Well, last night, we were all engrossed with American Idol. Here are kp and Marie watching it, completely unaware of me taking a photo.

I went to bed early (10pm) leaving Marie, kp and Kieran (watching Parkinson). I was very tempted to text Marie to tell her the tv was loud, but was too tired.

I got up at 5.30am to walk the dogs (as you do). Kieran got up at 7am for a fag. We both decided to head back to bed.

kp and I were woken by the dulcet tones of Marie hoovering outside our door at about 12pm. We had breakfast and went over to Adele’s to see her house with carpets down and walls painted. It looks great !

We had tea and cake at Adele’s.

kp was starting to get tired, I could tell on the journey over there.

But, she did very well, enjoying a nice time at Adele’s. We dropped off some charity stuff at Marie’s before kp fell asleep in the car on the way home.

It’s 9.20pm now and we haven’t had tea yet. We got home and we snoozed until 7pm, which was lovely.

Pasta and stir-in sauce for tea (I think).

That’s it for today.

dp

Strange Night. kp’s sleep pattern is well out of sync at the moment. She came to bed at 5am. All her snoozes are making it hard for her to sleep on a night, but she doesn’t seem too bothered by it. I got up at 5.30am because I couldn’t get back to sleep after she came to bed.

We had an appointment today with the Stroke Association. The lady concerned was due to arrive at 12pm, so I got kp up 15 minutes before as ordered/requested.

We enjoyed a nice cup of tea out the front in the glorious weather awaiting her arrival. Not much to report from that meeting. She explained more about rehab uk (a brain injury based unit in Newcastle that helps people get back to work). Although kp knows she is nowhere near ready for work, she wants something to aim for.

When the lady left, we both had a lovely snooze. We fell asleep in each other’s arms and 2 hours later, we were in the exact same position Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr (Vomit !)

It was still glorious outside so we went out the back (that’s where the sun is in the afternoon for us) and had a cup of tea/can of cider. I wish she wouldn’t drink so much cider

kp has been in her pyjamas all day and her hair has not been, how can I put it politely, looking good all day, but I don’t mind. I wanted to take a photo for the blog of us sitting outside, but kp wasn’t having any of it.

So, I have compromised. I have used my incredible artistic talent to draw a very life-like kp in the chair with the appropriate hairstyle.

A more ordered night’s sleep, but she still got up for an hour somewhere in the middle.

I forgot to mention a big step forward the other day – kp made the evening meal !!!! It was Bacon in baps and lovely at that !

I think she may cook tea again tonight and I think it’s Bacon in baps again. Hope there’s not a trend developing here.

Today, kp showed the signs of “going on a downer”, quietness, staring, thinking, solemn face. This afternoon, she confirmed my fears that she felt she was.

Cue distractions. We went for a 1mph walk to post a letter and get some bread/milk. kp has been keen to get a new bathroom setup, so we started looking into that more. And fortunately, tomorrow Marie, Adele, Abbie and Louisa are coming over to stay the afternoon/night. That couldn’t have been better timed. She went for a snooze after her walk.

kp:- My buns are killing me.

Since the accident, kp has been calling her calfs, slabs and her bum cheeks, buns ?! We are going to try and do a walk-a-day, to try and build her stamina.

She seems ok after her snooze, watching Coronation Street.

Just over 2 weeks sees the 1st anniversary of the accident. kp has been wondering what to do for the day. It’s a tricky one, because on the one hand, I would like it to be just kp and I, but on the other, some distraction may be necessary, not so much for kp, but for me. I am starting to think back to those awful first days. They are not nice memories. We’ll see what happens.

So, generally, not the best of days. Fingers crossed, her mood doesn’t get any lower. It’s not too bad at the moment, but it’s one of those turning point days.

Well, how wrong can a husband get it ?

kp wanted to watch some of the home videos that I have converted to DVD. I was a bit worried that seeing her mam, Lee and nana would make her upset, so was reluctant to let her watch them, but I gave in and she really enjoyed them.

Tonight, I egged Karen on to watch King Kong on DVD. Well, she was crying her eyes out at the end. I feel very guilty. I didn’t see it coming at all.

It’s such a life-like Kong, I must confess I had a few tears in my eyes at the end.

Eventful day today. kp didn’t really have time to contemplate her situation and for her mood to worsen as it has been quite hectic with one thing or another.

She had another interrupted sleep, getting up for an hour or so, sometime in the middle of the night.

I didn’t wake her until I got a text from Marie to say she was ready to be picked up at the bus station, accompanied by Adele, Abbie and Louisa.

