You’ve heard of Sweaty Betty. I was greeted this morning by Drenched Wench. I know, woman perspire, they don’t sweat. Let me tell you, Karen was soaked with sweat this morning. It was quite funny to see, because when I arrived she was fast asleep, but she must have gone to sleep with the headrest part of the bed quite upright, so this morning, she was all huddled up at the bottom of the headrest, presumably having slid down gradually all night until she was in a ball at the base.

kp:- Is it that time already ?
dp:- Not quite, but it’s nearly 10am.
kp:- I am a bit sweaty

A BIT !!!!!!!!!! I didn’t say anything.

First trip the loo. I helped get her off the bed. When she gets off the bed in the mornings, her left arm is VERY stiff and kind of thrusts into her stomach while she is getting up. In helping her get off the bed, I could feel her nightie was soaked. Poor kp.

Loo over, she went to clean her teeth while I went for the bath harness sling thing. She walks from the bed to the loo, and the loo to the sink now all the time (with someone being there to hold her hand). I have now got her to put her toothbrush in her left hand (with her right) while she pushes the paste on with her right hand. She is getting better all the time at this.

While I remember, her buttock wound is getting a lot better now. It is slowly closing up. At a push, you could get a knitting needle in there (size 8, not that I have ever knitted, ahem !), but fruit is out, you simply couldn’t push it in. You’d need to puree it first and pour !

Bath over, we had a cup of tea and some biscuits (for breakfast) and then went out for some fresh air. We had a while before lunch so we had a snooze. I had suggested I go back to the floor to snooze as I was sick of jumping up when the nurses walk in, but kp wanted my warmth, so I succumbed to her lovely comfy bed and a nice cuddle. If any other women out there would like some of my warmth in bed, please contact me. I am available most weekdays. In fact, weekends I probably wouldn’t be missed.

It was then time for physio. Physio today was great !

It started with the main man pulling a bench in front of kp and raising it high. He then helped kp get her left arm on top of the bench and then held her wrist down and proceeded to get kp to raise her fingers. At first, she needed helping, but then gradually she could do it more and more herself. He then got her to do the finger lifting while lifting the wrist, and again the more he helped the more she could do it herself.

These are exercises that we need to practice ourselves.

He then put a towel under her left hand (to reduce the friction of the hand on the table) and got her to push the towel away and back. kp’s natural inclination (due to the weakness in her left arm) is to use her whole body to move the arm. She moves back on the bench and her arm goes with her. This time, he put his finger on her back so she couldn’t move back or forward and encouraged her to flex her elbow etc…. She got a bit better at this as she did it more, but I wouldn’t say she cracked this one.

Her main weakness seems to be at the top of her arm.

An interesting thing happened today actually (outside of physio). I was dressing kp and putting a t-shirt on her. We have been taught to do the stroke side first (when things are going on) and then the other side which I did. But it must have been a tight t-shirt and I struggled getting her right arm into the t-shirt. Instinctively, kp raised her left arm to help me out. It was no help, but was AMAZING to see. When I asked her to do it again, she couldn’t. Marie saw a similar thing when kp was in intensive care.

I asked the main man about this today and apparently this is quite normal. There are certain chemicals in the body that are used to send signals to muscles/nerves. They work well the first time, but by the second time, the chemicals have been used up and there are less of them around so things get harder to do. Very interesting !

Back to physio.

Left arm exercises over, we now have some homework. In a nutshell, we have to practice what we did today. The more we tax the left arm, the more it will recover. It won’t ever be as strong as the right, but any functional use from it will be appreciated.

He then asked her to tap her left fingers from one side to the other and back again. I can’t remember if I have mentioned this before, but quite often kp’s left fingers go in to spasm. They move very quickly (out of her control). There’s a reason for this and it isn’t anything to worry about.

So………….the main man asks kp to tap her left fingers one by one from left to right and back again, a bit like you were waiting for someone and getting impatient.

kp tried to do what he had asked, but unfortunately the spasms kicked in. Here is some video showing you what followed (published with the kind permission of the main man). (Some of the spasms are TOO quick for my phone video camera, but you can hear the corresponding tap even though you can’t see it). We were all laughing at this. It is sad, but funny.

Hand Tapping

The main man then offered to do some steps with kp (something we had mentioned would be helpful). She jumped at it, and before long, we were at the hospital steps.

She took to the steps well. He got her to climb a step (right foot first), and then back down again. And then do the same thing but with left foot first. She did quite a bit of climbing one step and coming back down again, before he offered her the chance of going up a few steps. She jumped at it.

One by one, she took each step………….

The main man had thought she would walk a few steps. He even asked if she wanted to do any more after about 3 steps. She did 12 !!!!

Of course, then she had to come back down again.

The main man had offered her a choice of coming down on the left hand side or the right hand side. If she came down on the left hand side, he would have to put he left hand on the banister but it wouldn’t be able to grip much to support her.

She opted for the right hand side.

You’d think coming down would be easier, but it wasn’t and she nearly came a cropper on her first downward step. The main man was there to save the day. I had to put the phone camera down and go and stand in front of kp as she felt a bit wary of going downstairs.

I managed to get a shot of her last downward step………..

I was so proud of her. As soon as she got back to the room, she was on the phone to dad to tell him. They have offered to have us over Xmas, but the stairs were a concern. They aren’t now !

After telling dad, we had a lie-down (on her bed). I was out for the count, and apparently, whilst I was asleep, a nurse came in, gave kp her tablets and water and left. I didn’t hear a thing. Normally I jump up and pretend to be sitting on the side of the bed.

If the nurse asks, i will say I was concentrating on testing the softness of kp’s bed.

Very full day today.

We had 45 minutes after I had arrived to get the bath done before physio. We did it in 35 minutes, but kp kept getting annoyed at me looking at my watch, when she was trying to “have a soak”.

Physio today was very funny. It started off with the main man standing in front of kp with kp’s head on the main man’s belly as he tried to loosen her shoulder girdle (whatever that is).

He then tried to see how much movement kp has in her right leg/hip (this is not the stroke side, but the side that has been bolted together with nuts/bolts and string).

He improved the range that kp could get out of it during the session, but commented that it was still not as good as the left leg (in terms of range of movement).

Then came the fun part. The main man got kp standing and stood behind her with his hands on her hips. kp’s instructions were to go with his movements. At first, kp took different steps forward in different directions as the main man did his stuff. kp and I looked at each other as if to say “what’s he doing ?”. kp didn’t know where she was going from one step to the next. But after the main man was confident that she knew what he wanted of her, he took her into a kind of breakdance routine. He had her stepping front left, front right, back left, back right, back left, back right, back left, back right, front harsh right etc etc…………….

It was so funny. kp hadn’t a clue where she was going, but we learned later that this was the point. Apparently, if you know you are going to walk in a certain direction, you can prepare for it, but he can get a better idea of how she is doing, if he throws some randomness into the walking.

We found it very funny.

Physio over, Adele arrived for our trip to the Metro Centre. It’s Karen’s birthday on Friday, she is 21 again and we wanted to take her shopping to get some goodies for herself.

