I am sitting at the computer trying to remember what has happened tonight and am so exhausted I am really struggling to recall any events.

This is NOT a call for sympathy.

ok……A student nurse (Z) came into Karen today (should have written this in Part One), and I instantly recognised her as being an ex-work colleague. She looked as pretty as ever and it was great to see her. The last thing I remember about her was that she was jacking in her sales job, and going to retrain as a nurse. It was kinda weird to see her coming to tend to kp and not selling her a computer training course. Nice one Z.

Marie told me a few things that happened in the afternoon. She had heard the nurse naming the infection kp has in another wound, it began with P and my task for the evening was to find out the name but I forgot. Something like Popperdopulous.

It has been a very hot day today, and kp’s room was sweltering. No Mains Electric Fans allowed, but we are allowed a battery fan, which sounds like Concorde on takeoff. kp can only stand it on for 5 mins before the noise irritates her too much.

kp had managed to stay in the chair for 45 mins today, her coxxix was killing her (sorry if the spelling is wrong), but she means the bottom of her back.

I asked kp to do a few tricks with her left arm today, but I could only get the slightest movements compared with yesterday. Not worried about this. She was on Diazepam for the afternoon and evening and it really knocks her out. It takes all her concentration to move her left arm, and she didn’t have any left for today.

Since the accident, kp has been getting various words wrong. Some of the times this can be quite funny. Today, I asked her where the pain was and she replied

kp:- It’s in my slabs

She meant her calfs (of her legs). They probably feel like slabs to her.

Not the best of evenings generally, lots of bowel movement issues which were causing kp quite a bit of distress. Another enema and glycerin suppository provided some relief. Shortly after this, she had her Tamazepam and when I left she was asleep.

If I think of anything key that I have missed out, I will add it in a future blog, but generally it has been an uneventful night.

A cracking morning with a little bit of bad news.

Another good night’s sleep. The Diazepam seems to be doing the trick with only a little pain seeping through.

With sickness pretty much in control, kp enjoyed some weetabix, toast and a glass of freshly squeezed Orange Juice. We did a few physio exercises to loosen her left arm which gets stiff overnight.

The Sister and a nurse changed kp’s dressings and gave kp a nice bedbath and kp looked great. kp has a Pseudomonas infection in her right hip wound and E Coli in the blood stream but that’s on the way out.

Eye Surgeon
The eye surgeon visited kp today. He brought all the kit needed to check her eyes. Her left eye is spot on and has no problems at all. She could read out all the letters on the chart and the peripheral vision is fine also.

The bad news is her right eyesight isn’t as good. He pointed a light into both kp’s eyes and whereas the left pupil contracted when the light shone it, the right pupil actually got bigger.

When he tested the periphery vision on the right eye, it was clear kp had a much narrower field of view. She couldn’t see things that were low until they were directly in line with the eye. It’s as if the eye can only see up (if that makes sense). In fact, up and right. She tends to find it hard to see things from the left and bottom until she actually looks directly at them.

She could read parts of the eyechart with the right eye, but when it got to the 4th row down, she struggled. He anaesthetised both eyes and checked the pressure and they were both fine. So, no glaucoma.

He then put a drug in the eyes which makes the pupils dilate. 15 minutes later he returned and examined the back of kp’s eyes in detail. The upshot of the examination is that Karen has a damaged fibre optic nerve in her right eye. There is nothing that can be done about this, and although kp’s eyesight in the right eye won’t get any worse, it won’t get any better either

My first question to the Eye Man :-

dp:- How will this affect kp. Will she still be able to drive, watch TV, read and do the ironing ?

The eye man found this very funny and kp started laughing and pointing at the eye man because he kept laughing for ages. (The ironing joke is one kp has heard many times !)

The eye man said that she could still drive as the DVLA only require one good eye. Then he racked his brain for things she couldn’t do and he came up with :-

• Driving HGVs
• Getting a Pilot’s Licence

kp:- Is there anything else ?
dp:- You wouldn’t be too good at archery !

This tickled kp also. It’s amazing how she can laugh at such bad news.

There was nothing else that would be affected by the damaged Optic Nerve.

Visitor
Kathleen (work colleague) visited kp today, bringing with her some nice lotions for kp. kp enjoyed seeing Kathleen. These gifts couldn’t have been better timed because the physios came in moments later.

Pamper Session
kp had a fantastic physio session. She has struggled to stay the full hour in the chair. So, the physios had arranged for some things to keep her mind occupied and that she would enjoy to encourage a longer stint in the chair. They worked a treat and kp thoroughly enjoyed them.