By the time I returned, she was ready to get her socks and bra on (the 2 items she can’t do herself) and get her hair dried. The kids were very good, but also very demanding and kp didn’t get chance to have a snooze. Somehow I fitted one in though

Whilst I was asleep, Karen received a phonecall to tell her that her cousin Angela had died. She was 37 with 3 kids (13, 18, 19) and was found by her daughter (13) in the bathroom this morning. Cause of death is unknown at the moment, but she had been unwell the day before apparently. So, that came as a bit of a shock to us all.

When I got up, Karen and I took Abbie and Louisa to feed the horses. Here they armed with a bag of sugared bread and a bag of carrots.

Louisa has no fear when it comes to animals and was quite happy to try and feed them, until the last moment when she just threw the carrots at the horse.

Abbie on the other hand was a bit more timid, and couldn’t quite get close enough to feed them. The food went down very well though.

Feeding the horses over, the kids wanted to explore the woods, so we let them wander off.

Marie had started the Roast Pork off while we were out and peeled all the veg. I took over the reins as was planned. Plus I had my commis chefs. It started off with just Louisa (stirring gravy)…..

And soon Abbie was joining in………

We enjoyed the meal. The end of the meal was greeted by Louisa (2) shouting…….

Louisa :- “I beel dick”

Well, none of us could understand her, but she was quite adamant that she beeled dick. So Marie rang Louisa’s mam (adele) for the translation. It is of course

Louisa :- “I feel sick”.

Well, she was saying it with such enthusiasm, that we didn’t believe her. She was fast asleep 15 minutes later.

So, a sad day for the family today. I can’t remember if I put this in the blog, but about 2 weeks ago, another of Karen’s cousins (18) died of heart failure, so quite a bit of bad luck around at the moment.

But, kp has kept strong and for now is ok.

All is quiet in the Pollard household.

I am pleased to report a full night’s sleep for kp

Marie and I kept the kids amused from about 7.30am onwards until kp graced her with her presence at about 12pm. Did you know a cardboard box can keep them amused for hours if you turn it into a house ?

I wish I had took a photo of Louisa with the box on her head, pretending she was inside the house !

When kp got up, we had breakfast before taking the kids to the park on the way to physio. Louisa was having such a good time, she didn’t want to leave and snook herself away behind a climbing frame, thinking we couldn’t get to her.

Sorry about the photo quality today, my phone was low on memory.

Physio was very productive today. The physio decided to reassess kp to see how much she has improved since first attending her sessions back in November. It was evidence of her vast improvement

The first assessments were based on balancing.

They ranged from balancing with feet close together, on one leg, one foot in front of another, picking up something from the floor etc etc…

Stepping was no problem….

One foot in front of the other was a bit more challenging and she lost her balance a few times, grabbing at the physios coat to stop her falling.

Picking up keys was a big improvement. Last time, she really had to snatch them from the floor in a very uncontrolled manner. This time, it was more of a natural swoop.

Then it was time for a timed walk. She had last done this the week before she left hospital and had completed the 10m walk in 35 seconds.

Linford Christie, watch out, we are talking 15 seconds !!!!

Back to the physio room to try the pegs in the holes exercise. Bloggers with a good memory may remember that the first time kp attempted this, she got so frustrated trying to even pick the pegs up, it was called off.

Subsequently, she managed to get 3 of the pegs in. This time, she got them ALL in. It took a while, but she was NOT going to give up.

Here she is posing (at my request) for the camera. I ask her to do a thumbs up !!! It’s the left hand doing it as well !!!!

Because of the pelvic/hip injuries (not the stroke), when Karen walks, her right hip drops at every step, preventing her from walking fluidly, and therefore causing a walk to be much more strenous than it would be for most of us. kp didn’t know what the physio meant by “her hip dropping”, so she placed kp in front of a mirror and showed her.

When asked what else she would like to cover, I butted in and asked if kp would be able to walk faster than the usual 1mph.

So, the physio got kp walking (whilst supporting her) and then made her walk fast. It was amazing to see !!!

The physio went one better and we redid the timed walk at this new pace without any support from the physio. Here it is in video format.

CLICK HERE to see kp speed walking. It looks like a vintage bit of film where they walk dead fast, but this is NOT an optical illusion. This is actually how karen walks fast (at the moment). She did the 10m in 7 seconds !

It was the last physio for a few weeks today, as kp starts hydrotherapy next week, but it was a very good one to end on.

By the time we got to Sainsbury’s for our weekly shop, kp was already in pain.

We are running a hot bath as I type this.

Cracking day today.

We were expecting the worst given kp’s speed walking yesterday, but she managed to overcome the pain to enjoy a good day.

She didn’t get up until 1.50pm and needed help getting out of bed. It reminded us of the days when I used to have to pull her up from the bed every time.

Once up, we enjoyed breakfast outside in the glorious bank holiday weather. We had planned a few things today because a day with nothing on can be very demoralising for kp. Today, it was “walk a dog”, plan a bathroom design and watch “Acorn Antiques – the musical” on dvd.