M&S first, followed by BHS. It sounds so easy when you say it like that, but I was knackered after M&S. kp was very frustrated with the whole experience. I kept pushing the wheelchair past things she wanted to look at. She expected me to know that the 4th blouse on the rack on the left we had just passed was the one she wanted me to model for her.

I got a picture of kp before the frustration set in. (Adele on the left). In this photo, kp was shoplifting the pair of jeans, trying to shove them up her coat.

She got a bit sick of M&S, although still managed to spend a fortune, so we went to BHS. Halfway on the way to BHS, I let go of the wheelchair…..

dp:- You take over Adele, I am just going in here

“Here” was a shop of my interest (DVD shop). It was nice to just have a shufty at things I like, after 30 minutes of looking for size XX short leg trousers and sports bras that give her “the support she needs”.

Back in BHS, we wandered round for ages looking for various bits and bobs. kp was getting p+ssed off with the fact she couldn’t go where she wanted to go without having to say something. So after spending another fortune, we went for a cup of tea in BHS Cafe. kp showed Adele her finger-tapping routine from yesterday. Out of sight of kp, a woman and her family were staring at kp, trying to work out what was wrong with her I expect. kp was unaware of this. I don’t mind it because I suppose it’s human nature to be interested in things that are different.

Shopping over (shame !!!!) we went back to the hospital. We left the hospital at 12pm and I had said we would be back at 3pm. It was 5pm !!!

We had a cracking day overall, jam-packed in fact.

Tomorrow should be a quiet day. Friday we have a big party in Middlesbrough for Karen’s 21st Birthday, we are all really looking forward to that. Saturday, we have Jane and Ronnie staying over, and Sunday, my folks and my sister and her family are coming up, so some interesting days ahead.

A day of pain and waiting and painful waiting.

When I arrived, kp explained she had had a painful night with a burning sensation in both her legs. She had been knocked down to a 50mg Fentanyl Patch from a 75mg Fentanyl Patch but she was feeling the pain come through. They couldn’t give her anything but a sleeping tablet, which only helped for a few hours. We agreed we should see the doctor about this.

Whilst we were doing the bath routine, I was mulling over tomorrow (kp’s birthday). It’s a very busy day as we have an appointment at home with a Professor chappie regarding kp’s condition, Ronnie is coming mid-afternoon and we have to be in Middlesbrough for 6pm for the birthday meal. I had worked out I would have to get up about 5.30am to get everything done. It suddenly dawned on me, why don’t we go home after physio today. That would give me an extra time tomorrow to get everything done.

So, we put in motion the plan to get home today. Knowing how inefficient the hospital pharmacy is (after our previous weeks’ experiences), we asked for kp’s drugs on the way to the bath (about 10:15am). We had also pre-empted the rushed day tomorrow last weekend and had asked for the drugs on Monday to give them 4 days notice. So we felt we had all angles covered.

Bath over, we went to enjoy some fresh air, before coming back for physio.

Today, kp tried walking with a stick.

The main man went through with her how to do it :-

But kp couldn’t get the hang of it on the first day :-

Normally her right foot stride is better than her left foot stride. But when she walked with the stick (in her right hand), her left stride was excellent, but the right foot just came level with the left each time. It reminded me of a chap I was in the Royal Air Force with, who used to march swinging his left arm forward at the same time as his left leg. She just couldn’t quite get the rhythm.

But, as the main man said, it will come with time……

Physio over (2pm), we were ready to go home, apart from we needed our tablets.

They weren’t there. Well, we weren’t surprised, The nurses made some phone calls, and we waited, and waited…………..and waited…………

We have learned generally in the hospital not to stop doing things we want to do when we think things are going to happen imminently, so we went for a snooze. At 4pm, we were woken with the good news that our tablets had arrived………….Yay !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We checked them through to find Karen’s new prescription of codeine hadn’t been ordered. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! So, the nurse made a few phone calls to get a “script” (prescription) for it sent to the pharmacy. She got the “script” but the doctor had forgot to sign it. More delay. At about 4.30pm it was signed and through the pneumatic chute system they have it was at the pharmacy. We waited, and waited and waited………………………

kp went for a lie-down and watched Countdown. I went to sit down by the chute system so I would hear when the prescription rattled through. I waited and waited………You get the idea. At about 7pm I gave up waiting and got up to go back to kp’s room. Just as I got to her room, one of the nurses had just got back from the pharmacy and had her codeine !

Yay !!!!!!!!!!

We got away straight away and went home with a slight detour to Sainsburys to get some weekend shopping. That’s it for today.

Pasta will be served shortly in the living room for Madame.

An “ok” night’s sleep. We got up twice in the middle of the night for a kp commode experience.

When she woke up at 10am ish she was in quite a bit of pain, and as stiff as a board. She is still on this 50mg patch and is really looking forward to going back on the 75mg Fentanyl patch tomorrow.

As the day progressed and she took her codeine, gabapentin and paracetamol, things eased up.

After breakfast we had a visit from a Professor (from the insurance company) who is assessing kp as to what would help her rehabilitation. He was very nice and gave her quite a thorough examination. Hopefully some productive things will come of his proposals.

kp went for a snooze for a couple of hours before it was time to get ready for the big night.

We tried on a whole set of new clothes she had bought at the Metro the other day. I hate trying on clothes myself, kp isn’t keen, so the combination of us both doing it (me helping kp to try them on) didn’t go down too well with either of us – especially when half of the clothes didn’t fit anyway. Grrrrrr!

But we had a combination that worked.

Off to the party. The party was great. We all had a good time. The kids were very well behaved and most importantly kp really enjoyed herself. I took some photos with “phonecam” but they didn’t come out too well.

For her dessert she ordered Banana Split. It came (without any banana in (I kid you not)), but with some sparklers and 3 waiters who sang “Happy Birthday”. We of course all joined in. One of the waiters must not have known kp’s name and sang “Happy Birthday Dear Sexy” in place. He’ll be singing Soprano from now on.

Here is a little video clip of just after the singing. Click Here.

Party over, Michelle ordered a minibus to take her and 4 others home. It arrived, and immediately got towed away by the police. (Unfit to be on the road). Jane, Ronnie, kp and I came back to Durham. As I write this, the “girls” are having a cup of tea outside having the biggest gossip 3 old schoolfriends can have !

Ronnie, Jane, kp and myself stayed up late last night – well, late for kp, and very late for me (12.30am). kp had been drinking tea and had 2 cups. The first 2 hours of sleep involved 3 commode trips. By the third one, I was a zombie. kp could sense this I think

The next commode trip (I have no idea what time it was), kp managed to get herself up and back to bed herself. I only caught the last bit when she returned to bed. I don’t think she found it too easy though and subsequent commode trips (and there was at least one), she needed my help.

So, safe to say, not the best of nights.

Jane and Ronnie were up early (8am & 9am respectively), and I followed shortly after and walked the dogs. kp got up about 11.30am. Jane did a fry up for her and me Ronnie did Hot Cross Buns for her and kp.

kp, Ronnie and Jane were due a trip into Durham to meet up with one of Ronnie’s friends, but after a trip to the loo, kp didn’t feel very well – very nauseous, so she opted to stay at home with me. We snoozed most of the afternoon, and kp is still snoozing now. Fingers crossed she is up for Pizza Night and X Factor.