Once in the chair, kp had her feet positioned in a bowl of water, and the lotions that Kathleen brought were used for a big pamper session. She loved it. Whilst one physio did the feet, another encouraged and helped kp to do her nails. All great things that help Karen get back to doing day-to-day things with her hands. I think the idea is to encourage the right arm/hand to remember how they work.

She was then given a nice leg massage, and washed her own face which she found very beneficial. She then put various lotions on her face. This physio session did her the world of good. I must say the physio team at Gateshead has been absolutely superb.

By the time they had finished, kp had been in the chair 1.5 hours ! She had a cracking pair of smooth red legs, soft feet, and a moisturised face. A real good combo of physio and pampering.

The Pain Man
The pain specialist came to see kp just as I was leaving. He had a good discussion with kp and kp felt confident that he could fix the pain. She is going to be given Antripoline, and then weaned off the morphine patches and the Diazepam.

That’s about it for this morning.

Nowt to report
An uneventful evening. kp was VERY very tired tonight. Poor Marie (on the afternoon shift) had to resort to the crosswords in “Take a Break” as kp slept the whole afternoon and woke up just as I arrived (Cheesy Grin Time). You missed “9 down” Marie.

Things didn’t get much livelier when I was there. kp pretty much slept the whole evening and I got away early (8.45pm). She is on a new pain killer and I think the lack of pain and the Diazepam are allowing kp to catch up on lost Z’s.

I took a photo of Karen moisturising her hands earlier and showed it her tonight on an A4 size photo. I wanted to confirm that she didn’t mind me putting it on the blog.

Karen sitting in her chair and moisturising her hands.

kp’s bowels are also working much better now. This was causing much anxiety earlier in the week for kp, but fingers crossed, that we MAY have cracked this one.

What a HOOT !!

I left kp early last night and I knew she would either sleep like a log, or have an unsettled night as she had slept so much during the day.

She slept like a log – not waking up AT ALL during the night ! And the day showed it – kp was on top form.

Full Breakfast,
Washed her own face,
Moisturised her own face
Did some leg exercises herself
Etc Etc…

The Pop Quiz
Veronica had left a Pop Quiz for kp last night and I took it in to kp. Ronnie had asked that I record me singing the songs and place it on the internet. Well, I did the first few songs without the intention of recording myself, but kp loved the quiz so much, I started recording it half way through. We both had so much fun !!

Click on Pop Quiz to see kp’s answers or go to “Day 41 – Wednesday 8th June – Part Two” and click on comments.

To listen to kp + I singing the songs in question, click on either of these links

Part One
Part Two

And yes, we should get recording contracts. We have been told so many times how talented we are, but it’s not fair on other musicians to let such talent into the world. They need to earn a living.

We had a real hoot and it left kp in fine fettle for the Physio.

Physio
The physios were impressed with kp’s progress.
Right Leg (side of the fractured hip) – Painful at times, but kp can lift her knee to about 70′
Right Arm – no probs – works fine

Left Leg (Stroke side) – Good Movement. kp can lift her leg to about 90′. Because of the stroke, kp has altered sensation for her left side. If you rub her legs (one by one) and ask her to say which side you are touching, she can correctly identify each leg. If, however, you do it to both legs at the same time, she says “right”. This is normal apparently in the early stages of a stroke.
Left Arm (Stroke side) – kp hardly ever moves this arm voluntarily, and so it stiffens up within an hour or so of some physio. If you ask her to move it, she moves it, but it takes all her concentration to get it to move. She is unable (at present) to do specific movements, like wiggling fingers or lifting the arm in a certain direction. It’s as if she can send the signals to the arm to do something, but she needs to look at it, to see what the signal has actually made it do. But, hey, its more than we had 3 days ago. I’ll take it and run for the door. I feel sure we can work on this and get her back to near 100%.

During the physio, kp had LOTS of laughs with the physios.

She is keen to know if all the movements she has are on target for getting her up and walking as soon as her pelvis is declared as “weight-bearing” by the orthopedic surgeon. Yes is the answer.

The physio then went on to explain that if we didn’t do these exercises, her muscles would be like jelly when it came to needing them.

But the conversation went something like this :-

Physio :- You see Karen, can you imagine if we didn’t come in every day …..
and before the physio could say any more
kp:- No !

We all laughed. That may not be funny in the blog.

There was also a moment of humour when the physios kept discussing Karen’s Scapula. A bone near to the collarbone I think.

