kp went to bed at about 11pm and got up at 12pm, but it was too early for her. Seriously. She was grumpy and it was clear that she hadn’t had enough sleep. At 1pm she went back to bed until 2.15pm when I had to get her up for physio.

Physio today was very different. The physio asked kp if there was anything she can’t do that she would like to do. kp listed a few things, such as eating with a knife and fork (currently, it’s just a fork), kneeling down (so she can garden), and gettting up from a fall (that’s my suggestion).

The physio decided to concentrate on the last two for today, and work on the other one next week. kp and I had tried this ourselves a month or so ago, but we got nowhere. I tried to get kp lying down on the living room floor, but we couldn’t even get her to kneeling – it was too painful. Her knees haven’t been bent over in such a way for nearly a year – so you can imagine the stretch it must be for her.

So, with the aim of getting kp lying (as if from a fall), she first had to get to being on all fours. kp started off sitting on the physio’s bench, which she lowered as low as possible. kp then had to get on to her knees which she did with the physio supporting her – there were LOTS of “ow”s. I would have aborted the maneuvre at the first “ow”, but she (physio) persisted. Once on her knees, she had to get on to all fours as if she was crawling.

She did this by placing her hands on the floor, palms down. No problem with the right, but the left couldn’t support her weight (strength wise), and it was painful to put it in such a situation. So, with more help, she got kp supported by her 2 knees and her right hand (a 3-legged Karen, much like Cleo at the moment), the physio supported her left arm (so the left hand didn’t have to take any weight).

This was a very painful/awkward position for kp. The next stage was to get Karen on to her left side and then to concentrate on getting kp up again. We got her on her left side and got her legs swung from underneath her until eventually she was sitting on the floor.

With the help of using the bench as a lifting aid with her right hand, she was able to get her knees underneath her so she was back in the kneeling position.

Then came the most painful and hardest bit of the whole thing, she had her right knee flexed and had to use her right leg to lift her bum on to the bench. Her right top part of the leg and hip were broken in the accident, so this is the side which experiences a lot of pain and BOY did we know it when she lifted her buttocks on to the bench.

“OW!” doesn’t do it justice !

The relief on kp’s face says it all !

With the lying debacle over, the physio concentrated on kp’s left arm. kp had worked out why it had been so painful for the past few weeks. She had put in place a new position for the left arm when it is doing nothing and it has 90% fixed the aches and pains of her left shoulder – a MAJOR breakthrough !!! She took great pleasure in sharing this info with the physio.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. OR the proof of how much she has cracked the pain is how far she can raise her left arm !!!

This may not seem too impressive, but it is a BIG improvement on a few weeks ago. We were all impressed by it.

With the arm exercises over, the physio finished off looking at kp’s wrist movement which she noticed was restricted. If you have your hand face down on your lap and then turn it over as far as you can, then this is the kind of movement the physio worked on. kp has no problem with her hand face down, but she has restricted movement turning it upward.

The physio demonstrated what kind of movement she was looking at achieving….

But kp couldn’t get there at the moment, so the physio gave kp’s wrist bones some painful massage to try and get them a bit looser. kp’s homework is to move her left wrist so her palm is open and then move it further with her right hand.

I can think of other exercises for kp’s wrist and palm but let’s not go there !