When I got kp up she was feeling 100%, but put a brave face on to try and enjoy the night.

We had pizza with X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing and had a good night in the company of Jane and Ronnie. Jane was singing along to every X Factor contestant but with her innate inability to hit any correct note, it was a hard night for the rest of us.

She drove us mad with her stories of how light footed Tony and her are when they waltz in to the kitchen. Jane and Tony are big-boned people.

We had a good night.

The codeine kp has been taking for the sickness have made her really constipated, which have left a bit of a sour taste on the end of the evening.

She feels sick and needs the loo but can’t go, so has had to go to bed early

Hope she feels better tomorrow.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes people have left.

Having slept pretty much all of Saturday, I was concerned that kp would have a bad night last night, but quite the opposite. We only had one commode trip and both had a good night’s sleep.

When kp woke up, she didn’t feel as stiff as she had previously. She put this down to the new higher strength fentanyl patch. But, on the downside, she couldn’t see properly. This seemed to get better as the day went on.

We (vdfromboro, kp and I) had a cup of tea while we waited for Jane to finish off her beauty sleep. In the end, we couldn’t wait any longer for Jane to reach consciousness (kp needed the hairdryer), and I had to barge in to her room and wake the dead.

The girls left just in time for us to set off to lunch with my family (Mum, Dad, Sister, Brother-in-law, nephew and niece) at Sunderland. Sophie gave kp her birthday present …………

and at Karen’s request opened it for her.

We had a lovely meal, and kp made it up the stairs to the table without falling (JUST !). She thinks she lead with the wrong foot.

The kids were well behaved and enjoyed the party hats (napkins)….

And afterwards, Daddy gave them a spin in kp’s wheelchair….

On returning home, we both went for a few hours sleep. Lovely sleep. And then watched a bit of telly before going to sleep for the night.

Another good night. Only got up once about 3am.

Nice lie-in for kp while I walked the dogs. When I got back she wanted another hour. We didn’t have to be at the hospital until 1.45pm so no problem.

We had a nice breakfast before going back to the hospital.

Pretty much as soon as we had got settled in, kp was out for the count.

The weekend seemed to be a weekend of sleep and she was still tired. She kept questioning herself “Why am I so tired all the time ?”. You’re recovering from a near fatal accident, it’s normal. Not sure she was convinced, but a phonecall from one of the other accident victims reassured her that the least thing can be very tiring.

One day last week, kp asked where the Daniel O’Donnell Physio (DOD Physio) was as she hadn’t seen her for a few days.

kp:- Where’s X ?
Main Man :- She’s on holiday
kp:- She never asked me if it was ok to go on holiday. She may get a warning for that.

So, over the weekend, I had done my best to forget a hospital letter that looked semi-convincing. It was from “Paula R D Carron” (Personnel Manager), which I thought may be enough clue to give it away without being obvious. i.e. put the names the other way round, you have Carron Paula R D (Karen Pollard).

I gave this to the main man to slip in to the physio’s in-tray.

While we waited for physio, I started to get nervous that perhaps it was TOO convincing and I was keen to get physio over with to make sure there were no hard feelings.

For the first time, Karen walked to physio with her stick. On the way we passed the DOD physio.

kp:- Did you enjoy your holiday X ?
X :- Not really no

She was unusually abrupt. I was even more scared that she hadn’t realised it was a joke.

Once at physio, the main man started working on kp’s left arm/hand, and for the first 10 mins, the DOD physio was rushing round not talking to us at all. Very odd.

She kept nipping in to a cupboard and coming out empty handed. Whilst she was in the cupboard, I asked the main man “Does she know yet?”

It turns out she did know, and was reversing the joke on us. Well, part of us was relieved, part of us wondered if she had took offence. She didn’t know that we knew that she knew (sounds like a Friends episode).

After a certain cupboard trip, the DOD physio pretended to look at the hospital directory, and then dialled in a number.

DOD Physio :- Is that Personnel. I have received a letter………

At which point she burst out laughing.

She took it really well. She had been nipping to the cupboard so many times, because she was going to burst out laughing instead of maintaining her serious face.

We all had a good laugh about it. I fear reprisals, but perhaps they are deserved.

After the hand/arm loosening, the main man did some unexpected moves on kp similar to the other day, where kp hasn’t a clue where she is going. She did very well and didn’t fall over.

After that, it was time for the timed walk. In order to measure kp’s progress, the main man and I measured out a 10m stretch of the corridor TWICE. We measured it once with a 1m tape, and after the 5th meter, we had forgotten if we had counted 4m or 5m, so had to start again. We got it right second time.

The main man assured kp it wasn’t a RACE and she should walk her usual pace.

She walked the 10m in 35 seconds dead, taking 40 steps.

So, we now have a measure for improvement.

Marie arrived just before 3pm. We had a nice tea party with her. She is feeling a lot better, but still not 100%.

That’s it for today.

CLICK HERE to go to November’s Chapter

Uneventful day

Fast asleep when I arrived this morning. She had been so sweaty in the middle of the night, the staff had had to change her sheets at 4am.

Physio followed bath.

Today, it was stair work. Not climbing stairs, but using the first stair to really tax kp’s lifting power in her left leg.

She started doing step ups and step downs, then progressed to step ups, and step downs without putting the other foot on the floor (a kind of tease of a step up). The main man then had her stand facing the handrail with both feet on the first step. She then had to swing one of the feet out and lower it to the floor (without putting weight on it). She cheated a couple of times, which we had a laugh at.

What she was doing was very hard. I envisaged myself doing it, and it would have taxed anyone. A couple of times one leg or the other gave way under the exertion, but the main man was there to stop a mishap.

kp was exhausted after the physio and walking a bit stiffer than normal.

There is a good chance there is no physio tomorrow, so I suggested to kp that she come home for the afternoonm, stay the night. We could ring in themorning to see if physio is on, and if it isn’t she could have the whole day at home and go back on Thursday.

kp:- I am too tired to think of it.

Very strange, I thought. She normally jumps at a chance to go home.

So, we had a 2-3 hour snooze. Sleep over, I offered her the chance to go home again. But she didn’t feel too hot, and wasn’t up to the hassle of going home. (I expect she means packing, getting the drugs, going to the car etc…. which I normally do anyway). Think she is on a bit of a downer today.

Fast asleep when I arrived this morning just before 10am.

She complained have not getting to sleep until 7.15am

We met with the DOD physio after the bath. We went for a walk to the steps, where kp went down a flight and back up a flight of stairs. There were a couple of wobbles along the way, and a “nearly fell”. She was never in any danger however with both of us either side kp. When she nearly stumbled, I leapt forward as if to catch her which made her laugh. Not that I was panicking !

dp:- Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring ! (said in an unusually good Dad’s Army voice if I do say so myself)

Normally my voice impressions are well off. My Irish accent is regardest as one of the best Pakistani/Urdu voices around.

kp was in stitches and for a couple of minutes could do nothing but stand half way up the stairs.