We changed walking a dog to walking 3 dogs. The dogs thought they were heaven with a second walk in the middle of the day

Here is kp with Cleo. I actually walked the 3 dogs, but gave her Cleo for the photo. Elsa got the blog camera time last time !

kp wanted to make the walk longer so we ended up doing about 1/2 a mile. On the way back, kp had to do a 6 foot stretch of the walk at a 45′ angle. It knacked her (kp ‘s words). If that had been at the beginning of the walk, we would have gone straight home. She really struggled and I had to put all my weight behind her to get her up.

Very nice walk.

With the walk over, we went straight into bathroom planning. That kept us both mentally taxed for 30 minutes.

We then went outside with the dogs in the back garden to enjoy a lager and lager shandy for 30 minutes.

Here’s the dogs ………..

and here’s kp………..

By this stage, kp’s every movement was causing her pain, so she had to retire

kp:- I am not going to sleep, I just need to rest my body.

I nearly spat my drink out.

Well, I can hear snoring from the next room, but I can’t say I am surprised.

That’s it for today

Acorn Antiques tonight

Today was “Easter Egg Hunt Day at Maries”.

kp was up a couple of times in the night, but otherwise had a good night’s sleep. On the way to Marie’s, we popped in to a bathroom showroom in Middlesbrough for a good mooch round at various bathroom setups.

Once at Marie’s, we tucked into the lovely buffet lunch Marie had laid on, before the Easter Egg Hunt was on. Four kids (Abbie(8), Ethan(7), Louisa(2) and David(12)). I was looking forward to SHARING some chocolate with the kids. Unfortunately, David(11) gets hyperactive on chocolate so there was no easter eggs to hunt, only toys. Well, I was polite and didn’t spit my dummy out at the fact there was no chocolate.

Here is the family picture……..

The kids enjoyed finding the toys. Marie could see I was a bit miffed there was no chocolate and as if by magic, a galaxy bar appeared in front of me

The toys Marie had got provided us with a cracking afternoon’s entertainment and the kids enjoyed it too. She had got them these big blowup England-themed football hammers that you blow up. There were 4 of them. I was knackered after blowing 2 of them up (must cut down on the fags).

The kids had a whale of a time with the hammers. But soon the adults were being battered by the kids. That’s when it all changed. The adults took over and took their revenge.

Adele was the first to come a cropper from the kids, but she took no prisoners and was beating the merry hell out of any kid who came close, including her own daughter.

I overheard someone threatening to call Social Services, but it was an idle threat.

Michelle helped Abbie beat the boys….

Abbie was tired, so Michelle and Adele took the boys on……

Michelle fought hard…

I was trying to avoid being hit, but hiding behind Karen only wins a bit of time. Ethan came for me, but I grabbed the hammer and showed him how strong 25 year olds can be….

Louisa was unimpressed…..

It was a really good afternoon. kp was flagging about halfway through, so we took Ethan and Chris home, before driving back to Durham.

Lovely Day !

Lovely day today. kp in good mood despite nothing on.

kp was up at 11am. We had a lovely breakfast outside and then she made a few phonecalls (lasting 2 hours), whilst I carried on the work on the blog (the book version).

Here’s a little thing that I found today whilst going through Karen’s medical notes and I suppose it’s a snippet preview of the book version…..

kp then went to sleep after her phone calls until 5pm, whilst I mowed the lawn.

That’s it for today.

Today has been a “reminder of Karen’s stroke” day. It’s not been a bad day, don’t get me wrong, but a few stroke related things have popped up.

kp got up early today, about 10am. I was amazed, but pleased.

We had our usual breakfast outside. kp buttered her own toast today, but she doesn’t like doing it, because it reminds her how hard it is with only one controlled hand. What is interesting (to me) is how she cut the toast. Bear in mind, kp neglects her left field of vision. She doesn’t see 1/8th (of the left) of what we see. It shows itself in her cutting of the toast.

She would think she cut the toast in the middle, but as the picture shows (which she has no idea I took), she was quite a bit off. She thinks the left hand side of the toast is closer to the right than it actually is. Notice also the butter on her left finger (highlighted). I only spotted this just now when I am writing the blog, but I guarantee that butter is probably still on her finger, or all over the furniture, because of the reduced sensation in her left arm/hand. It’s something the family is aware of and we look out for certain things from time to time, but these are shareable examples.

Today, she wasn’t quite herself however.

During our breakfast conversation, she was trying to get a sentence out, but couldn’t find the word “depends”. She could say the sentence in a different way, but it was really frustrating her that she couldn’t pick the word out.

kp:- I feel like everything is in slow motion.

So, after breakfast, on my suggestion, she went back to bed to get some extra zzzz’s. She got up about 3pm and we have had a nice afternoon doing very little.

