Well, generally things are better in the Pollard household.

kp’s pain is in control
Her meds are down
And her sleep is better, but we’re not there yet.

Sleepwise, she is now on amytrypteline and it is definitely helping her sleep. She takes it about 3-4 hours before bedtime, and she is nodding off when she should be. One of the more alarming things (for me), is that it blurs the line between awake and asleep. So, whereas, most people are either awake, or asleep, Karen experiences an hour or so before bedtime when she is in a waking sleep. Delirious is too strong a word, but she talks sh+te, moreso than usual

A good example is some of the audio recordings I put on the blog. But, she’ll do this while awake.

The worrying thing for me, is that if she gets up in the night, I am not confident that she will be safe. One morning this week, she described how she had gone for a fag and on the way back into the house, was bumping off the walls & pillars outside. I mentioned this to Dr Parry (psychiatrist) and he wasn’t at all surprised and commented that this was one of the side effects.

But, Karen would rather be getting the sleep she is getting and pay this small price. And she HAS been getting some good sleeps. At least 2 full night’s sleeps this week, and the other nights have been generally good, so a BIG plus here !

So, this week…..

Monday and Syd (Case Manager) came over. He had a chat with Laura and Karen about kp’s progress. He was very pleased.

Rachel came immediately Syd had left to do her OT stuff. We have an MDT (multi-disciplinary team) meeting in a week or so, that’s where all the specialists convene at the house with all the solicitors (both sides), so Rachel told Karen she would be doing another assessment with her next week so she can measure the improvement. I think she has to do a Fruit Salad and bake something and then Rachel gauges how well she does it, how safe etc.. etc….

Once Rachel had gone, Laura helped Karen go through all her exercises and her stretches, and that went very well.

Tuesday was Karen at her best !!!

Here’s what Laura wrote about the day in her report, it perfectly sums up how well Karen did ………..

“Karen was in a very good mood today. When I arrived at 10am, she was already dressed and ready to get on with the day. We set off to do some shopping at Sainsburys. Karen took complete control and practically did all the shopping by herself. She was using her left arm a lot and mastered most things very well. We grabbed some lunch after the shopping. Something I noted from this trip was that Karen was a lot more interactive with staff and the general public. She had a full conversation with the checkout lady while packing the bags.

After lunch we went straight to physio and discussed what Karen had to do for her Himat assessment. When back at home, Karen decided that she wanted to make one of our recipes (homemade French Onion Soup). That took us upto teatime.”

Well done kp !!

The soup was to die for and poor kp got none of it ! Adele and I ate the lot, the next day.

A great sleep followed tuesday night.

Wednesday is kp’s day off from rehab, but she was still cooking on gas.

She wanted to do some Xmas shopping around Durham. She’s not a big fan of shopping, but it needed to be done and it was good therapy. Laura noted that she lost her bearings a few times, and couldn’t work out which direction she had to go.

Thursday and the weather was really bad. Even, the dog walker (who lives local) couldn’t get to the house. She was due to go to physio, but we cancelled that as the roads were too bad. Here’s a couple of photos I took while dog walking…..

The roads…..

The House…..

Laura also couldn’t get to the house, things were that bad.

Friday and with the roads much improved, Karen went for one final shop in Durham. On her return, it was exercises and a trip to the gym, but she was flagging and her legs tired, but she still managed 1 mile in 15.5 minutes. Well done love.

Saturday and Sunday have been quiet, but we’ve enjoyed it. We went to walk the dogs on Saturday, and drove the car to the usual spot which has a nice flat walk, but it was sheer ice, so we had to just return to the house.

Sunday, and it was still treacherous and too icy for Karen, so I took the dogs on my lonesome.

All in all, a cracking week, and one kp should be proud of. Let’s hope, next week is the same. Lots of assessments, physio and OT and a trip to the psychologist.

Keep it up love.