Generally a good week.

I had the usual “going back to work after a week’s holiday” blues and corresponding backlog of work. It took me until Friday to really get anywhere near on top, but it was an enjoyably week for me overall, but a week full of 8am to 6.30pm kind of hours which is fine for me, but leaves kp on her own for a long time.

On the one hand, I think Karen was pleased to have some time on her own even though she had enjoyed the family holiday, but she also misses company. It’s a strange balancing act. She has caught up with the blog and is now staying exactly a year behind. So, it’s good to hear from her what happened a year ago today and get her take on it. I am really glad I did the blog. I have regrets that I didn’t do more from the first 2 weeks when she was at death’s door. I remember asking if I could take some video footage when she was the size of the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters, but the intensive care staff never came back to me and I never chased it up. But it’s a real gap in kp’s understanding of how awful things were. But I think she has heard it from so many family members she gets some idea.

One of the things that she read a few weeks ago, was about her work colleagues doing a dvd for her of them acting out a sketch at their workplace. The acting was brilliantly awful and the whole thing was as funny as hell. I showed this to kp at the time and she loved it, but now she has zero recollection of it. I wanted to reshow it to her, but for some reason she keeps saying she doesn’t want to see it. I feel sure this is because it reminds her of the good laughs she used to have with her workmates and it will remind her of what she is missing at the moment in the way of some normality of life. Maybe I will find out in a year what her true thoughts are.

Karen has started doing her own tablets. I always used to put a month’s supply into medicine boxes in advance so she could just pick Tuesday Morning, Lunch, Afternoon or “Before Bed” tablets as appropriate. She has had to be reminded a few times about what she should take at each part of the day, but generally she has done ok. She can’t do the morphine patches herself as these are too fiddly and forgetting one of these would have serious consequences on her mood (as demonstrated on the holiday). One of the things I have been noticing when Karen does the tablets is that she takes a tablet out of a foil-sealed plastic thing (with 20 tablets in for example), but that she does it in no order. So, whereas most people would go from left to right, top to bottom (or similar), kp has been doing slapdash. When questioned, she thought she was doing it in order

Not only is it all to pot, she is going on to a second foil-sealed plastic thing before all the tablets are used up, leaving it very confusing for her which tablets are taken out of the box

Here is a picture of what I mean……..

She has also been doing much more around the house this week. She made a full roast meal on the night Marie was here (Wed). She did EVERYTHING herself (apart from carve the chicken (which I used to do anyway)). She started at 4.30pm (according to Marie) and it wasn’t ready until 8.30pm but she was DEAD proud of herself. The veg chopping is what took her ages. Nice one kp !!!

Marie wasn’t feeling too well, so kp and I did the washing up. (Marie ALWAYS washes up while kp and I fag it). I have explained numerous times to Karen how to put the steamer away. It is supposed to look like this (3 steamer compartments inside each other)…..

But, she still can’t understand how to get them in the right order. The result (amusingly) is………..

The following day, she emptied the dishwasher while I was at work. It’s only a minor thing, but is another example of how her “spacial awareness” isn’t 100%. The cutlery holder is supposed to be vertical (in the photo), whereas she put it back horizontal meaning we can’t get as many dishes in. It’s only minor, but it’s these little things that flag up that there is still improvement to be made in these areas.

She knows what it should be like, but can’t work out how to correct it !?!

Marie took kp to Physio on Thursday. kp has had big problems with her bras this week. It’s safe to say she hasn’t mastered them at all. She has bought 2 front-fastening bras. One from Sadie the bra lady and the other from figleaves.com (Thanks to Helen and Susa for pointing this shop out). The Sadie one is a better one for her to do as it has 3 poppets, whereas the fig leaves one has 6 (!!!!) of the usual hook things. She can manage the poppets (it takes time though), but the hooks are near impossible. The fastening isn’t where the problem lies though !! She can get her left arm into the arm correctly, but then she has to fling her shoulder so it swoops around and she catches the other end of the bra with her right hand and she brings it round the front. This is where it goes wrong. During the fling, the bra is invariably inside out or upside down and she simply can’t work out (in her head) how to correct it. So, most of this week has been bra-less. Marie assisted for physio.