That’s it for today.

kp had an awful night’s sleep last night. I got this email from her this morning when i woke up…..

“it is645 and just coming to bed awful night got up at 1am came back at 4.30and never went back to sleepso got up at 6.30 let dogs out and here we are.there is a smell off cleo were she has beenlicking but couldnt see snything it needs a better look but i couldnt get down enough to see”

Poor cow.

I let her lie in until 1pm. Whilst she was sleeping, I prepared her next 4 week’s tablets. I left the current week’s tablet out for her by the fridge, and piled her other 3 week’s tablets in a pile on the right hand side.

I have just noticed that she has been taking tablets from the wrong pile, completely ignoring the tray of tablets I had left out for her on the left hand side. You’d think I would have cottoned on to this neglect thing by now !

Once kp was up, we had breakfast and went to Costco to stock up. We enjoyed a nice shop and had an early tea on our return.

That’s it for today. Apart from a word about Cleo. There was an awful smell coming from her left leg. I had a good look, and she has the biggest of blisters where her hugely enlarged left leg has been rubbing against her right (active) leg. We had enough dressings/bandages from previous dog episodes to clean the wound up and bandage her up.

Doesn’t she look fetching ?

Well, we decided on an early night last night, but all the best made plans of mice and men etc….

Cleo had been licking her bad leg all day. And just as we were about to retire, we could smell a really bad smell. On further investigation, cleo’s swollen tumour had split open and you could see down to the muscle. Not a pretty sight and the smell was pervasive.

So, we got out some old bandages and gave her a good clean and bandaged her up. After getting hooked on a show on tv, it was 12am before we retired.

In the morning, the bandages had been torn off by Cleo and the smell was even worse – a vet trip was in order.

kp got up at 2pm and we enjoyed breakfast outside, but were mindful that we could be taking Cleo in to get her “put to sleep”. I took some photos of the dogs, thinking it could be the last time Cleo and Elsa (sisters) were together.

Here is kp waiting at the vets.

We were worrying for nothing about Cleo. The vet said her skin had ulcerated and set her on a course of antibiotics. Phew !

That’s it for today. When home, we went to the shop to post a letter and get some groceries in. Here is kp on the return.

Hydrotherapy tomorrow.

kp didn’t have a good sleep last night, so I didn’t wake her until I had to, which was, in time to go to Hydrotherapy.

Hydrotherapy – she loved it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed in Understandable, because there were other patients in there, but a real kick in the teeth, as I have been able to follow her recovery 100% until then.

Sounds like she had a lovely lady to guide her through the moves. One of the things kp wants to be able to do, is to be able to bend down on her knees. At the moment, they don’t bend enough for that, so I think she did some exercises to help towards that.

Anyway, she really enjoyed it, the water was apparently a lovely temperature.

Once home, we snoozed for an hour until the “bathroom man” came to measure up.

That’s our jam-packed day

Well, today was the day of Angela’s funeral. Karen didn’t feel strong enough to attend, but did think about it and her thoughts were with her family.

Very uneventful day. Cleo is very subdued and has been, since taking the antibiotics This has affected Karen’s mood and she is quite quiet today. kp has been asleep all day apart from 11am to 1pm, and has been up since about 4pm, but is now back asleep (5.30pm).

She is in a surprising amount of pain today. Neither of us were expecting that, but the hydrotherapy must be more intense than she realises at the time.

Tomorrow, Adele is coming up, so that may well cheer her up. And then we have the Take That concert on Sunday and a busy week next week, so hopefully there is enough distraction there to keep her occupied and not thinking too down.

Uneventful Day.

kp didn’t think she would sleep last night, having slept a lot yesterday, but she was asleep from 10pm until 12pm (14 hours) with no commode trips. So she must have needed it.

We went round to the post box to post a cheque to some ebayer Karen has bought some makeup off. Lucky I checked the envelope, as the address read something like this :-

Mr John Smith
Surbiton
London
NW14

She had missed the house number and street off and half the postcode. We chuckled about it, but at the same time, she does realise that she “can’t be trusted with things like that” (her words)

On our return, we dropped in at Eileen’s and played with her grandkids for 20 minutes or so. Adele has just arrived and no doubt it will be pizza tonight

If you have any problems with it, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Leave a comment below.

Thanks
David P.

Well, we had a good night watching tv last night with the obligatory Pizza. It has been an absolutely glorious day today. Hot in the city tonight ! Let’s hope so, ‘cos it’s the Take That concert in Newcastle.

Here is the crew enjoying the sunshine before we set off.

It’ll be a late night tonight, so there’s unlikely to be a blog update until the early hours or tomorrow possibly.

Well, I wasn’t keen on going to the Take That concert to say the least. I didn’t want kp to know as she would have felt guilty asking me to come along.

But………….it was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC !

