Very productive day today.

We showered straight away as we had an appointment with the Occupational Therapist (OT) to help show kp how best she can get her clothes on herself.

After Karen was all dry and ready to get dressed, the OT came to the shower room and started giving some tips to Karen on how to get each individual bit of clothing on. With kp in the wheelchair, it was knickers first but she struggles to bend down far enough to hook them over one of the legs (I forget which). So the OT suggested hooking her leg on the other leg to raise it up. It’s simple things like this that are really helpful. It was a very productive session. I still need to help kp, but she can do a bit more herself now.

At one point, we had a marital tiff in front of the OT regarding how much I should be helping, and how much she should be doing herself. Karen and I were both asking the OT what she should be doing, I thought one way, kp thought another. The OT found it amusing and wisely sat on the fence.

Tiff over, we went to see the physio for a session. The main man was off today so it was the Daniel O’Donnell fan physio. She is lovely and gets on very well with kp and we have a good laugh.

kp pretty much did a similar routine as the previous day of leg strengthening, hip lifting etc etc followed by the finale, la piece de resistance, the big walk !!!!! With wheelchair in front of her, one physio behind kp, one by the side, and me in front she started walking and she didn’t stop until she got to her room. We used a pedometer to measure how many steps. Wait for it……..a MASSIVE 82 steps !!! She walked past the Quiet Room, the first nurses’ station, the second nurses’ station and to her room. I knew she wanted to get to her room and wouldn’t let some aches and pain stop her. By the time she got to the room, her legs were starting to shake !!

As she made the long trip, she had the biggest of smiles on her face and when the various nurses saw how well she was doing, she would give them the biggest grin as they grinned back and said how amazed they were.

I was very proud of her !

Well done kp !

Physio over, we went to the big Quenellies for a meal. There was a roast meal on and it was lovely. I did a HUGE plate for Karen, bigger than mine and she ate the lot. 3 slices of beef, 2 Yorkshires, about 10 roast potatoes (little ones), carrots, 2 bits of parsnip, broccoli. I was well impressed. I had put extra roast potatoes on, hoping to steal a few. I wasn’t able to. I had to cut all her food up for her of course and at one point, I think she suspected I was going to steal a roast potato and banned me from touching her plate.

After the lovely meal, we went outside for some fresh air before going in for a long snooze. Apparently, I was snoring within 10 minutes of putting my head down. kp said she fell asleep 15 minutes after me, and we didn’t wake up until about 3.20pm (we went to sleep about 1.15pm). It was lovely.

After the snooze, the Neuro Psychologist (NP) came to see kp. We had a nice chat with her and she is coming back at 11.30am Monday to do some more tests on Karen. Karen had forgot what time she had said, and the NP gave kp a few different ways of remembering what time the meeting was.

NP:- Did you used to have milk breaks when you were at school. Were they at 11.30am ish ?
kp:- Nah
dp:- You’d be better asking her what time did you used to bunk off school ?

I haven’t to remind kp what time the appointment is, and she is going to see if she remembers it on Monday.

Marie then arrived with some more bargains. Warm Socks 99p etc etc…

That’s it for today.