When the physio was stretching kp’s arms, kp said something like “hey, my scapula’s hurting”.

Again, funny at the time.

That’s all for now. I think Marie will get her tea-party with kp that she has been promised (by kp) this afternoon. She was certainly very wide awake when I left.

dp

Bad Afternoon
Poor Marie copped another bad afternoon. kp had diarrhoea and sickness and had an aching hip and legs from the physio this morning. Poor kp as well of course.

When Marie left, Michelle, Yvonne and Dave took over until I arrived at 7pm. More sickness and diarrhoea.

When I arrived, everything was fine. Cheesy Grin Time !

I had brought a photo of the dogs in with a title saying “We miss you !!” and thought it would cheer kp up.

It didn’t. She spontaneously got upset and started crying She misses them terribly.

At the handover whilst kp was still dozing, Michelle informed me that a nice Doctor had been in and chatted to Karen for 5-10 minutes. Nothing medical, just a nice chat. He had said we can bring her alcohol in if she wants a glass of wine/beer or something or we could wheel her outside for a cigarette. That was very nice of him. He was obviously unaware that kp only drinks Champagne and doesn’t smoke now

kp stayed asleep until just before Michelle + Co. departed, and just before they left, I played them the recording I made earlier on of me and kp singing. (This is available now via Day 43 Part One). Michelle and Yvonne were in hysterics and kp started laughing whilst emerging from her nice slumber.

It was a nice way to end their visit.

Nothing much happened after their departure. I gave kp a couple of leg moves and she slept pretty much my whole visit. I left at 9pm with a kp in slumberland.

Very little to report.

Bad Night with pain. Apparently one of the nurses, kp estimated, had been in about 20 times turning kp to try and get her comfy. I thanked him when I arrived at kp’s request. Lovely chap.

No more sickness and diarrhoea thankfully.

Full Breakfast.

Nice bedbath and the nurse fitted one of the headbands that Marie had brought in (4 for a £1) to try and secure the dressing at the back of kp’s head.

After the bedbath, we both had a snooze for about 45 mins.

Then kp listened to an audiobook brough in by Gill, which she has been enjoying from time to time.

She isn’t asleep – she is just resting her eyes – or so she tells me.

One of the nurses noticed that I was wearing Karen’s wedding and engagement rings. When kp was very very poorly, they had to take the rings off as her left hand (stroke side) was very swollen. I have worn them since, and vowed I would keep them on until she was better. I said she could have them back if she felt upto it. We tried to get them on, but unfortunately, due to the lack of movement on kp’s left arm, her hand is still a bit too swollen and they wouldn’t fit on. There would have been a few tears from me had I been able to get them on, as it is a tangible sign (to me) that kp is back in good health again. Maybe next week !

kp had placed an order for lunch with Marie at 9am and Marie and Adele came in with a hot chicken from Morrisons and some fresh rolls. kp wolfed half a sandwich down and was then full.

kp had a bowl of tomato soup and a bread bun for tea. She didn’t fancy the gammon, jacket potato and beans, so I scoffed them.

The nurse came in to apply her next morphine patch. Within 20 minutes of this, kp threw up a few times. An amusing conversation followed from kp’s dilemma.

kp throws up.
dp gets sick bowl in place just in time.
kp throws up again but a bigger quantity (sorry about the graphic detail)

dp:- Oh, that’s a good one love
kp:- Will you STOP commentating on my vomit ?! The other day Marie did the same, but she said “Oh, that’s your melon”

I laughed out loud and kp smiled (even though she was feeling sick)

kp fell asleep shortly after. I got away at 8.30pm. Hopefully she’ll have a good sleep although she thought she was in for a rough night. We’ll see tomorrow.

Yvonne was on the early today, allowing me a lie-in ! Yay ! Thanks Yvonne ! Marie took the 12pm – 4pm shift and I arrived for the 4pm to eyes shut shift.

Karen had been in good form all of today. She enjoyed seeing Sue Brady (ex work boss) who brought her some champagne (after reading a previous blog) – Thanks Sue !

She hasn’t drunk it yet, but I am SURE she will in good time.

No sickness today. Ate all meals (not fully), but enough !

She had quite a few visitors today on top of Sue. Jane and Tony Burns and my mum and dad. Lots of belly laughs and she stayed awake the whole day (pretty much).

Couple of funny incidents today. They may not be funny to blog readers who aren’t familar with my mum.

But my mum speaks a little bit posh (hope that’s ok mum !).