I got a bit of a rollocking this week. My mind was so much on work that I didn’t ask enough questions about physio. I did ask how it went and she told me, but I was supposed to get more detail.

kp:- You don’t seem as interested in me anymore

dp:- I am love ! What dya mean ?

kp:- Before, you’d always ask exactly what happened at physio and want to know all the moves etc, but now you don’t seem as interested.
I was banged to rights. She was right. I told her “I would work on it“.

Karen has pretty much cooked all the teas this week, which is great for me and rewarding for her, so we are both pleased about that.

Friday saw the arrival of Chris (Karen’s nephew), Laura (Chris’s fiance) and Ethan. Karen was kept busy with them all afternoon which allowed me to go for a pint with the lads from work, which was a nice change. If they hadn’t been here most of the afternoon, kp would have missed the lack of company for so long, so that worked out quite well.
Yesterday (Saturday) saw the arrival of Jane and Ronnie who were up for the weekend. Jane had teased us earlier in the week with her story of how she had been arrested by the police for harassment of one of her tenants. She had been kept in a cell for 4 hours and released on bail. We were in stitches when we heard the gist of it over the phone, but to hear the whole thing in person with all the gory detail was fantastic and it kept us amused for hours. Jane is a model citizen but at the same time, she doesn’t stand any sh+t. Anyway, she is definately in the right and the 3 complaints she has with the Police Commission over her manhandling should be upheld !!! At one point, they restrained her with 3 sets of handcuffs (one to each hand, and then a pair over her 2 hands), and one of the policeman (she called “Blondie”), put too much pressure on her arms and she has some horrific bruises.

So, a cracking Saturday hearing all about this !!! It is great to look at Karen when she is howling with laughter – it really is.

Pop Idol and a Chinese saw the Saturday night out.

Jane and Ronnie had a great night’s sleep whereas kp and I were up most of the night Jane’s snoring rocking the house foundations had nothing to do with the bad sleep (nothing at all). Nada. Zip. Absolutely nothing !

Today, we treated Jane and Ronnie to Sunday lunch at “The Pump House” (cracking restaurant in Durham). As always, the food was great and we had a lovely time. Here are the girls ….. inside ……..

and outside …..

 

Snoozes were the order of the afternoon and so concludes this week.

Eventful Week with a few big downs

For the past few weeks at work, I have been working long hours. Sometimes in as early as 7.15am, sometimes staying as late as 7.30pm, perhaps even later. I have been enjoying it, but it has taken its toll in the form of early nights. I would get in, have tea, and go straight to bed. Of course, for Karen, this has meant very little company apart from Marie and friends’ visits.

This came to a head on Monday night, when kp “had a chat” with me about my hours. She felt that we weren’t spending enough time together and that the job was getting more attention than her (from me). I had promised (before I started the job) that I wouldn’t do silly hours again (like I did before), and that I would work in moderation. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this job (at this time), it has been necessary to put in these hours just to stay afloat. I had assured her it would get better once some new appointments were made at work, but this didn’t pacify her and she wanted to see changes now.

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We had quite a lengthy discussion and the upshot was that we agreed I would cut my hours down to more normal working hours. We left it at that, but I worried all night about how I could still do my job effectively with reduced hours and in the morning kp and I had another chat about it. kp agreed that I couldn’t be a clock watcher and she understood that I would need to work some days longer than others, but on the whole I would aim to be more 8.30am to 5pm.

On the tuesday, Karen got up with me at 7am, and we both walked the dogs together. This was great for me and great for Karen. It allowed us to spend more time together and for kp to get up at a more reasonable hour. Once I went to work, she could go back to sleep for a few hours and then aim to stay up all afternoon until bedtime on the night. We did this for the rest of the week and I managed to be less tired on the night time. Success all round.

Here are a couple of shots of kp on the early morning walk. One of these was taken about 6.15am, and the other about 7.15am (on a different day).

Early in the week, Karen explained to me that she felt very upset inside, but she didn’t know why. She felt that she could cry at a moment’s notice, but no tears were forthcoming. Things were obviously on her mind, but she couldn’t articulate what they were. We didn’t dwell on it at the time.

Wednesday saw Marie visit and together Karen and Marie jobbed on around the house and the garden.