Physio over, we went to Costco, WHSmiths, M&S & BHS. kp hated the experience. She finds it very frustrating being in the wheelchair when she is shopping. People are very understanding, but it is the fact I go past things, and she wants to feel things etc etc…

After 2 hours of shopping, the marriage was still secure however, so it can’t have been that bad. In fact we even went looking for an “eternity” ring. It’s my present to kp for her birthday. Unfortunately, after trying loads of rings on, it was clear we would need to wait until kp’s left hand swelling goes down. Her sizes are all to pot and we can’t get her other rings off to see what sizes they are.

When we arrived back, we went straight to sleep and we were both out like lights.

Tonight kp was going to have a pizza night with Jane and Marie, but there has been a bad accident on the A19 and after 40 minutes stuck on the A19, they have decided it is probably best to leave it for another night.

Uneventful day.

Whilst I run the bath for kp, she washes her face and cleans her teeth. She now tries to hold the toothbrush in her left hand as she puts the toothpaste on.

When I returned to pick kp up for the bath, she had toothpaste all over her left hand. She had no idea until I pointed it out. She tutted and laughed.

After the bath, we went to Sainsburys to get a few supplies in as physio wasn’t until 2.30pm.

Lovely snooze followed Sainsburys.

Physio followed snooze – It was mostly hand/arm work on the table in front of her. But, to finish, the main man did the moonwalking experience, where he grabs Karen by her hips from behind and moves them in a random fashion and kp ends up moon dancing across the physio room. Funny to watch.

Physio over, kp walked back to her room with no stick . Marie had made the bed and tidied the room. We only had to wait for drugs before we were off for the weekend. We only had to wait a few minutes before the nurses came to check the drugs off. They were happy with them.

We came home only to find there are only enough drugs for 3 days, which means either kp needs to go back Sunday afternoon or we need to go in for drugs.

We just don’t seem to have any luck with drugs at all.

Marie and kp had a good natter when we got home, before Marie went for the bus home.

kp went straight to bed after Marie left, not to sleep, but to rest her eyes. REST HER EYES MY ARSE !

She wants Egg, Beans and Chips for tea. It’s a craving she has. Her wish will be fulfilled.

ok, bloggers……….It is confirmed…………

kp is coming home next Thursday afternoon. Everyone is welcome. There will be food, alcoholic and not so alcoholic beverages on hand for all attendees. We have confirmed a morning physio session, which means we should get away about 12.30pm to 1pm. So, if you would like to come, please do.

So we can plan the food accordingly, please could you text me on 07973461875 if you are coming. For those that I know that are coming already, obviously you don’t need to text. Everyone is welcome, from kp’s work colleagues, to blog readers we don’t even know about, to those we do, to kp’s real friends, pretend friends, and family. Staff from the Q.E. who have cared for Karen are PARTICULARLY welcome.

For directions, give me a ring.

I would suggest a 1pm (latest) arrival for guests and I will make sure kp doesn’t get there before then. There will be someone at the house from 12pm.

The more the merrier.

Uneventful Day.

A very subdued kp today. She stayed in bed until about 11am. Got up for breakfast, went back to bed until about 5pm.

I asked her if she was ok about 3pm and she said “fine” not 100% convincing me, but when I asked her about 4pm, she reassured me she was “ok” and was in fact having a nice lazy day.

I was a little more sold.

Tonight she has had tea and watched a program and talked to Ronnie on the phone and I think she is ok.

She’ll probably go to bed shortly although how she can be tired I don’t know.

I walked the dogs and went to the hospital to collect the missing drugs while kp packed in the Zzzzs.

When I got back she still wanted some extra beauty sleep. I think she got up about 12.30pm in the end. We had breakfast (ahem !) watching Jonathan Ross.

I suggested a walk outside to kp and she was all for it, so we walked round to Eileen’s for a cup of tea/pint of bitter. I was on the tea.

I have a nice video clip of kp walking outside, but can’t get it online at the moment. Will keep trying.

After 20 minutes or so at Eileen’s, we came back to check emails, before watching a bit of telly that I had taped back in May for kp.

We have had a nice pizza doing the usual Saturday night thing, with the dogs going ape at all the fireworks.

Uneventful Day

kp slept until 11am. Funny moment during the night. kp was snoring like a trooper. It got so bad I had to nudge her awake. I picked the moment of the nudge to coincide with the snore and on waking up, kp said (still 75% asleep) :-

kp:- Oh, I wondered what that noise was ?

I told her about this today, and she found it very funny. The snore was in her dream allegedly.

After breakfast, we went into Durham to do more clothes shopping. Durham’s cobbles were fun in the wheelchair and I am particularly fond of the bl++dy steep hill I had to go down/up to get to M&S.

I am a little bit worried that I am beginning to turn into a woman. I found myself saying things like………..

“Oooooo, what a lovely blue !”
“It really suits you”.
“V-necks are out, Crew Necks are in”
Etc………Etc……..

A few weeks ago, I would have thought a crew neck was the part of a body a sailor has between his head and shoulders.

Shopping over, it was back for a snooze and then Roast Lamb.

For the first time I have cracked the laying of kp’s cutlery. Every weekend (until today) I have been laying a knife and fork for her, just like you would. But, obviously, she can only use one hand, so today, I remembered to only lay a fork. It’s only took me 6 weeks !!

That’s pretty much today.

What an AWFUL night. I thought we had cracked nights. How wrong I could be !

3 commode trips. One clearing up dog wee, because Bonnie (one of our 3 lady German Shepherds) was scared of the fireworks and wouldn’t go out. It seems all my bitches have bladder issues Christ, I am gonna get it when kp reads that one

To make matters worse, I had to be up at the crack of dawn to get the dogs walked before I had to be at the dentist at 9am for a filling. When I got back, kp wanted to sleep some more, so she ended up getting out of bed about 11am.

She sent an email after breakfast and then we went for a 35 minute snooze. That’s all the time we had before we had to leave for the hospital.

No sooner we were back at the hospital than it was time for physio. kp had had some pain in her groin area over the weekend. I thought it was wind, because she packs a Force 9 Gale for emergency embarassment. But the main man moved her hips, back, legs and sussed that it was to do with her right hip not having as much movement as it should. And because of this, the muscles in the groin (rightside) tighten up

He knows his stuff and it seemed spot on. He suggested some exercises that may help. She can do them in bed and they involve raising her right leg and moving it outwards and inwards in a certain fashion.

Physio over, I got kp dressed for bed (3.30pm) and left her watching TV as I went to start preparations for the big day – Coming home day

PS – Click Here to see the video I promised over the weekend of Karen walking outside. When I see this, I think of Clive Dunn and the song he sang with the words “jacaded feet”. Does anyone remember that song ?

kp was full of beaming smiles today when I arrived. I think she is getting excited about coming home and can see the end of the first battle is in sight. It was lovely to be greeted by such a beautiful smile.

