzas, knowing we may be a little late by the time the nurses had been and gone.

Pizzas arrived and went straight into the oven.

5 minutes later, the nurses were back with loads of kit from the car. They tried to do a bladder wash, which helps clean out the catheter, but they struggled to get anything in. What little they did get in, came out with blood in it

They suspected some sort of infection and their next step would be to change the catheter and gets some samples for analysis. They also suggested ringing the ward for advice, given they know kp’s history etc. The district nurse spoke to the ward nurse and the conclusion of the conversation was that we should Karen back into hospital, so they could change the catheter there and do the tests needed. kp was happy with this, I think she would have gone anywhere they said to be sure she could get rid of the pain.

The nurses went and I frantically packed kp’s bag and drove kp to the hospital. She had a few more spasms along the way and was glad to get back to her hospital bed.

She looked exhausted. The night nurse at the ward checked kp’s stats, and there was no temperature or anything to worry about. When kp lies down, the spasms don’t come. This is how we had managed to wait the 4 hours for the district nurses to come. Now she was back on the ward bed lying down, she was ok again.

By now, she probably has a new catheter in and hopefully with that some relief.

If anyone would like a dried out pizza (choice of “Onion, Garlic & Mushroom” or “Doner Kebab”), please leave your address in a comment and state your preference.