The week continued nicely with our new routine and we were dead pleased with how things were working out. On Friday, Karen had wanted to attend “Different Strokes”. It is a weekly meeting of Stroke victims (young and old) and a chance to discuss stroke issues with other victims (victims sounds like a wrong word to use). It’s also a chance for carers to share stories with fellow carers. It’s run by a lovely bloke (Anth) who himself had a big stroke 7 years ago, and the fund raiser is yet another young stroke victim (Lisa). Karen took a taxi to my workplace where we were going on together to the meet at Byker (close to my work). We were made to feel very welcome. We had a nice chat with Anth about how the meets usually work. The first 30-45 mins are normally chatting amongst ourselves. From 4pm to 8pm, there is a masseuse on hand to give free massages, aromatherapy, reflexology or hot stones treatment. There is also a counsellor on hand, a fitness instructor and a physiotherapist !!! All for free, thanks to the sterling work of Lisa.

Halfway through the first 30-45 minutes, Lorraine (a lovely lady) was introduced to us. She was the alternative therapies lady. She was amazing. Registered blind, she took us downstairs to the massage room and proceeded to give Karen a lovely massage. She took Karen’s details down, but because of her condition, she didn’t use a pad and paper, but instead used a dictaphone which her husband later transcribed for her. Karen and I couldn’t help but smile as the conversation unfolded ……

Lorraine :- So, Karen, how old are you ?

kp :- 43

Lorraine (switching the dictaphone on) :- 43

Lorraine :- Are you allergic to anything ?

kp:- No

Lorraine (switching the dictaphone on) :- No Known Allergies

Lorraine :- How did your stroke come about ?

kp:- I was involved in a car accident (and she asked me to explain what happened, which I did for about 2 minutes)….

Lorraine (switching the dictaphone on) :- Car Accident

It probably doesn’t sound funny, but we couldn’t look at each other for fear of a laugh escaping.

Karen thoroughly enjoyed her massage and we both thought Lorraine was great.

With the massage over, we went upstairs back to the room full of the “Different Strokes” gang. We had arrived back just in time for the exercise class. It is chair-based exercises and partners are encouraged to join in. Immediately I thought of a workmate who had just been telling me that he is going to the gym on Friday’s to get fitter. Here I was sat on a chair moving my upper body in tune to the music. I tell you what though, it didn’t half take it out of me. Some of the movements were really tough – especially when I had to keep my leg extended and bring my toes in. Blimey !! And we WEREN’T allowed to smoke while we did it !!!

In all seriousness, it was good fun and everyone enjoyed it. It was particularly funny when we had to do coordination exercises. It was a bit like patting your head, whilst doing a circle on your stomach. The fitness lady had us tapping one foot while moving an arm in a certain direction. Karen and I were hopeless !!!! I kept looking over at Karen to catch her doing ALL the exercises with just one side of her body and not switching as we were supposed to do. It was bl++dy hard. Apparently, it gets easier. Here is a photo taken after the chair-based exercises concluded. I opted out of this one and kp took part in sit-stand exercises against the mirror.

With that over, we were given a guided tour of the swimming baths. They do swimming sessions (private to Different Strokes) on a Tuesday. It’s a shame that the pool is 40 minutes away.

It was a lovely couple of hours and it flew past. Karen and I will definately be going again. It did however have a downside. To be among a group of people with similar ailments has its plus side, but it also reaffirms your condition and in some ways, it was a rude awakening for Karen and it hit her that she had had a stroke. I know that sounds strange, but things like this come as a shock to Karen, especially when (earlier in the week), she had been saying “I think I am nearly better now, what do you think ?”.

So, she went on a downer after the session and we had a few tears on the nighttime and on the Saturday.

After a lovely lie-in on the Saturday, we went in to Durham. I needed my eyes testing, and kp wanted to get some new clothes for her new slimline figure. I detest women’s clothes shopping with a vengeance. But, I put a brave face on and after 90 minutes we had a few tops and trousers. Yippee !

After parking in 2 different car parks (too far for kp to walk between the 2), and trawling around TWO shopping centres, both kp and I were sick of shopping. Here is kp is on the last leg…….

We were back in time for “Maria” and “X Factor” with Pizza.

A sad night followed. We had an earlyish night, but both woke up at about 2am. We went for some fresh air and returned to bed for a kiss and a cuddle. I was particularly in need of a kiss and cuddle. But it didn’t go too well. Karen’s left arm was all over the place and it was hard for Karen and I to get close. In her own words ….

kp:- I feel dead inside

This statement prefaced an hour of tears and a very distraught Karen I felt so sorry for her. She is a bit sick of living at the moment, especially for striving for things to be better.