We all thoroughly enjoyed it and Take That were brilliant. Their showmanship was awesome. Their show was funny, exciting and the music as good, if not better than ever. They had done different arrangments for the songs and they were very catchy. It was just incredible.

At one point a 200 feet long walkway and second stage came down from the ceiling and they played songs within spitting distance of us (lots of Beatle numbers).

Jane, Adele and Karen thoroughly enjoyed it too. And it was great to see Karen tapping along and laughing out loud when they started doing the same dances they did 10 years ago.

We all had a great night, and I doubt I will ever see a concert in my lifetime of such high quality and entertainment. It’s a shame Lulu wasn’t there (and Robbie of course). But Beverly Knight did a good job !

Here are some photos of the night………..

First of all, while we were getting kp ready, it was clear she had caught the sun BIG TIME !

Here is kp waiting for the show to start. Very excited !

Here is Jane, equally (if not more) excited…..

I was more interested in the workings of the show……..I spotted this huge walkway and stage stuck to the ceiling and was wondering if it would come down…..The stage is more easily visible (with its 4 legs), but I have had to brighten the walkway bit….

They used it to perform Beatle’s numbers…

At half time, Jane took kp out for some fresh air. Jane has a gammy leg, and the wheelchair (with kp in it) nearly laid Jane flat on her face and Jane had to run as best she could so she didn’t fall.

Also, at half-time, the campest looking skinhead (with a Take That T-shirt on) came over to kp and started talking to her. I thought she must know him, but a worried glance at me confirmed that she didn’t.

He was bigger than me, but I was ready to “offer him out”.
He was asking Karen if he could sit in her wheelchair.

Karen:- No, you can’t. B+++er off.

He duly left.

Karen:- He said that I have the best seat in the house and he wanted it.

He was a good laugh actually.

Cracking Night

We got chips on the way home and all slept like babies.

If you want to see how much fun we had, click on the link below to see some video footage (not the best quality) of the night….

Click Here for low quality, but faster download

Click Here for better quality, but slower download

So, we all had a cracking night’s sleep.

I was up early (5.30am) walking the dogs, and got kp up at 8am as she had a doctor’s appointment at 8.40am.

kp:- Where am I ?

You’re in bed.

kp:- It’s not “get up” time is it ?

dp:- Yes, love, sorry

She had just been dreaming and was very confused when she woke up. Doctor’s over, we returned to have breakfast with Jane and Adele before they scooted off and then it was straight back to bed, before Karen’s boss (Colin) and Personnel Manager (Linda) came. We were expecting them at 12pm, they arrived at 11.15am.

Poor kp didn’t know if she was coming or going.

We had a nice chat with them and some laughs as well.

Then it was hydrotherapy time. Here is kp in the pool, not the best of photos I am afraid….

And a little bit of video footage. I have to be careful to respect other patient’s privacy, so getting shots with only kp on is a bit tricky.

Click Here to see a very small clip of kp in hydrotherapy….

She loves it. She felt the session was too short today.

That’s it for today. Going to see bathrooms tomorrow.

Karen was in a lot of pain AGAIN after hydro. It really seems to hit her hard, but yet she feels nothing while it’s going on. She got up in the middle of the night to take some Diclofenac and Codeine (a cocktail she uses for breakthru pain) which doesn’t make it go away, but allows her to bear it.

She was up at 12.30pm.

Karen had a nice surprise in the post today. Mum (and Dad) had bought her a lovely heavy (therefore expensive, I think) gold necklace to cover her trachy scar. It was the perfect fit. She was over the moon. Thanks M+D.

We had the usual breakfast outside (lovely weather) and headed over to HS interiors in Middlesbrough to browse bathrooms. They have some lovely stuff there, and the chap had been out to measure up and had done some cracking 3D views of the proposed bathroom. Once he showed us the proposal, he took us round the proposed showers etc…

Here is kp when I locked her in a shower cubicle.

Shame about the price though ! £25,000 for 2 bathrooms I kid you NOT ! I remained calm(ish) and was then just anxious to leave. To be fair, it was a top notch bathroom, but we could buy a house for not much more.

Once that was over, we went to Jane (Burns) to see her new pup. He is lovely. Here is kp training him to sit. He is called Murphy (left) and Caffrey (his dad) is on the right. The other dog is Karen. I am gonna get it for that (in a year’s time !)

That’s it for today. We got back at 7pm and kp went straight for a lie down.

Well, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the accident. Unfortunately, this is Day 363, which means this is one of those special years with only 364 days in it. No doubt, along the way, I have skipped a day, but I am sure there are quite a few I would have like to have skipped.

Another lunchtime get-up for kp today. We had to take Cleo to the vets for a re-examination. She is still ok and on more antibiotics.

kp asked if it would be a good idea to get her leg off, and the vet didn’t really hint at either getting it off, or keeping it on, but either way, suggested nothing be done until after our holiday in a couple of weeks time.

