kp was very subdued today when she woke up. She didn’t know what was wrong, but I knew something was.

It turned out all her aches and pains were getting to her. She is a bit sick of spending most of the time in bed, but at the same time, she knows it’s the only place she feels that her pains are in check.

As soon as I got up this morning, I booked an appointment at the doctors to speak to him about kp’s medication. We felt that we would get things sorted then.

We were due a physio session today also, and as it turns out, we sorted most things out in the physio session. The physio really hit the nail on the head with kp’s pain problems. A lot of it is down to Karen’s left arm. kp is trying to use her left arm as much as possible. kp tries to involve it in nearly everything she does. But when she tries to use her left arm, a lot of the effort comes from her shoulders, because her left arm actually can’t do that much. This means her left shoulder does things that a shoulder doesn’t normally do, which in turn, means it gets stiff very quickly with all the effort she puts in. Another thing the physio highlighted was that because Karen’s left side is weak, her posture in sitting is poor and leaves her head dropping over her legs. I had noticed this, and was really pleased the physio had picked up on it.

So, the physio gave kp some good exercise techniques for loosening her shoulders, and for good posture. She also released a LOT of kp’s shoulder tension by applying painful pressure to her “pressure points”. kp really likes the end result of this.

Here is a photo of the physio showing kp how to achieve good posture.

It involves adopting the “Ssssssssssssshhhh” position with your head (with your shoulders back) and then moving your head back from your fingers. It works well.

We left physio with kp still feeling down in the dumps. I felt marvellous because I felt the physio had sussed out kp’s problems and we had a way forward. We went to the doctors and got 4 sheets worth of prescriptions for kp and then the thing that REALLY cheered Karen up came. A visit to the local butcher, coop and baker. Would you believe it ?! She came out of the three shops with a teacake, 2 sirloin steaks, mushrooms and a lovely smile on her face, feeling more positive in herself.

Excellent. We went back home and had a cup of tea (and teacakes) with Adele who had come up to do some cleaning (Thanks Adele). kp then went for a lie-down to ease the aches, but is feeling much better in her head.

Tonight is Sirloin Steak, Mushroom, Onion and Chips. No doubt kp will have me cooking the steak, mushrooms and onions on the George Formby Grill !