Another good week for kp. From strength to strength…..

Not sure whether it is because we have a holiday to aim for (Egypt, 2 weeks, October) or the glorious weather we have been having. Or it could be the new anti-depressants, or just the ways mood swing up and down or a combination of them, but kp is in top form.

Tuesday – Adele was over and kp and Adele took the dogs for a walk. kp held the dogs and Adele was there just in case. It all went well and she thoroughly enjoyed it. They did about half a mile and it took the usual toll on kp, and she had to pop a morphine tablet for the pain. We had an appointment with the insurance man on tuesday, so it was an early finish from work for me. He had come because the post woman is suing us for compo because Bonnie bit her. He asked all about what happened, and wanted to meet the dogs.

dp:- Now, when they come in, they will bark a lot at you, but they won’t bite, ok ? It will go on for about 30 seconds, and then they will be fine.
Insurance Man :- Don’t worry, I am used to this kind of thing (said in a cocky way)

So, I let the dogs in and at first they didn’t realise he was here, because they went to see the bathroom workmen.

When they came back in to the front room, they noticed him, and then they did their barking thing. Well, 2 German Shepherds barking loudly at you, is obviously quite a scary thing, and the bloke went a nice shade of white. hehehehe

He wanted a photo of Bonnie (the “biter”), but he wasn’t comfortable enough to stand up and take it, so I took it.

Anyway, the good news is, we are insured for the claim and there is no excess to pay. Yay !

Wednesday, Adele was over again to clean the house. There was also another appointment. It was with a Urologist in Middlesbrough. She was dead canny. Very poooosh, but canny. She asked kp all about the accident, and I filled in the blanks she couldn’t articulate or remember. It finished with an examination. We thought a Urologist was just to do with urine, so the only preparation we had done was for kp to ensure she had a full bladder in case she had to give a sample. But it wasn’t required. A Urologist deals with bowels, bladder and sexual reproduction.

Bladder – fine now, were lots of early issues and we needed the commode for about a year after we got home, but normal now.
Bowels – all to pot because of all the morphine she takes, meaning she only goes about once a week and suffers from constipation
Sex – what the hell is that ? We have tried a couple of times since the accident, but it’s a no-go area now.

What was interesting, and I will spare you the detail, is that we found out something new in the examination, which explains why it’s an issue.

We took Adele home after the examination, and went to the chippy with the kids, popping off at Marie’s along the way. We also went to see Christopher (Karen’s nephew) as he has a new dog. Here is a photo of “Mitch” and kp…..

Thursday, yet another early finish from work, for an appointment with the psychiatrist. Unfortunately, we got the time wrong. It should have been 4pm, and we were there 25 minutes late, thinking it was for 4.30pm. But, fortunately for us, he still saw us for 5 mins, and we were able to discuss medication and how kp currently is. On the night time we had pasta, and kp suffered from swallowing problems. Weird. It happens very sporadically, but it is quite a concern when she struggles to swallow.

Friday, Adele came over again, and they took the dogs for a walk. One of the things that kp really wants to be able to do again is “walk the dogs”. It’s what she counts as “being normal” again. On the Tuesday walk, they hadn’t bumped into anyone. But they did on friday and the dogs were fine, which was good to hear, but we need some more similar experiences before she can go on her own. My worry is kp crossing the roads for starters. She doesn’t have the awareness she used to of traffic and things on the left side. And my other fear is if the dogs go for other dogs, they will just pull her over.

Saturday, we had a lovely day. kp’s sleep is still all over. She came to bed at about 5.30am Saturday morning. We went to mum and dad’s and she slept pretty much 80% of the way down there, waking herself up occasionally with a big snore

We had a lovely time at mum and dad’s with Jane, Guy (my sister and bro-in-law) and the kids. Here is kp with the kids and Jane.

Once again, my sister has been at the bottle again (click photo to enlarge), but she is looking for help with her drinking issues.