We went straight to do the bath thang. After the bath, I normally apply a new dressing to kp’s buttock wound (It’s healing nicely, and you can’t see any hole now, just 2 pieces of skin that are joining together), but the area around the wound is really angry and inflamed, so I thought it may be the wound may be healed enough to stop putting the dressing on. The inflamed bit is from where the sticky bit of the dressings touches the skin. And it gets very sore and itchy for kp (a bad combination). So, today, I asked one of the Sisters to have a look. She thought that kp was allergic to the dressing, but she believed that we should try it for a while without a dressing !

That means kp has NO more dressings anywhere ! – Yay !

Once the sister had left, and just before I got her dressed, kp looked at her stomach wound and said :-

kp:- “That’s not right”.

It is a HUGE wound, it starts just below the breasts, can I say “breasts”, better say “chest area”, and goes all the way down to about belt level. The scar is a wide scar, probably an inch at its widest, 1cm at its narrowest, but there are the usual stitch marks that make it even wider. I would say about 10 inches wide at about 10 intervals from top to bottom.

So,

kp:- “That’s not right”
dp:- “Whaddya mean love ?”
kp:- “It should be that big, the scar”
dp:- “Well, I don’t think they had time to do pinhole surgery. It was more a case of ‘She’s going to die. Slash her open, get her innards out onto the table and check for bleeding.’”
kp:- “Yer, I know that, but it shouldn’t be that big !”

I don’t think kp likes her scar (understandably) and I can’t see her wearing any more bikinis or thongs. Perhaps that’s a blessing.

We went for lunch at Quenellies, Chicken Korma for me and Hot Beef Sandwich + chips for kp. Lovely.

Back for a 20-minute lie-down before Physio.

One of the auxiliary nurses (AN) popped in to see kp to tell her a story.

AN:- I have been telling porkies.
kp:- What do you mean ?
AN:- I told X (another nurse) that David brought you back in after the weekend on his motorbike. I said “I tried to tell him that she wasn’t really well enough to go on a motorbike”, but he wouldn’t listen to me, just being an auxiliary.
kp:- Did she believe it ?
AN:- Aye. She wasn’t very happy with David.

We found this very funny. So, I may be getting it in the neck, unless someone tells her first !! Hope they do.

Physio was based on right hip loosening today. The main man moved kp into all sorts of angles to try and get her hip muscles to slacken a bit. After that, it was time for kp to do another timed walk.

Last time, swotty bloggers will remember that kp did 10m in 35 seconds, taking 40 paces. Today, she whopped a massive 7 seconds off that, and only took 35 paces. In other words, her strides are getting longer and she is walking more normally. It was very impressive, although Daley Thompson would no doubt brag that he can do 10m in just over a second. But he isn’t wearing Karen’s slippers which really slow her down.

Physio over, it was time to tuck kp up for bed and make tracks.

Good day. Only 2 more nights and then she is home for good Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock…….

H – 1 (Home minus 1) and counting.

Karen was asleep when I arrived, but was soon gabbing like a good ‘un. She is so excited to be coming home. Karen NEVER gets excited. She is known for it in the family. So, tomorrow must be something very very special to her for her to show any signs of excitement.

We started the day by writing a few cards out to the hospital staff. Karen had done a poem for the staff and it needed writing out onto the card.

Cards done, we went for a bath. I ran it, took kp in, got her in her birthday suit and then kp noticed the bath temperature wasn’t right. It was 25′C. It had been filled with cold water only. There was no hot water on the ward. So, I got her half decent again and we went back to her room to wait for the hot water to be fixed.

Whilst we waited for hot water, I started taking down the remainder of cards from kp’s walls. Marie had done most of it a week or so back.

The hot water was sorted in no time.

Bath over, we went for some lunch at Quenellies.

Karen was so talkative today. We kept reminiscing about the times when she stood up for the first time, the time she went outside for the first time etc….etc….

I told her how proud of her I was. She still didn’t shut up and I loved every minute of it.

It is so refreshing and lovely to see kp excited about something.

In Physio today, the main man basically asked kp what would she like him to do. She wanted her arms to be loosened up a bit, as they were painful when she moved them to certain area.

This reminds me of a funny thing from yesterday. Each day, kp and I do some exercises for kp’s left arm. Well, kp does them, I just tell her to do them.

As a new one, I told her to touch her nose with her left hand. Well, the funniest thing happened.

kp thrust her hand in the air as fast as she could, realised it was going to reach her nose, and so pushed her head down as fast as possible to see if it would meet the nose halfway. Yes, cheating by anyone else’s standards, but sheer genious. They didn’t meet halfway unfortunately, but 10/10 for effort.

kp was laughing at herself, for what she had done. I asked her why does she move her arm so fast. She explained that she can only get it that high if she gets it going fast, as it just runs out of steam. She basically banks on the momentum it has with speed to carry it that much further.

It’s good that we can smile at this kind of thing. I had kp in stitches the other day, doing an impression of her when she has just woken up and she is walking to the loo. It basically involves small bitty steps to start off with, as she tries to encourage her left leg to kick into action and do a “full” stride. The impression is funnier than the description.

I went home about 3pm today to prepare for the Queen’s homecoming. Marie stayed on.

Whilst I was away, kp’s consultant came in to say his goodbyes and wish her all the best. That was nice of him. Lovely bloke.

When I returned to the hospital at 8pm to pick Marie up, she told me that kp had been to the loo SIX times since I had been gone. She put it down to kp’s excitement.

We left kp for the last time at the hospital, packing pretty much everything (apart from kp) in the car.

We can’t wait for tomorrow. When Marie and I got home, we carried on the preparations for tomorrow, and had completed them by about 11.15pm. Veronica is arriving at Durham station (from London) at 1.15am. Once I have picked her up and brought her back, it will be bedtime all round.

Today has been a momentous day. It has been so jam-packed full of fun, relief and alcohol that I can’t do a blog justice tonight.

We have had such a good day.

Tomorrow, kp has an appointment at the RVI in the morning and we have the home help person coming in the afternoon, so I will try and get today’s blog entry up asap, but it may not be until tomorrow night.

I hope all bloggers understand that today had to be lived, and not reported on straightaway.

This is the big homecoming blog entry. It was written on Saturday afternoon, but has been inserted in the correct order.

This is a long blog entry and packing a lunch and a thermos for a break halfway through would be advisable.

It started for kp the night before when she said goodbye to a member of the night staff who had gotten very close to kp. There were lots of tears. She had an “ok” night’s sleep. I thought she would have been up all night.

“Coming Home” Day was a very long day for me also. At 1.15am, I was picking Ronnie up from the Durham train station. At 7.30am, I was walking the dogs. At 9.55am I was outside Costco waiting for the doors to open to nip in and get some last minute buffet items that Tesco had missed off the list, and the all-important “Thanks for Everything” cake for the Ward 22 staff.

Mind you, if Tesco had delivered everything, I don’t think I would have got it in the fridge :-

I still managed to get to the hospital for 10.30am, which I was pleased at.

We had a little chat before bathtime….

dp:- So, do you think you will get emotional when you leave hospital love ?
kp:- I know they have said everyone does, but I think I’ll be alright.

We had the quickest bath ever today before Physio which was at 11am. The main man asked kp what she wanted to do today……….

kp:- Well, I have seen lots of stroke patients playing Dominoes in this room. Perhaps we could have a game of Dominoes ?