Marie and Glenn came (for tea) tonight. I had been snoozing in the afternoon and never really woke up when I got up, hence I forgot the Yorkshire Puds for the casserole I had made. Only just remembered the blog, must have other things on my mind.

Busy few days coming up……Jane is coming up tomorrow to watch the Middlesbrough match with a Chinese. VDfromboro is going to the match and coming up afterwards and staying the weekend with Jane, so it should be a fun weekend.

All blog readers should use http://www.karensstory.com to access the blog from now on. http://kpscondition.blogspot.com will remain, but will not be updated and in a day or so will just take you immediately to this page.

Here is another snippet of the upcoming blog book version…..It’s a photo taken from the police helicopter of them trying to get Karen out of the car.

Lots of thoughts today about “a year ago”. But no depressing dwelling on how bad things were, just happy/funny thoughts about the events around this day.

kp got up just in time to go to hydro at 1.40pm.

It went very well. She is keen to be able to kneel down again so she can do weeding and planting, so they concentrated on that today. It was quite a long session and no doubt tomorrow she will feel the pain for her efforts.

A beautiful afternoon this afternoon – a real scorcher ! Michelle sent a bottle of champagne and some lovely flowers – thanks Michelle (kp was over the moon) and we have had lots of well wishes which we also really appreciate.

Jane has just arrived and we are going to have a lovely weekend with vdfromboro (when she arrives after the match).

Well, I should carry on from last night.

We got the champagne out (thanks Michelle) to celebrate kp still being here and reminisced about all the funny experiences that occurred while kp was out for the count (more in the blog book version (to come sometime in May)).

We all sat down to watch Middlesbrough play Bucharest and it was a very exciting match. All of us were screaming at the TV as they scored the needed 4 goals to get to the UEFA Cup final. Well done Middlesbrough.

I then retired. The late night slappers girls came to bed at 3.30am after running “The Clinic”. “The Clinic” is where 2 of them advise the other 1 on their problems. And this time they discussed Veronica and “fella” issues. I think they put her right.

kp got up at 4am for a commode experience and then again at 5am, at which point, I walked the dogs because I couldn’t sleep. The girls got up about 12pm, with kp getting up about 2.30pm.

First port of call today was a meal with Lydia and Debs at the Ravensworth Arms Hotel at Lamesley. It was lovely and we had a good laugh.

Note the bingo dabbers at the ready (courtesy of Debs).

Then it was time for the big event. Bingo at Mecca, Gateshead. It was definately an experience. kp was in stitches before we even entered the building, when a bus pulled up with 50 pensioners on who made a mad dash to beat us in ! You don’t want to get in the way of an OAP and Bingo, we learned that much.

We took our seats and tested our dobbers – all in working order.

kp and I shared a book, and the girls had 1 each. And then all hell broke loose when “Sean Connery” started reading out the numbers. There’s none of this “88, two fat ladies stuck at the gate”. It’s number after number and it’s fast. Well, it was hellishly hard to keep up finding the numbers, I kid you not. Time after time, we kept missing numbers out. After the first round, Lydia only had 3 spots on her page ! She did get a lot better though, but we all found it very hard work. And by the 10th book, were willing people to shout bloody “House”. Poor Debs was stuck between the huffalot pair (vd and Jane) who started breathing very heavy as they kept up with the numbers. kp couldn’t stop laughing at Lydia’s mouse whimpers as she dabbed for Great Britain. It was good entertainment, but I don’t think we will be doing it again.

Needless to say, we didn’t win.

I took this photo of the hall to give some idea of how huge it was.

At which point, a big announcement came from the caller saying

Bingo Caller :- “We’d like to give a big Gateshead welcome to 6 new Bingo virgins.”

We cheered.

Bingo Caller :- “But, we’d like to remind you, that photography is not permitted in the Bingo hall”

So, a good night was had by all. We were really exhausted at the end of it and I don’t think it will be late nights !

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categories: Karen's Blog

Day 368 – Saturday 29th April 2006

by David Pollard — published on April 29th, 2006

kp had a nice leisurely day today.

She went out with Ronnie to spend some time with Ronnie’s friend Janice in the afternoon, allowing me some time to do more blog work. I think they had tea and sandwiches at the Royal County.

90 minutes sleep when she returned and then she helped Ronnie look for houses on t’internet.

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categories: Karen's Blog

Day 369 – Sunday 30th April 2006

by David Pollard — published on April 30th, 2006

Uneventful day today. It wasn’t a late night last night.
VERY lazy day. kp didn’t get up until 3.15pm. Ronnie was up and then sleeping, up and then sleeping. So, a very lazy Pollard household.

kp’s eyes have been annoying her today. She hasn’t been able to focus on things properly.

dp:- You should see the Doctor about that.

kp:- I get days like this.