We had a good talk today (Sunday) about last night and we have decided that we are going to play “The Joker” and involve the neuro psychologist. She is awesome and she REALLY helps kp get to grips with things. We will be ringing her tomorrow.

I am sure kp will feel better after speaking to her, but at the same time I am concerned that such days/nights will continue.

We have had a lovely day today.

Today, we were invited over to Terry and Nigel’s for Sunday lunch. It was gorgeous. Nige and I spent most of the afternoon checking out his new Xbox 360 on his HDTV, while Terry and Karen spent the afternoon chatting outside in the garden. Nice finish to a stormy week. Fingers crossed (again) that this coming week is better !

Final picture…….Karen put a washing load on the washing line on Monday. She took it down on the same day (all dry). Today (6 days later), I found this solitary sock still on the line. It is on the far left of the line !

From bad to worse.

Definately a week of realisation.

The week started off uneventful. I tried my best to do a more normal working hours week, but 3 days of solid interviewing left me needing to work extra hours, but kp was understanding.

We had agreed over the weekend that I would ring the neuropsychologist to arrange for her to come over and discuss things with Karen. Because we are outside of the Gateshead area (where this lady is based), we now have to fund this lady ourselves. At £120 per hour, it is extremely expensive, but worth every penny. This can be claimed back from the insurance company.

One of the reasons I have been so tired is walking the dogs so early before I go into work leaves me with one hour less sleep. So, Karen had arranged for a dog walker to start on Wednesday. This was great and gave me an extra hour in bed !
Marie also came over on Wednesday and cooked us a lovely roast shoulder of lamb. She stayed over and helped get kp ready for her trip to Physio on Thursday. Karen enjoyed Physio as she was introduced to the exercise equipment. Apparently, she had a go on an exercise bike and a trampet. She was told she had only 2 more physio sessions with the current physio as she is moving out of the area. The physio said she would refer her on to a local gym where she can get reduced fee entrance for a certain period. She is also being referred back to the neuro physiotherapist
Karen takes things in very slowly nowadays. She will have heard the physio say there were only 2 sessions left with her before she is referred back on to the neuro physio, but it won’t really have sunk in the implications of this i.e. that there isn’t much more that the physical-based physiotherapists can do. The seed had been planted however. The good news, however, is that the insurance company has offered another 10 physio sessions and we have yet to dip into this pool.

With the physio over, Karen and Marie returned home and Marie left to return to Middlesbrough. The neuropsychologist (np) arrived at 4pm. Karen and the np had a good chat lasting an hour. In previous visits, the np had suggested to Karen that a full recovery may not be possible, but Karen simply didn’t take it on board. At some point during the meeting the np planted another seed when she suggested that Karen may NOT make a full recovery. At this point, according to kp, there were lots of tears and sadness, but the np (wonderful as she is), managed to calm her down and left kp feeling “ok”.

Up until now, I have never broached the probability of a less-than-full recovery with Karen. I didn’t want to bring on the upset and felt it best to let kp contemplate this in her own time. This week was beginning to bring this on more and more in kp’s mind.

We had big chats on the Thursday night and Friday morning and I again left this along the lines of “you’re still making progress love” (which she is). Avoiding the issue I suppose, but I didn’t feel kp was ready to take in the full picture.

And then………Friday came…………

kp met me at work at 6pm (taxi) and we went on to “Different Strokes”.

Today was a special night for the Byker “Different Strokes” group. They were celebrating their 5th birthday. A wonderful spread had been provided including drinks, a big tombola and there was going to be a quiz. We were really looking forward to it. It was quite a busy session. The one thing kp wanted to achieve while she was at the session was to speak to another lady who had had a similar stroke and she wanted to see how she got her bra on (kp is still struggling and can only get it on 50% of the time).
We had a chat to a couple of stroke survivors. Anth came over (the wonderful organiser) and had a chat with kp and I. It went something like this….

Anth :- “I read your blog from last week.”

Karen doesn’t know what I have put in the blog over the last year. She is a year behind. She didn’t know about the fact that I had mentioned how upset she was after the last meet. Although kp was upset after the last meet, it hadn’t really fully sunk in that she was a stroke victim and that she may not get full recovery.

Anth :- “…… The red lights were flashing last week when you were asking how long it will take to get to 100%. I realised very early that I wasn’t going to get back to 100%……..”

