Up and Down week. I can’t quite believe Karen has picked herself up from the down she had on Thursday, but that can only be a good sign !!

So………..

Well, of course Sunday was the Wimbledone Final and with £5 on Roddick to win (obtained when he was 22 to 1 to win), it made for exciting “shout at the TV” entertainment. He didn’t win, but what a great match. kp was in her element

Monday was “back to work” for kp. Nat took her to physio in Seaham. Good physio session for kp. Amazing she is still seeing physical progress so long after the accident and with the pain relief coming down too !!

The weather was atrocious on monday, real bad thunderstorms, and the lightning strikes were within a mile of the house. Usual “power off for a second” moments a couple of times. Was concerned the girls wouldn’t make it back, but they were fine. Once back, no time for rest as Rachel (OT) arrived. They were due to do some more “Road Safety” stuff. And I was so tempted to go in and say “Don’t let the weather stop you !”, but I refrained. It was absolutely bouncing rain-wise. Instead they went through an activity sheet that Rachel had prepared that summarises all the steps involved in crossing the road.

It was really good and thorough, but Karen found it very verbose, so Natalie did an excellent job of making it very graphical (pictorially wise) later in the week.

I was due to fly but the weather well and truly stopped play.

Once Rachel left, the girls did some brain tests that Nikki Brosnan had left. It’s a CD full of auditory attention tests. They start off easy….A bloke reading out numbers and Karen has to write a mark every time she hears a “2″. But they progress to him doing it faster, and doing much more complex things, but we’re at the easier levels at the moment. Both Nat and I did them too – moral support. Embarassingly, there was one test where kp got 100% and I got 95%. But, I blame…………..erm………….damn, can’t think of anything to blame. One of the dogs distracted me, yes, it was the dogs !! Damn Dogs !

Once bored, I retreated to do Air Nav revision, and later on, I could hear the girls planning the rest of the week (and the next week too).

Tuesday, the weather was still bad – thunderstorms continued. Karen prefers to drive around in our car than Nat’s, understandably ‘cos a Volvo is more like a tank than a Renault. But, Nat was a little concerned about driving our car as it’s very long in her eyes. So, kp and I had been discussing (at length) whether we should get another car for Nat to drive her around in. After lengthy discussion, we ended up concluding that any other car we get would still be a long one (for the dogs), so Nat might as well get used to driving our car. So, on tuesday morning, Nat and I went out together in the Volvo, to get her comfortable driving it. We were out about 30 minutes, and she seemed to do very well. So, we’ll do some more trips and then put her on the insurance. The girls went to Boundary Mill for a shopping expedition. My kind of shopping expedition. After 3 hours, they returned having spent £0.00. I have encouraged her to have more trips like that whenever she wants.

Wednesday, the girls went to the gym in the morning, and then Angela (fellow car crashee) came over. The girls had a huge catchup session. I had a heli lesson in th’afternoon.

Thursday was a busy day and a bit of a turning point, mood-wise. It started off ok with kp going for some swimming practice with Nat (at Whickham Villa). That went very well. Moments before they arrived back, Syd had arrived for a catchup, so kp went straight into that. And then whilst Syd was getting ready to leave, Nikki Brosnan (neuropsyche) arrived, so very busy day for kp. This is when the mood changed. Nikki is GREAT for kp. Karen is the first to say it. She likes “no nonsense”, “tell it how it is” people and that’s Nikki. And she did just that today. So far, with Nikki, kp has been doing loads of neuropsyche tests, but today they had to be put on hold, because kp is due to see a neuropsyche medico-legal expert from the “other side” in a week or so’s time, and the “other side”‘s neuropscyhe understandably didn’t want kp having done neuropscyhe tests recently, ‘cos they could skew her results. So, no more neuropsyche tests until we’ve seen this medico-legal person. So, instead, Nikki and kp discussed what kp would like to do in the future. And although they are nowhere near working out the final thing kp would like to do, one of the things that was discussed was a temporary “build-up” kind of solution to help kp adapt to a group working situation, and that was “working in a charity shop”. kp wasn’t too keen, but I think she would do it to achieve the final solution.

However, then Nikki asked Karen, how much information would she be happy for Nikki to share with the Charity shop people about Karen’s injuries. Well, in her head, Karen had thought she was nearly “back to her old self” and that no information would need to be shared. Nikki gave an example of Karen’s memory and how she may need her work colleagues to know that occasionally things will need to be repeated etc…..At this, Karen got very upset.

Before the accident, Karen was a very private person at work. Moreso than anyone I have ever worked with. She kept her cards very close to her chest, so for her “work” colleagues to know things like this, was very against the grain.

The upset continued for about an hour. I was thinking the worst, that kp would be back on a major downer and that she’d go back 6 months mentally etc…etc….

Nikki left once kp was “ok” again, and Karen remained very low.

Amazingly though, kp did something I couldn’t have predicted. Normally, after a big shock like this, it knocks kp back. But, rather than go backwards, kp was on the phone to Ronnie in London (who has some issues of her own), helping her with those issues. I was so proud of her. “Speaking to people” is normally the last thing kp can do when she’s been knocked back, but she was on the phone for 2 full hours helping Ronnie with her problems !! Well done kp – I’m very proud of you.

Now, although her mood didn’t bounce back, it does seem to be “under control”. I have been too scared to ask how she is, ‘cos I don’t want to hear the answer, but she seems “ok”, not brilliant, not drastic, hope that’s the case. And with the way things have been, I’m quietly hoping that she’ll bounce back !!

Friday, and kp and I were both very worried about Adele (kp’s niece). She’s been rough for about 2 weeks. We’re hoping everything’s ok. i went for another heli lesson in the afternoon.

Here’s the sky in Esh Winning on Friday night……

The weekend has been quieter thankfully. Dog walking & gardening on Saturday.

Today, kp has been catching up on TV, whilst I went to Eyemouth (in Scotland) in the hope of a couple of dives, but it was too rough. Did see a seal in the harbour though. Here’s a piccy…..

And some video of said seal……

And some more….