She was joking.

Instead of Dominoes, he worked on her left arm and shoulders which were a bit stiff.

To finish off, she did the long walk back to her room. At this point, it was time for her to say goodbye to the main man, a chap who has done SO much for Karen and as Karen said to me later

kp:- I don’t think I would have come so far if it wasn’t for X.

The main man congratulated kp on how well she had done and gave her a hug. At this point, kp became very emotional.

The tears didn’t stop until we got off the ward. And between the main man and the car, there was everyone else to say goodbye to. We handed the cake over to the Ward Manager and thanked her for everything she had done (as we did to all the staff we saw).

It was quite emotional to watch as kp said goodbye to everyone. I took quite a few photos of kp with the staff, but am not posting these at the request of the staff.

kp wanted to walk out of the hospital, so I loaded up her wheelchair and she walked to the lift (stick in hand) :-

She was adamant she wanted to walk to the car, so I took the opportunity to take some more photos. Here is one of her walking out the hospital door………..

Here she is outside the hospital………….

kp carried on crying for 5 minutes in the car, but soon the conversation turned to how glad she was that she had made it etc….

kp:- I love you David.

Well, this came from nowhere and I wasn’t expecting it.

dp:- Thanks love. I Love you too. I am so proud of you.

Marie, Ronnie and I had prepared the house for Karen. Marie had bought “Welcome Home” banners, Ronnie was on Helium Balloon duty, and I had done some big posters of “kp’s time in hospital”.

This poster was 7.5 feet by 3.5 feet :-

And this is a smaller collage (4ft by 3ft) :-

Here is the larger one in front of the TV with Louisa on the left :-

I rang the house 2 minutes before arrival so everyone could be outside to welcome her home (as arranged). Most of the family were there by 1pm and then various other parties arrived throughout the day.

Here is the family and some real and pretend friends (in-joke) ready for the Queen’s arrival :-

Big thanks to Marie who took most of these photos, and to Ronnie who took the video footage (more later).

She’s here, she’s here………

kp out of the car………..

Marge and kp

Marge, Abby and kp

Ronnie (Cameralady) + kp

Aunty Celia + kp

Aunty Celia, Kelly + kp

Louisa + kp

Pretend Friends Debs + Lydia + kp

Ronnie + kp

Ethan, Marie and kp

Linda Mac + kp

kp + family in kitchen

kp + family in kitchen

kp, my mum and dad and my godfather and godmother (John and Lorna Slinger)

Jane and John

The following photos were taken later in the evening and for a few of them the flash wasn’t on, so they have had to be brightened later with subsequent loss of quality.

Julie (Work Colleague)

Jane Burns having everyone in stitches

Jane again

Ethan and Kp

Danielle, kp and Sue (sorry about the lines)

Ange

A crowd round kp

The day started with champagne. I had got 5 bottles of Moet in thinking that would be enough for a toast. It turned out that it was the drink of choice and I would have run out were it not for people knowing that it is kp’s drink of choice and they brought bottles with them. So thanks for that !!

Karen and I had such a wonderful day on this day. It could NOT have been better. The atmosphere was unlike any party I have experienced before. Normally, I detest parties, but this was awesome ! Thanks to Marie who was an absolute powerhouse in the kitchen ensuring everyone was fed, thanks to Ronnie for the excellent video footage and thanks to everyone for coming and for the flowers that you brought or in some cases sent (because you couldn’t be here). We appreciate ALL your support over the last 7 months !!!!

Here is a list of those who were here on the day (in no particular order) :-

From kp’s family…….
kp
dp
Marie
Adele
Abbie
Ethan
Louisa
Michelle
Freddy
Marge
Celia
Kelly
Kelly’s baby

Our friends…..
Ronnie
Jane B.
Tony B.
Alex
Sue
Danielle
Joan + hubby
Mandy
Margo
David
Michael
Sarah

From kp’s work…….
Angela (also in the crash)
Kevin (also in the crash)
Debs
Lydia
Linda Mac
Julie
Tracey

From my side………
My Mum and Dad
My Godfather and Godmother
My bezza Nigel
Caroline (ex work colleague)

I am sure there were more, but the day is a bit fuzzy due to Champagne having an alcoholic content.

I wrote a little bit of blog on the night, but fell asleep at the computer. I was in bed by 10pm. Ronnie put kp to bed at about 1am I think.

So, thanks Q.E. Ward 22 and Intensive Care and Ward 3 for ALL you did ! Thanks to everyone who texted kp with support, who wrote blog comments of support, who sent flowers, gifts etc etc… We are very grateful. A problem shared is a problem halved. Well, a problem shared in a blog is a lot less of a problem than carrying it on one’s own. So, thanks to everyone !

The blog doesn’t stop here. So many people associate “going home” (from hospital) as you are fine and well. kp is not, by any means, recovered. The recovery continues, the blog continues.

I’ll end with the best bit…………

I have edited together 2 films of the day (taken by Ronnie). For those short of time who want a taster of the homecoming day, there is a 5 minute video, for those who want the full day (18 min video), then there is a bigger download.

Click Here for the 5 minute video (It will take over an hour to download for dialup users, about 5-6 minutes for broadband users)

Click Here for the 18 minute video (It will take over 4 hours to download for dialup users, just under 20 minutes for broadband users)

For best viewing, download the clip first to your machine and then watch it, rather than watch it as it downloads it.

For those that would like it on dvd (at full quality), it is free of charge if you visit our house to see Karen

Warning – You may need some tissues at hand for these clips. I did !

First of all, I still haven’t had time to do yesterday’s blog. I have been busy editing video footage taken by Ronnie, and hope to have it complete later tonight or more realistically tomorrow at some point. Yesterday’s blog entry will be WELL WORTH THE WAIT. It will include a 5 minute and 20 minute video clip of the day both of which have had me in tears when I was doing them.

There will also be loads of photos for those that have slow internet connections and can’t download the video clip.

ok, back to today.

After such a FANTASTIC day yesterday, things simply couldn’t be as good today, there was no way. I had gone to bed last night at approx 9pm. I had wrote a little blog entry explaining the delay in writing the update, and had fallen asleep at the computer after writing it. So, I had an early night ! I was so so tired. kp didn’t come to bed until 1am ish. Ronnie put her nighty on, and got her into bed. Thanks Ronnie.

I had to get up at 7.30am to walk the dogs and be back in time to get kp ready to go to her eye appointment at the RVI in Newcastle. The dogs were filthy and needed a good clean down after the walk, which left very little time to get kp ready. I spent more time getting 3 German Shepherds clean and dry than I did washing kp down. She can’t have a bath or shower at the moment as the bath gadget (that has been delivered) hasn’t been installed and apparently, I am not supposed to touch it. So, it’s a stand-up bath, which is not as nice for kp by a long shot.