So, very little to blog about. We bade goodbye to vd on her 300 mile trip home and that’s pretty much it.

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categories: Karen's Blog

Day 370 – Monday 1st May 2006

by David Pollard — published on May 1st, 2006

Karen woke up in a strange physical state today. Her hip (right) was causing her big problems. She couldn’t walk without really contorting her body. It was the strangest thing. It’s as if her hip had dislocated a bit (obviously it hadn’t). She had got up in the night to take the breakthrough pain cocktail of Diclofenac and Codeine but was still in pain.
The only thing we could think of that has caused this is maybe I had slept with my leg over her right leg (no jokes about “getting my leg over” please) and that the weight of it had strained kp in some way ?!

I’ll be getting her up shortly (4pm) so we’ll see if it’s any different since the last time she got up (11am).

Anyway, she remembered my birthday which was nice. I got a lovely card and some sherbet dips. She must have got them with Ronnie (the other day). Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr

This day last year, kp was at death’s door and Dad had found her birthday card (for me) in Karen’s knicker draw.

I said to kp the other day that all I want for my birthday is “you”. And I meant it ! Anyone feeling nauseous yet ?

Her eyes have also been playing up today. Problems focussing, especially on the computer. Nice day, relaxing, but otherwise uneventful.

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categories: Karen's Blog

Day 371 – Tuesday 2nd May 2006

by David Pollard — published on May 2nd, 2006

kp was up at 8 today. That’s AM, Ante Meridian, morning, before noon. I think she had wondered where I was. I had got up at 4.30am, unable to sleep. Her hip was a lot better today, I am pleased to report, not 100%, but signicantly better. Today’s problem was her eyes. She struggled to focus on things. She went back to bed after breakfast and after wishing my dad a Happy 66th Birthday.

I joined her, but no sooner had I put my head down than the boilermen arrived to fix the boiler. They brought with them a nice shiny new boiler bit (that’s its technical term).

It was supposed to be a 2 hour fitting job (tops), but it’s 5.30pm and they are still at it ! At least they are earning their £700.

Marie arrived at 1.45pm after a 3 hour bus set of bus journeys. We went straight off to take Cleo to another vet for a second opinion and are we glad we did. We found a helpful vet, a caring vet, someone who spoke to us succinctly and gave good advice. We were very pleased. The vet told us what she would do if it were her dog. Rather then evade the question completely like the Lanchester vet.

So, basically, she is going in on Thursday to get her leg taken off at the hip. I am referring to Cleo here and not Karen who is keeping both her legs, just in case any bloggers starting reading from this sentence. Actually, it’s a little more involved than that.

She (Cleo still) first gets her chest x-rayed and if the tumour hasn’t spread to her lungs they are going to amputate and apparently she could live another 5 years if she’s lucky. kp and I are all too aware that if the tumour has spread, the leg stays and she doesn’t have very long left.

But, we are very pleased with that.

With no running water and no central heating and a very blustery day, the house was freezing on our return and kp kept her coat on and sat by the fire trying to warm herself up. She also used the “gassing” technique whereby if she talks a great deal, she warms up. Here’s Marie and kp warming themselves up big style.

Marie and Karen spent most of the afternoon after that sorting Karen’s clothes out for the Spain holiday in a couple of weeks. That’s it for today

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categories: Karen's Blog

Day 372 – Wednesday 3rd May 2006

by David Pollard — published on May 3rd, 2006

The plumbers (4 of them) didn’t go until 6.45pm. It was good to have the house back to ourselves. Poor Marie had to go moments later to catch the bus to Middlesbrough. I went to bed at 11pm and kp followed at 2am.

Not a good day today. We had some good plans today. Tesco shopping and in the afternoon, I was due to give blood, with kp coming to meet up with her work buddies.

From the moment she woke up, I could tell all was not well. The tell-tale signs were there. She was quiet, with her head down and uninterested in anything around her.

I made her some breakfast – hardly a word was spoken. She was uninterested in anything I had to say, and apologised for her mood – Obviously, not necessary ! From the little she did say, I could gather it was her body that was pulling her mind down. There is so much she wants to do, but she feels so trapped unable to do it. Something as simple as “putting the washing out”. She was chomping at the bit to do that today but couldn’t.

When it came to me giving blood, she certainly wasn’t up to going and couldn’t have faced her work buddies, so we stayed at home. It’s a shame really, because we got her all ready for a trip out and she spent most of the afternoon in bed.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day – although Cleo is going to the vet in the morning and that could spell bad news. Fingers crossed – as always.

