An eventful week this week. Let’s start on a positive. Karen is sleeping much better. I think she has probably had 2 full night’s sleep this week, maybe 3 ! When I say full, she may have got up for the loo at some point, but that’s fantastic for Karen to get up and come straight back and carry on the sleep.

Another bit of good news is that Doreen (the Support Worker) starts on Monday March 3rd.

The week really started on Tuesday when everything GOOD and BAD happened.

Steve (the Physio) came and as it was a nice day, he took Karen AND the dogs for a walk. One of Karen’s aims is to do the old dog walk we used to do. There are two dog walks that she used to do. One is about a mile (and up hills), the other is about 3 miles and verging on mountainous at times ! The former affords a view of Esh Winning from the top of the hill and so is very rewarding when you get to the top. Karen DID IT !!!!! She was absolutely OVER THE MOON !!! She texted me she was so excited. Well the day got better than that !

Next came Matt (the speech therapist). He went to work on Karen’s confidence when she talks to people who don’t know she has a brain injury. Together they constructed a starting sentence that Karen can use to set their expectations that she sometimes appears slow. Here’s what they come up with…..

“Just before we start, can I just let you know that I have had a head injury  a few years ago, and I’m a little bit slower with some things, so if you can be a bit more patient with me, that would be great.”

Karen tried this out later in the week when we had to call the Dyson man out and it worked, so she was pleased at that !

Back to Tuesday.

On the evening (6.30pm appointment), we went to see Mr Eldabe (the Pain Consultant) about the intrathecal drug delivery device. He had been thinking about Karen’s case and had come up with a drug that was NOT morphine-based that Karen could use. Karen was very pleased about this (as you can imagine). The only downside is the cost at £6000 per year. The device itself has to be changed every 7 years (at a cost of £7000 + the cost of the operation), so the next step is to get confirmation that the insurers will pay these fees. He has written to Syd (the Case Manager). Fingers crossed. Norwich Union have been great so far. Interestingly, the drug comes from Sea Slugs (from the Phillipines), it is some part of the venom that they use to kill fish which they then eat.

This appointment was in Middlesbrough, so we had arranged to have tea at Michelles. She cooked us home-made chips and steak – very tasty it was too.

And then the bad thing happened. Let me set the scene, it was very foggy, and not the best driving conditions.  Karen was very on edge, and talking all the time, partly to calm her nerves and partly ‘cos she had had one of the best days since the accident.

About 20 minutes into the journey, we were on a dual carriageway where there was a petrol station, and I had been following a petrol tanker for a while (at a good distance). He indicated left to pull into the petrol station, and he turned into the petrol station. He couldn’t get fully in, so part of his tanker was in my lane, so I started to brake slightly until I realised I could get past. So, go back 7 seconds, here is what happened from Karen’s perspective.

kp:- “Eeeeee, I am talking a lot aren’t I ?”
dp:- “You are, well, there’s a lot to talk about today”
kp:- “Is it bothering you, me talking ?”
dp:- “No, but it’s taking a lot of concentration with it being so foggy……”

At which point she looked up and saw the tanker (which I was already braking for, although not enough to stop, because in my head, I wasn’t stopping).

Karen just screamed and went in to what I can only describe as a hysterical fit. She was absolutely besides herself and utterly distraught. AND THE WORSE THING IS, I couldn’t stop as it would have been dangerous with all the fog etc…… She just wailed and wailed for about 5 minutes (although it felt like 2 hours) until i got to a hotel car park where I could stop safely. I jumped out of the car and went round to her door, opened it and gave her the biggest of hugs. She wouldn’t let go and just cried and cried.

We spent about 15 minutes (which is a long time) just hugging and me talking, explaining that we were never in any danger, and that I had already seen it etc etc etc…..

I promised her I would drive really slow on the way back, which I did, so she had to endure an even longer journey home. She didn’t stop crying until she fell asleep (crying) on the night time. She said things like ….

kp:- “I’ll never go in a car again”

God, that would be awful if she meant it (which she did at the time). She got up with me on Wednesday morning and she was a lot better, but still crying and upset. She remained upset for the next couple of days and it was obviously taking up a lot of her thinking time. But, thankfully, time is a great healer, and memories fade and although she hasn’t been in the car with me since, I am sure she will and in fact, she took a taxi ride with Marie to town on the thursday and although she was edgy, she did it and that’s the important thing !!

She enjoyed seeing Marie again, as she has been unwell recently.

Friday saw Steve come again for physio, but he wasn’t 100% so he went easy on Karen which was just as well, as the walk took it out of kp physically and she couldn’t do much for the next day or two. But, the good thing is that she said she WOULD do it again, despite the aches and pains which is typical kp !!

On Friday night, Dave and Helen came over (the couple we met in Egypt and who we are going away on holiday with in a couple of week’s time (Lanzarote) and we had a good night with them.

We stayed up until 2am !! And kp didn’t have a good night’s sleep that night, despite being exhausted when she went to bed. She was up from about 4am until 7am and slept until about 1pm Saturday. We had an easyish day on Saturday, taking the dogs for just a short walk. The usual Saturday night pizza was postponed as we didn’t feel upto it.

Sunday (today), we have had another chilled day. kp sleeping a lot of it, me playing on my xbox, but we did fit in a nice walk on the old railway line. Tonight, it’s pizza night, with Lost and some program celebrating Bruce Forsyth’s 80th birthday. Happy Birthday Bruce – Bruce for a knighthood.

Busy week this week for kp.

Monday, the new neuropsychologist comes on board tomorrow with an hour and a half chat with kp.
Tuesday, Dyson man comes and Steve (Physio), Rachel (OT) and Adele are coming at some point too.
Thursday sees Syd (Case Manager) come to review things
Friday, Physio again.
Sunday, we are going to the golf club for Mother’s day with my family.