I am pleased to report a full night’s sleep for kp

Marie and I kept the kids amused from about 7.30am onwards until kp graced her with her presence at about 12pm. Did you know a cardboard box can keep them amused for hours if you turn it into a house ?

I wish I had took a photo of Louisa with the box on her head, pretending she was inside the house !

When kp got up, we had breakfast before taking the kids to the park on the way to physio. Louisa was having such a good time, she didn’t want to leave and snook herself away behind a climbing frame, thinking we couldn’t get to her.

Sorry about the photo quality today, my phone was low on memory.

Physio was very productive today. The physio decided to reassess kp to see how much she has improved since first attending her sessions back in November. It was evidence of her vast improvement

The first assessments were based on balancing.

They ranged from balancing with feet close together, on one leg, one foot in front of another, picking up something from the floor etc etc…

Stepping was no problem….

One foot in front of the other was a bit more challenging and she lost her balance a few times, grabbing at the physios coat to stop her falling.

Picking up keys was a big improvement. Last time, she really had to snatch them from the floor in a very uncontrolled manner. This time, it was more of a natural swoop.

Then it was time for a timed walk. She had last done this the week before she left hospital and had completed the 10m walk in 35 seconds.

Linford Christie, watch out, we are talking 15 seconds !!!!

Back to the physio room to try the pegs in the holes exercise. Bloggers with a good memory may remember that the first time kp attempted this, she got so frustrated trying to even pick the pegs up, it was called off.

Subsequently, she managed to get 3 of the pegs in. This time, she got them ALL in. It took a while, but she was NOT going to give up.

Here she is posing (at my request) for the camera. I ask her to do a thumbs up !!! It’s the left hand doing it as well !!!!

Because of the pelvic/hip injuries (not the stroke), when Karen walks, her right hip drops at every step, preventing her from walking fluidly, and therefore causing a walk to be much more strenous than it would be for most of us. kp didn’t know what the physio meant by “her hip dropping”, so she placed kp in front of a mirror and showed her.

When asked what else she would like to cover, I butted in and asked if kp would be able to walk faster than the usual 1mph.

So, the physio got kp walking (whilst supporting her) and then made her walk fast. It was amazing to see !!!

The physio went one better and we redid the timed walk at this new pace without any support from the physio. Here it is in video format.

CLICK HERE to see kp speed walking. It looks like a vintage bit of film where they walk dead fast, but this is NOT an optical illusion. This is actually how karen walks fast (at the moment). She did the 10m in 7 seconds !

It was the last physio for a few weeks today, as kp starts hydrotherapy next week, but it was a very good one to end on.

By the time we got to Sainsbury’s for our weekly shop, kp was already in pain.

We are running a hot bath as I type this.