A better week, but still a bad one.

Leaving last weekend behind, kp was down. She didn’t want to speak to anyone (friends or family). She hasn’t seen the dog walker all week, instead she has left a note for her that she is in bed.
Karen had accepted that she wasn’t going to get back to her old self, but she didn’t understand how to deal with it. Such conversations were avoided. We had agreed that I would contact the neuropsychologist (specialist in brain injuries) and ask her to come out again to help Karen understand the way forward.

She was busy this week, and didn’t have time to come out, but promised to phone. The phonecall never came Very unlike her.

I took some time off work this week to take Karen to the eye hospital (Shotley Bridge). It gave me a nice lie-in. The appointment was for 10.15am. We didn’t get seen until 11.45am We were both very frustrated. The place was heaving with patients. kp got so frustrated she got up to go and see someone to ask what time we would seen. (More like “did she have time for a fag ?”). By the time she came back, this old man had taken her seat next to me. It was great to see the surprise on her face when she came back to see her seat had been taken. She sat opposite me from that point on, and we couldn’t help but giggle at each other. kp has been trialling glasses with the right eye frosted over. It has helped in certain scenarios. They restested her eyes……..

No change.

She was issued with a prescription for glasses with one eye frosted. She has to go back to the RVI at Newcastle to be fitted for contact lenses as well. She will be wearing a contact lens in her right eye that completely blocks the vision so it doesn’t confuse her left eye.

Physio was on the following day. Marie normally comes over during the week to help kp get ready for physio and to take her there. kp wanted to go on her own. I don’t think she wanted to talk to anyone, even Marie, so she vowed she would get ready herself. She struggled with her bra and ended up taking it to physio in a bag and getting the physio to fit it. kp cried the whole physio session and absolutely no physio was done. She really likes this physio and feels she really understands kp’s needs. This is the penultimate physio session with this lady. After this, she leaves for a new job down south. kp will really miss her. Poor kp.

Knowing how down kp was, I had already mentioned the idea of going to see friends in Southampton (Tracey, Mark and Megan) in November. I put this plan into action and booked some time off work to go and see them in late November. We are also going to see “The Sound of Music” and “Dirty Dancing” while we are down there. Hopefully that will give kp something to aim for.

The weekend came. I had told kp the weekends are all hers and we would do anything she wanted to do. On Saturday, Adele (Karen’s niece) was doing a zip slide from the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle. It was in aid of the Anthony Nolan Leukaemia charity. Adele had raised £700 for it. Adele’s brother Lee died of Leukaemia a few years ago (aged 19) and Marie and Adele are always doing something in his name (from Car Boot Sales, Charity Market Stalls, Zip Slides etc…). This was Adele’s second zip slide. Previously she had done one from the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough.

Michelle, Freddy, Abby, me and Karen were there to support her. (Marie was on holiday abroad).

Here they all are……

Here is kp in front of the Tyne Bridge….

Here she was before the zip slide….

I was tasked with filming the zip slide. Unfortunately, the battery ran out (on the camcorder) as she was about 5 seconds into the slide

Here are some photos of Adele during her slide….

It was a nice distraction for Karen as well. Adele did really well and really enjoyed it ! The funny event of the day was this bearded man that approached us. He befriended Freddy, then he befriended me and we couldn’t lose him. I was mouthing to Karen to “HELP !” me. Karen said I had a text on her phone. I went over. HE CAME OVER.Karen made up a story that we would get better photos in a different location. We moved to the different location. At first he didn’t follow, but within 5 minutes, he had worked his way back to us.

We didn’t lose him until we sped away in the car. It was funny at the time.

With the zip slide over, we went into Durham to get kp’s prescription glasses ordered. Here she is with her chosen pair….

The woman in the shop was doing my head in. She spoke fake english, using big words where a small word would do.

kp:- Will the frosted glass stand out in these glasses ?

Woman :- I am not sure. Let me go and verify that for you.

Grrrrrrrrr ! Verify that !!! Check it, don’t verify it !!!

Really got my goat up !

Home from our expedition, we went to bed. Neither of us had had a good night’s sleep the night before. I was up from 2am to 5am, unable to sleep.

By the time we got up, kp was really fed up.

kp:- Does me being fed up make you fed up ?

dp:- It does yes. I feel really sad for you.

kp:- You’re going to get sick of me being fed up and leave me.

Obviously I reassured her that that WASN’T going to happen, but she is so down at the moment, I am unsure if she believes me.

Today, I have been shopping to Sainsburys. We were due to go to Aldi and Matalan (for Karen) but she didn’t want to do ANYTHING today

So, a better week, only because it couldn’t have been much worse.

Btw, my mum had her hip replaced this week. All the best Mum, I am sure you will be out of hospital VERY soon. You had better be, as we are coming down next Saturday and I want LOTS of roasties !