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categories: Karen's Blog

Day 372 – Wednesday 3rd May 2006 – Addendum

by David Pollard — published on May 4th, 2006

At about 10pm, kp ad I were outside with the dogs. It was lovely and quiet and you could see every star in the sky. We were a little anxious about tomorrow and whether they would find any white spots on Cleo’s Chest X-ray. Whilst I was looking up at the stars, I saw the most amazing shooting star. It wasn’t the normal “gone in a flash” one, this was markedly bigger and easily visible with a huge tail of fire behind it. I nearly spat my fag out as I shouted :-

dp:- KKAARREENN, look at that ! Shooting Star !

Unfortunately, by the time kp looked up it had gone. It probably lasted about a second or just over (a long time for a shooting star) but it wasn’t time enough for kp to react. Then came the bollocking :-

kp:- You frightened the life out of me. Don’t shout like that !

dp:- But, but, but…

I shut up.

We talked for a little while longer, before heading in. Cleo was lying very peacefully on the lawn. kp went to stroke her but she couldn’t bend down enough to give her the big love she wanted to give. She turned round to walk into the house and she was crying her eyes out.

kp:- I can’t even give Cleo a love.

I comforted her as best I could. But it wasn’t enough.

kp:- I am sick of being trapped in this body. I just want to be better now !

I can’t recall seeing her this upset before. It made me very sad.

kp:- I have had enough. I just want to get out of here. I am going to sleep (still crying)

We got in bed and she cuddled up into me and just cried and cried.

dp:- You have come so far love.

kp:- I hate it when people say that. It doesn’t change the way I am now. Do you understand how I feel ?

I explained that I could imagine how frustrated she must be and rattled off examples of every day things she finds hard. I then started to talk about Hitler and World War 2, as you do. I was trying to draw an analogy about how she was fighting a war and there were many battles to be fought along the way to winning. Some she’d win, some she wouldn’t. But she’d win most of them and Hitler would be defeated. Well, her wailing turned to crying so my mad analogy obviously helped a bit.

She then gradually started crying less, not saying a word – less and less crying until she fell asleep in my arms. I was well pleased. By this time, I had got a sweat on and had to push her away – she didn’t wake up thankfully.

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categories: Karen's Blog

Day 373 – Thursday 4th May 2006

by David Pollard — published on May 4th, 2006

Continuing on from yesterday’s addendum…………………..

Today, she woke up no better than yesterday. She hadn’t had a good sleep. She woke up in time to wish Cleo all the best for her operation today. I was glad. I made sure she got back into bed ok and then took Cleo to the vets. If the cancer had spread to the lungs, then amputation would make things worse so we were hoping NOT to get a call.

In the meantime, we addressed kp’s mood. It was still very low. I suggested phoning the neuropsychologist (NP)

kp:- I don’t want to talk to anyone

I phoned anyway. She rang back and spoke to kp. kp’s tone and volume was low. She hardly said a word. I felt sorry for the NP who had to work very hard to coax answers from kp. She talked to kp for 22 minutes and by the end of it, kp wasn’t feeling much better BUT we had an action plan to make things better.

We had deduced that kp’s physical wellbeing has got worse since she started hydro. We were to speak to the hydrotherapy physiotherapist and tell her so she could advise us accordingly. Another problem kp is having is her eyesight is deteriorating.

kp:- Everything is jumbled up.

The NP hinted that the opthamologist may prescribe some occluded glasses to stop her right eye seeing anything at all and reduce the muddle that she sees when her brain combines both images from both eyes. So she is referring her to the eye person.

When the NP went off the phone, I did a mockup pair of glasses with the right eye occluded so she could see the effect. I got kp’s reading glasses and wrapped one side in tin foil. She put them on, but it didn’t seem to make much difference. She looked a bit like Jack Duckworth, and my attempts at a photo for the blog went down like a lead balloon.
With the phonecall over, we went for a snooze at about 11am, hoping for no phone call until 2.30pm, when we were to ring the vet.

30 minutes later, the phone rang

It was the vet and it wasn’t good news. Cleo’s lungs were riddled with cancer and the amputation was pointless. She didn’t have long left and they asked if we wanted to put her to sleep. We got up to discuss it and then rang the vet back to get Cleo put to sleep.

There were a lot of tears as you can imagine.

It was soon time to go to hydrotherapy. I asked her if she still wanted to go.. She did !

We talked with the physio about the fact she has been a wreck after all the hydro sessions and she suggested they take it easier, which they did. kp did lots of exercises (she thinks as much as usual) and then spent 15 minutes lying weightless in the water supported by buoyancy aids on all parts of her body. She gave me a wave and I could tell she really enjoyed it.

Clumsy me took a photo but put my finger in front of the lens so sorry about this one. I have had to circle kp’s head so hopefully you can spot someone amidst all the rubber rings !

Back from hydro, we had a nice chat and talked about the missing Cleo and then she went for a snooze. Hopefully, she has turned a corner and will be back to top form in a day or so.

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