Quieter week this week.

Karen’s pain is generally under control as long as kp doesn’t overdo it, which she did this week and had to pay the price for.

Sleep remains an issue but we are making more headway thanks to Jane from the Lansdowne Clinic. It’s early days.

Monday saw Doreen and kp go to Matalan for some retail therapy.

Tuesday – Rachel (OT) and Steve (physio) came to the house as they wanted to do a combined session to be sure they were working on complimentary rehab.

Wednesday saw kp and I attend the Lansdowne Clinic to meet with Jane. Sleep is Karen’s biggest issue at the moment (affecting her daily life) so Jane started working on that. Lots of good tips and a schedule that kp has to stick to.

• No drinking tea before bedtime.
• Recapping the day and what is planned for the following day an hour before bedtime, the idea being so that there is nothing on kp’s mind.
• Going to bed at a reasonable hour (11pm) and she has to allow 30 minutes to fall asleep, and if she doesn’t, she has to get up for 20 minutes (and read something borning) and then try again.
• Etc etc…

Lots of good tips.

She also has to keep a sleep diary for a couple of weeks.

That night, she slept from 11pm to 1.30am, 1.50am to 5.10am and 7.30-9am. So it’s broken sleep (no change there), but much better than previous sleeps.

Thursday, kp told Doreen not to come and she spent some good time with Adele (kp’s niece) – they walked the dogs together.

Thursday night – 11pm – 1.30am (woke up dripping with sweat), 2.10am to 3.30am (another sweat), 3.50am to 6.50am and 7.10 – 8.45am.

Friday – kp and Doreen went to the gym and they did arm and hand stretching. kp also went on the rowing machine and the gym bike, but that proved to be a costly set of exercises. kp really enjoys the physio sessions as well, so it’s a shame. The price she paid was lots of pain in her right leg and right hip. She had to take a couple of morphine tablets on the night and she missed most of the night’s tv and had an awful night’s sleep.

Saturday, she was still done in, so I walked the dogs on my own. In the afternoon, we went to see kp’s family in Middlesbrough, and took Adele, Abby and Louisa to the fair which was lots of fun. It has been a while since we have seen the kids and they haven’t half shot up. Abbie (11) is taller than Karen, although to be fair, there are some garden gnomes bigger than kp.

Good Saturday’s night tv watching the film Shooter (thanks Adele).

Sunday (today) we have had a cracking day. Lovely dog walk in the glorious sun, followed by reading outside (for me), and kp had a LONG conversation with Ronnie on the phone and then we did some gardening at the front. Really nice !