At the Eye hospital, kp had lots of tests done. The first was a very thorough peripheral vision test. kp has good peripheral vision (Normal) in her left eye, and abysmal peripheral vision in her right. She can only see things directly in front of her. kp was compensating for this in the test. kp had to look straight ahead and a light appears from some angle (left to right, up or down). She has to buzz when she sees it. kp couldn’t see it at all with her right, until the lady made the light much bigger. Even then, she could only see the light when it was directly ahead. kp compensated for this by looking around with her right eye for the white light spot. The lady had to keep telling kp to look ahead and NOT look for the light. I lost count of the times she asked her to keep looking ahead. The lady kept her cool throughout

After this, she had her eye pressure tested and then went to see the Eye Doctor. Lovely, switched-on lady.

She told Karen the good and bad news.

Eye Doctor :- Your left eye is excellent. But your right eye has suffered optic nerve damage. Glasses won’t help your right eye, and the damage is permanent and irreversible.

Now, to me, this wasn’t news. We already knew this, or so I thought.

The Eye Doctor wasn’t convinced kp would benefit 100% from glasses to help her reading and watching tv. She went on to explain that kp’s problem with reading may be partly down to her slower brain function and not just to poorer eyesight. She suggested trying those glasses you see at the chemist to see if they help reading.

Well, I didn’t think anything of it, but when we got to the car, kp was very upset. She didn’t stop crying until we got home.

Although she admitted that deep down she knew the right eye was damaged, she was expecting to hear (today) “what” could be done to help her reading and tv watching more bearable. Instead, she was told that nothing could help the right eye.

It was very sad.

kp:- I know I am slow at taking things in, and this is probably just a case of me having not realised that my eyes aren’t going to get any better, but it still makes me upset. What have i done to deserve this ?

Heartbreaking to hear. Not much I could say.

When we got back to the house, the distractions soon took her mind off the upset. The distraction came in a Jane Burn’s cooked breakfast. It was lovely.

Late Breakfast (1.30 pm) over, the home help supervisor and the social worked came to see kp. They were very helpful and detailed that they were going to get someone in 4 times a day (30 mins each visit) to help get kp up, to bed, prepare meals etc… They’ll even do ironing if you ask nicely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!

To start off, they are going to come on Monday for just one visit, so we can build it up. They felt 4 visits a day straight away would be a bit of a shock. IT WOULD !

Whilst they were here, Ronnie and Jane went to sleep in their bedrooms. As soon as they left, kp and I joined them (not in the same beds though

We all slept until about 6pm, and are about to have a chinese.

That’s it for today.

Should have the homecoming blog done tomorrow.

CLICK HERE to go to it

Here are a couple of additions I forgot to put in………

kp wrote a poem for the staff’s card………..

There’s been some laughs,
there’s been some tears,
a New Era dawns,
let’s open the beers.

I’m homeward bound now
you’ll be pleased to hear
It’s all thanks to YOU
I’m giving you a big cheer

You are a great bunch of people
That’s why I am writing this letter
from the cleaners to the consultants
I couldn’t have asked for better.

You all are your own characters
I’ll not forget this ward
You kept me entertained
I didn’t get bored

The treatment has been great
From adhesive allevyns to intrasite gel
You’ve cared for me,
Looked after me so well

I have gone out of here
2 stones light
I am not saying
the food is …….

From the time I arrived on the Ward
where I was one big suture
It’s my time now to say
A very big thanks,
Goodbye and
Good luck for the future.

And also, I remembered a funny incident from the Homecoming day. kp was probably 2 glasses of champagne worse for wear, I was probably a little worse. kp needed the loo. Someone must have been since kp’s last visit since the commode had been taken off the loo and put to one side not that either of us noticed this consciously.

kp and I entered the loo, I got kp ready for the loo, and then she normally uses the arm of the commode to lower herself down.

Well, she just dropped like a lead weight on the (lower) toilet seat at the same time I sat on the commode seat.

She started laughing………

kp:- The commode’s not here
dp:- I know, I’ve sat on it.

Well we laughed our heads off. Funny at the time.

kp and I went to sleep on Friday night about 10pm, leaving the Ronnie and JB watching a film. We were both tired.

I got up at 9am and walked the dogs and then went back to sleep with kp about 11am.

kp got up at ………wait for it…………. 2pm in the afternoon !!! She was knackered.

Jane cooked us her speciality (Bacon and Egg Baps) and we had a nice afternoon with Ronnie and Jane before the usual Saturday night entertainment.

The entertainment for the evening for the ladies was me. I was very nowty ! If someone breathed in the wrong direction, or interrupted a singer on X Factor or the results of the judges in Strictly Come Dancing, I gave them “what for”. Noone could do anything right.

I was positively looking at things to get angry at. Much to the girl’s amusement. I wasn’t amused at the time.

A little bit of self analysis and some hints from the ladies (although they weren’t ladies last night) led me to conclude that I was tired. So I went to bed at 9pm. Ronnie put kp to bed at 12am.

JB and Ronnie were up at 7.30am to get Ronnie to Durham station by 8.45am.

Me and kp slept in until about 8.45am and 10am respectively.

When kp got up she was still tired and wanted to go back to bed, but we had Ethan’s birthday party to go to (our 8 year old great nephew).

We had a nice time at Marie’s watching the homecoming dvd. Michelle was in tears, kp and I were ok second time round.

kp needed the loo while at Marie’s and had to climb about 14 steep steps. She only just made it. And as for coming down, well, she could NOT have done it on her own. I was, as good as, lifting her down each step.

She was knackered.

I was very quiet the whole afternoon. I could sense my tiredness coming over me again

As soon as we got home, kp hit the sack for a couple of hours while I made tea and went on my computer.

That’s it for today. Not much to report. Expect shorter blogs in the future. If there isn’t much to report, I won’t be writing babble for the sake of it.

I sense kp’s mood is about to change for the worse. There are only so many distractions I can provide. As soon as she has a day where there is nothing going on, I sense she may think “Well, what do I do now ?”

We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it !

Day 200 – wahey !!!

Blimey, It doesn’t feel like 200 days since the accident. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun ?!

Karen was in a lot of pain today when she woke up, undoubtedly due to the ascent/descent of Mount Everest (Marie’s steps) yesterday. And she did it twice !

I sat her up in bed. She was still half asleep. I threw her tablets into her mouth (which she didn’t really appreciate). She normally holds the water, while I place the tablets on her tongue, but I get bored easily so throwing them in was a bit more of a challenge today. The Queen was not amused. I think I got to the 3rd tablet before I was left in no uncertain terms that I should resort to placing them again.

Tablets in, I got her back into bed for more sleep while I walked the dogs.

Today was the first day with “home help”. Just one visit today and the purpose of this morning visit was to get kp up. It felt very strange not getting kp up after walking the dogs. It’s the natural thing for me to do, but instead I just left her asleep and started peeling veg for the evening’s Roast.

The home help lady was very nice. In time, she will be able to let herself in as we are having a secure box put outside with the key in , but for today I let her in.

She was scared sh+tless when she heard the dog barking in the Utility Room. When she found out it was a German Shepherd and there were 3 of them, I think we became her least favourite visit of the day.

She got kp up, showered her, even styled her hair, annoyingly, better than I do.

It was weird. As kp later pointed out, this is the first time since the accident that I hadn’t done it.

