After a bad night’s sleep on Sunday night, I had the opportunity to have a chat with Laura (on her own) when she arrived before Karen woke up, regarding Karen’s current state of mind. I reiterated what I had put in the blog, about it being so important that Karen set the pace and that she feels “in charge”. Laura was on board and I think that set the week in the right direction.

So, when Karen got up a little later, we were using phrases like….”What do YOU want to do today ?”. There was no pressure for Karen to do anything.

She responded well to this tack, CHOOSING to go food shopping at Sainsburys, choosing to have a coffee after the shop and then choosing an afternoon of physio exercises. Already her mood was on the “up” which was a big relief to me, ‘cos if Karen is down for any extended period of time, that brings me down, and I risk getting to the point where I can’t help her as much. So, lots of relief from me, as day by day as the week progressed she took control and her spirit lifted. Life was good again.

Monday night and Karen didn’t get to bed until 9am !!! So, she only had a couple of hours sleep before Laura took her to her physio session with Steve. Steve explained to Laura all the exercises Karen would benefit from doing at home. After the physio, the girls went for a coffee at a local cafe and then returned home, where they called it a day. Karen needed sleep.

Wednesday – Karen had planned to make the most of her “no rehab” day and go and see Marie in Middlesbrough. It was a bit of a weird start to the day, with me showing Laura how to do Karen’s hair. I wanted to put my effeminate voice on and do the “So, you doing anything at the weekend ?” spiel that I tend to go into (in hairdresser mode), to make Karen laugh, but a lack of sleep meant she just wanted her hair doing. With that done, Laura took her over to the ‘boro. Karen was gagging to see Strike (the lurcher) and Tye on their walk, so she went with Marie to a local field, where Karen took great delight in seeing Tye try and keep up with Strike’s greyhound pace. Apparently, he wasn’t even close to catching him, but Karen enjoyed watching the chase.

This gave me some time to do some consultancy work, which made a nice change.

Before Karen came home, I was waiting for her at the bedroom window, and when I looked back into the hall, this is the sight I was greeted by…..

The dogs know they are not allowed past the metal divide into the changing room (where I took the photo from).

Thursday, and no Laura (Support Worker). She was on a day’s first aid training, so I took Karen to her physio session at Seaham. The focus of the Thursday’s session is for Joanne (the physio) to try and get Karen’s left shoulder much looser. She had retained 8 inches of movement in her left arm (going back) since the last session, but by the end of the session, she could get 12 again, which was a big improvement. The idea (hopefully) eventually is that Karen will be able to get her left arm to the position that is needed for her to do her own bra. So, we’re getting there.

After the physio, I was gagging for a bag of chips. Seaham is by the sea and the waves were crashing and it just felt like a day to sit in the warmth of the car, with the cold howling winds outside eating a bag of chips. I managed to find a chippy and parked up, and just as I was about to get out of the car, a woman driving a car turned right in front of our car and misjudged the gap, hitting our car. The side of her car hit our front bumper. First priority was Karen, of course and I calmed her down and there were no tears, which was great !!! Just some scratches on the bumper (on our car), which i wasn’t worried about, that’s what bumpers are for, not sure about the woman’s car, but as it was her fault, I let her go on her merry way. Kp was ok, that was the main thing.

We got our bags of chips and sat at the seafront (in the car) and it was great.

Jane Burns was due to come in the afternoon for a visit, but had to cancel at the last minute, which allowed Karen to relax and have some quiet time with me, which we enjoyed.

So, as each day of the week passed, Karen’s mood got higher and higher.

On Friday, Karen wanted to go to the local gym, so Laura took her. Because of lack of sleep, Karen found it hard to get a walking rhythm, but they managed to get some stretching exercises done back at the house. Laura had to go for “supervision” in the afternoon, that’s where she meets her boss and chats about how things are going I think. Karen had booked to get her nails done at Sacriston, so on the way to supervision, Laura dropped her off and then I picked her up an hour later with lovely nails to show.

So, all was going swimmingly with Karen’s moood on the up, and then came Saturday. Karen had planned to go see sister Michelle in Middlesbrough. All was going to plan, Laura arrived as Karen was having her hair done by me. She was all dressed and ready to go, when she started crying.

Karen :- “I don’t think I want to go”

We couldn’t work out what was wrong. She just didn’t feel like going. I think, in my head, I have put it down to a tiring week, with something on every day, and she really wanted the weekend to chill and not go anywhere. I know Karen said that she didn’t want to be away from home, when she felt so teary.

I think the week had took its toll. Still, on the positive side, the previous week, she didn’t even get as far as the weekend before feeling down, so at least she made it through the week, and most people use their weekends to recoup, so well done kp.

So, Saturday was spent around the house with her homey (me). We enjoyed our usual Saturday night’s frivolities.

Today, we are planning a dog walk and some more chillin’ in da hood.

I seem to end lots of weekly blog posts with ….

So, hopefully next week, things will improve.

It seems this week is no different.