Sunday (today), we took the dogs for the loveliest of walks. The weather was beautiful, and we met quite a lot of cyclists, people and dogs. We used this as a test, and kp had the dogs on the lead and each time, they were brilliant and not at all bothered by other dogs. On one occasion, they were swimming in the river (therefore off the leads), and 2 little dogs came (also off the lead) along and they were all fine together (not a single bark (from ours anyway)). So, I have signed kp off to walk the dogs herself now. It means so much to her and although I am still concerned (mostly about the roads, and the speed she walks across them), I am not concerned from a dog angle. We think it is since we lost Cleo, that the dogs have lost their snappiness with other dogs, but it’s definitely not there now, and I am sure Marie, the dog walker also has helped. We will still keep the dog walker on, as Karen can’t take them for a proper walk, but at least she can take them for a stroll for her own well being and a bonus walk for the dogs.

All in all, an absolutely corker of a week. Long may it continue……

Good week this week, and we have found the cure for Karen’s sleep problems.

Monday saw Angela (fellow car crash victim) visit. kp was glad to see her after such a long gap and they enjoyed some good banter.

Tuesday, Abby and Adele came – Adele to clean, Abby for the visit. Abby stayed over and on Wednesday Adele came back over and they went to the Metro. kp enjoyed herself, but the walking (and shopping) was a bit much for her, meaning that on Thursday she was a bit worse for wear, even with some morphine tablets in her (20mg). Marie came up to visit, but they just sunned it in the garden.

Friday, Adele was over again, leaving the house sparkling.

Friday night, I was due to go out with some ex-work pals for a night out in Sunderland, but we had forgotten that the solicitor was coming on Saturday morning, and we needed to talk over our plan of action. So, I had to miss that, which was a shame, as I know it would have been a good night.

Anyway, we had a productive meeting with the solicitor, sharing our concerns with him and going through 2 of the reports that we had had back from medical experts.
And then came the solution to Karen’s sleeping problem in the form of a 9-year old boy called Ethan. WHAT A WHIRLWIND. We went over to the ‘boro on Saturday afternoon, picking Ethan up, making a short visit to his dads as he hadn’t seen his dad in a few months. From the moment we got him to the moment I took him back, I kid you not, he didn’t stop talking. It was hard to spot the gaps where he took breaths. He could even talk with a KFC in his mouth. We had a lovely time with him though, despite the verbal diarrhoea. He wanted to watch a Harry Potter movie which he did whilst on my lap, which was canny. But, the thing that REALLY annoyed me, was he would talk all the way through it, giving me a commentary of what was about to happen. Grrrr !

It was 12.30am by the time the film finished. kp was asleep by “Minute 6″ of the film, snoring away merrily. I just yanked the volume up, it made no difference as she was out for the count. I had got the short straw of sleeping with Ethan. You’d think a 9 year old boy would be happy to sleep by his self, but not this one. He is frightened of everything. His dad had a new pup. It’s a 7-week old terrier pup, so you can imagine the size. It wouldn’t fill you up if you ate it. But he was terrified of it, if it approached he would gently whap it away with his hand. Unfortunately, he did this when it was on the sofa and it fell off, falling his head with a big “Yelp”. Ethan was mortified and in tears about what he had done.

When a midge comes near him, he runs away. He hates our dogs, “David, get the dogs out of the room”, being his catchphrase. Yet he came on the dog walk this morning. Poor lad. Anyway, kp had a great night’s sleep on her own. I, on the other hand, didn’t. We got into bed, I was knackered and the talking just carried on. Me saying “It’s bedtime now, time to close your eyes” made no difference. After about 20 minutes, I was being a bit more to the point.

dp:- “Ethan, I am going to sleep now, I am not going to reply anymore”

No difference. Eventually, it trailled off. Thank (insert your deity here) !

But, he is frightened of the dark, so we slept with the “Big Light” on (Peter Kay).

On the walk, there was a horse, towards the end of the walk, which he had to pass to get back to the road. No amount of coaxing would get him to go past the horse. He had to walk all the way back to the start on his own, and I met him at the road.

Anyway, cure for sleep – 9 year old lad called Ethan, as kp had a great sleep !

That’s it for this week’s blog. The only thing this week is Psychiatrist on Thursday.

Here are a couple of photos of Ethan. In one of them he wasn’t speaking !

Here he is – SILENT AT LAST.