At this point, my focus was totally on Karen as I knew Anth’s words would hit hard. She was starting to well up.

Anth :- “….. it’s best to accept where you are and then anything else is a bonus.”

He was trying to help big time and his heart was 110% in the right place. kp managed to keep a tap on her tears and upset. When Anth left to start the night rolling, kp got very upset and turned her back to everyone in the room so she could cry.

kp:- “I need to get out of here.”

I ushered her into the corridor outside and comforted her for a few minutes. I popped back in to make our apologies and did the best I could to make Anth feel that it wasn’t his fault she was upset, more the situation. Anth, if you are reading this, hopefully you can see the whole week was bringing about some realisation. It needed to come and now it has. It was coming eventually anyway.

Karen was really distraught and cried all the way to the car. When I eventually got her to the car, she cried her little heart out. Gasping for breath, she tried to get her handbag into the car and it wouldn’t stand up where she wanted it to……

kp :- F++KING HANDBAG !

Karen NEVER swears. She hates it.

We spent 5-10 minutes in the car and the crying didn’t stop or even dwindle. In the end……

kp:- Just drive me home !!

I drove home with 1 hand on her lap (patting and stroking it). She was as pale as a ghost. Halfway home, she opened the window fully. She was feeling very sick. It turned out we were by the chippy where we normally get chips from, so I pulled over. But the smell of Doner Meat was too much and no sooner had I parked and opened the door than she threw up on the pavement. The passers by on the pavement must have thought she had drunk too much or something but neither of us were bothered.

She waited until there was no more throwing up to be done. My longing for Doner and Chips had passed. Karen just wanted to get home and lie down. She was that keen to lie down, we laid her down on the back seat. Karen hasn’t been in the back of a car since the accident, so she must have been bad. At home, she went straight to bed to “get out of it”.

At about 3am, she woke up and we had a long chat. There were more tears. Trying to calm her down, I said…..

dp:- But you don’t know you aren’t going to make a full recovery.

kp:- David, I do. Stop saying I may make a full recovery. It’s not going to happen.

So, I think it has sunk in where she is and that she won’t get back to be the Karen she was before. As she herself said…..

kp:- Nothing is going to get 100% is it. My hips are only going to get worse. My eyesight isn’t going to get better. My head isn’t going to improve. And my left arm is useless and won’t get better.

There was nothing I could do, but agree. She wouldn’t hear anything I said to the contrary. When I tried to put a positive in there …..

dp:- You WILL still see some improvement in your left arm though. We are still seeing some improvement from week to week.

She accepted it, but reiterated that she won’t be the old kp. People reading this who know Karen and who have met her post-accident will think she is the old Karen. I said as much to her, but she knows she isn’t the old Karen. She cited examples focussed on her brain which reassure her she isn’t 100% mentally…….From memory, they were things like…..

• Bra
• Not being able to turn a pair of trousers outside in. If there is a leg the wrong way in or out, she can’t work out how to get it right.
• Can’t open a can of corned beef for the dogs. She can’t work out the orientation needed for the key provided.
• Not enough grip in her left hand to open a can of beans (for example)
• Etc….

She also mentioned that she can’t take things in like she used to be able to.

There was little I could say to that. We went to bed on a low ebb.

Saturday came, and kp was subdued in the morning. We needed to fill the day in big time. I suggested taking some trousers back to M&S, picking up my new glasses etc….We did this, we also picked up an electric potato peeler and an electric tin opener (fingers crossed they help).

Saturday night, we weren’t short of good programmes to watch and despite all the things on her mind, she was able to laugh at bits and bobs. Especially the strange faces Andrew Lloyd Webber pulls when watching artists.

Connie won the Maria show and we were both over the moon at that.

The TV had took her mind off things. She slept brilliantly as did I.

This morning, conversation turned back to what had happened this week. She doesn’t want to think about or talk about the realisation of her situation. She CERTAINLY doesn’t want to hear that “things are going to be ok.” She knows she needs to accept the status quo.

Today, it’s a lovely day, and she is “ok”. She is avoiding talking about the issue. She wants to see the np again this week to try and get her head around things. This is a great idea and I will be sorting this on Monday.

So………..not the best week. But it needed to come. Perhaps it will be a good thing in the long term……

Time will tell !

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 !