Shortly after she left, Marie arrived. Marie had come to sort out the flowers. kp received SOOOOOOOOOOO many bouquets of flowers on “Homecoming Day”, and they needed some Marie Magic to keep them looking spot on. Thank you soooooooo much for everyone who brought or sent flowers. kp absolutely loved them.

Marie did her stuff. kp sat in the wheelchair with a pair of scissors in her right hand and Marie would occasionally present some stems to kp for her to snip away. kp enjoyed it.

The end result was impressive

kp in her flower shop

Marie and kp

Marie left just before 6pm at which point the roast was ready. We both enjoyed it, although I burnt my arm on the oven and it knacked.

kp was tired after the roast and had an early night. 7pm.

It was lovely to have kp home for the first Monday. It feels like a bit of normality again and I don’t feel as pressed for time, like I always did when going to the hospital each day.

kp’s pain had died down by this morning, she was just stiff. When she first gets up from a stationary position (like in bed), she walks really slow until she gets the rhythm. I have noticed that subconsciously I am starting to push her with my fingers to try and get her to go faster. It’s something I’ll have to unlearn. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a dangerous push. More an encouraging nudge.

A different carer lady today. I am pleased to report that she doesn’t have the nack for doing kp’s hair that the other lady had. I can’t begin to describe the style she did with her hair, but kp couldn’t be bothered today.

Adele arrived to help us with the cleaning. The house hadn’t recovered from the homecoming party. Pretty much as soon as Adele had done our bedroom, kp and I went to sleep for 3 hours. Lovely sleep. We emerged to a lovely clean house. Thanks Adele.

The social worker came this afternoon to discuss in more detail kp’s situation and the help that she can be offered. We know the way forward a bit more now and she has lined us up with about 4 visits from different people to help with different things.

We then said goodbye to Adele, had tea with “24″ and kp then retired (at 9pm) for the evening.

Physio tomorrow at 10.30am and Lydia tipped us off that kp’s work team are working in Chester-le-Street and she has said she may call in on them on the way home from physio.

kp got a bit of a shock this morning. She was expecting to get up at 9am (which is very early for kp) to be at Physio for 10.30am. Instead the lady arrived at 7.30am just as I was getting ready to walk the dogs.

I entered the bedroom with the care lady :-

dp:- Morning Love (fear in my voice). X is here.
kp:- Do I have to get up now ?
dp:- It would be a good idea love.(gently lullaby voice)

I faffed around for 2 minutes getting the dogs ready and checked in before I left the house. kp was still in bed with the care lady standing over her in the dark. I put the light on to speed things up and promptly left to take the dogs.

We stopped off at the tip to get rid of half of the rubbish from the homecoming on the way to Physio.

Chester-le-Street hospital seems very new and clean and our lady physio seemed very nice.

She did an assessment of kp today, seeing how strong each leg/arm was, but she started off asking Karen what did she want to be able to do.

Of course, I had to say the old “ironing” joke again. Noone ever laughs, but I can’t help myself.

She wants to be able to walk the dogs, make a cup of tea and be able to use her left arm more.

The lady explained that the walk may be a more long term goal given the strength of the dogs and the length of the walk, but it was certainly something to aim for.

She then tested her balance. It started off easy and progressively got harder………

Standing up for 2 mins (Fine, no problems)
Standing up for 2 mins with feet together (She made it but with a lot more concentration required and the odd “nearly lost it”)
Putting one feet on a step, bringing it down and then repeating with the other (8x) (Not a graceful movement, more a “do it quick before I fall over affair”, but she did it)
Putting one foot directly in front of the other foot and holding for a while and then repeating the other way round (couldn’t do this without cheating), but got some marks for initiative
Bending down to pick something off the floor (SO CLOSE, but so far. She got about as far as you see in this photo, but then the last bit was a grab. She tried this about 3x and didn’t manage it)

The finale and the hardest thing was for her to stand on one leg for a while and then try it with the other leg. (She couldn’t do this at all, but boy did she try !)

Physio over, we went to see kp’s workmates. They were on a “training day”, which means they don’t take blood, but instead sit around a table gossipping all day. I mean “reading SOP’s and talking about work”.

They were very pleased to see kp and there was the odd tear from some staff and I think even kp had 1 or 2 at one moment.

We stayed for about 45 minutes while kp caught up on all the work gossip. She really enjoyed seeing her workmates again.

Then shopping in Sainsburys before home for a hot chicken lunch and then bed for 2pm.

Snooze followed. I got up at 5.30pm and kp is still asleep. She gets tired so easily, but I suppose it is to be expected.

That’s it for today.

I’ll end with a couple of photos from the last day or so.

Here is kp snoozing whilst waiting for her eye appointment (last Friday)………..

Here is kp with part of Ethan’s birthday present on (Sunday)…………

Unventful Day

Home help arrived and got kp up at 10am.

She came back at 1pm to do our ironing (Allelujah, praise be !). Just before home help returned, Marie arrived for an afternoon with kp. Together they sorted out wardrobes and drawers, and orders for the Avon Lady.

I nipped in to Langley Park to do a few errands, came back for a 2 hour snooze.

Power cut occurred at 3.30pm, didn’t come back on until 7.45pm. kp was cuddled up in front of the gas fire to keep warm.

That’s it.

Karen wasn’t 100% this morning, physically or mentally. She had big aches and pains and needed to take additional pain meds (codeine and diclofenac) on top of Fentanyl and Gabapentin. I don’t think her body is used to all the moving around she is doing now.

After the home help lady had been and got kp up, kp wanted to start looking forward to holidays for next year and she set about checking flights. She also wanted to check her email. She couldn’t do either of these things this morning.

I think she had problems reading the emails and seeing the website, but more of the problem was she didn’t have the mental stamina (that’s the best way I can word it) to take things in. I think the last few days has been so much for her. Compared to her time in hospital, she is doing SO MUCH mentally and physically and I think it’s taking its toll a bit.

The stroke has left her less able to concentrate generally.

But, together we got through what she wanted to achieve. We then went for a snooze, but just as we were dozing off, our local Doctor popped in for a visit, which was nice. We had an appointment with him next week anyway, but managed to cram it into his visit. He left us with prescriptions for about 10 different types of drugs (over prescription slips). One big prescription. It would cost about 60 quid to get at the chemist had we not just bought one of the annual prescription cards.

kp is back snoozing again now. I suspect there won’t be anything to report between now and sleep time, but if there is, I will do an “addendum”

Marie and Glenn arrived at 6.45pm and we went for a meal out with Tommy and Eileen (ace neighbours). Thoroughly enjoyable.

kp without her wheelchair as well !

Uneventful Day.

Marie, Glenn and I were all up at 8am. As I usually do, I get kp up when I get up to get her to go to the loo and then she falls straight back to sleep. Today was no different, but she did add that she was really tired.

Marie asked me, after a cup of tea, if she should get Karen up now (8.15am). I suggested that that wasn’t such a good idea.

The homehelp lady didn’t get here until 10.45am and got kp up.

We had a nice breakfast with Marie and Glenn, they left, and kp and I went back to sleep from 1pm until 6.30pm, getting up just in time for “Strictly Come Dancing”.

Usual Saturday night. Loved it.

Bedtime.