And when one of the tealadies came in and offered a cup of tea to Karen in a Geordie accent, she said :-

Mum:- Oh, I love your accent. We have been to see Billy Elliott in London (where they speak Geordie). You should go and see it.

And another classic which made kp belly laugh happened later on that evening.

The tealady came back to see if kp wanted anything before she went off shift. Karen didn’t, so the lady said

Tealady :- ok then, see yas tomorrow.
Mum:- Yes, see yas

Well, on hearing my mum speak Geordie, kp couldn’t help but belly laugh.

Cracking day for kp. After being awake the majority of the day, she was kn+ckered and she was asleep by 8pm.

Good Night my love

dp

All Change

Karen’s moving wards today. From Ward 3 to Ward 22, the stroke rehab reward – a sure sign that she is on the up and up.

Next week, she will be trialing for England’s Women’s Football team.

Well, maybe not the first team

She had a bad night. Lots of pain and tears. She was kn+ckered when I went in, and within 30 mins, she was fast asleep.

The consultant came round on his rounds and he has upped the pain medication. Bigger Morphine Patch and bigger “nerve pain” drug. Fingers crossed that will sort the pain.

I went to check out the ward at kp’s bequest, but was told I couldn’t check it out because it was “Protected Patient’s Meal Times” whatever that is.

I do hope we don’t have to go through the faff of meetings with key staff again to ensure quality of care. It’s early days, but its not the best of starts.

I counted the cards on kp’s wall today. It’s the kind of thing you do when kp is fast asleep and you have read “Bella” and “Take a Break” from cover to cover. 83 ! And Marie, Michelle and I took them all down ready for replastering them on her next private room.

That’s 83 cards and about 20 photos on the other wall to remind kp of home, dogs, relatives etc….

Poor Marie is on the shift that will probably involve her redecorating the next room with the cards. She always seems to cop that one !

All settled in new ward

The new ward seems excellent. The staff have been very helpful and friendly and kp is happy in hew new location.

Before I forget, kp had a visitor this afternoon, (Tracey (spud) from work). She really enjoyed seeing her and kp was in good form. Tracey brought loads of gifts for kp and she was thrilled to bits with them all. Many Thanks Tracey !!

Marie, Jane and Michelle moved all kp’s belongings from ward to ward and Marie began the arduous task of redecorating kp’s room with all the cards, flowers, etc etc… after Jane and Michelle left.

The new room she has is a private room again and has its own HUGE toilet, which is great as additional storage space for kp’s chairbed, grand piano and 12-piece orchestra.

My earlier misgivings about the new ward were premature as they went out of their way to make kp feel welcome and at home. The nurse on the evening even asked me what’s the best way to make her comfy as kp had already told them that the family move kp when they are in. I thought this was very thoughtful.

They also said to kp that this is the last ward she will be in before she goes home. At this, kp got upset. I think she feels for the first time, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Kevin (driver of the car kp was in) is emailing me photos of the car that they cut Kevin, Angela and Karen from. I will post them on the blog when I get them. He can’t believe they got them all out of there. I am very interested to see them.

She was very tired tonight and was falling asleep at 7.30pm. She wanted to stay awake until she took her tablets, and the nurses kindly brought them in earlier then they normally do at about 8.45pm.

I think she’ll sleep like a log.

New Ward Great
kp loves the new ward. All the staff have made a point of introducing themselves and she said they were straight there when she buzzed during the night.

She had a good night’s sleep as well which will have helped.

When I arrived, I rang Angela to reassure her that I won’t be publishing the photos of the car on the blog, but it was clear we had cross wires. She thought I was going to be publishing the police photos of the accident (which are quite shocking, according to Angela). I didn’t even know these photos existed, and she was fine about my publishing the ones of the car (taken by Kevin at the scrapyard).

I gave her a bedbath, which seemed to take forever because I couldn’t get my bearings in the new room. All her wounds were redressed by the nurses and they are all healing nicely.

The physio came and assessed kp’s movement. He’d had a good handover from the previous physio and knew where and how far to push kp’s limbs.

And just before I left, the doctor came. He was lovely and very helpful and gave kp a good assessment as well.

Everything is heading in the right direction.

Spoke too soon

More misery for kp. She had a really bad afternoon. She has new infections, we won’t know what infection for a day or so, but the worst thing has been the pain. Bad Pain ! kp got very upset, which caused Marie to get upset. It nearly got so bad they were going to call me in to the hospital. Poor kp

They gave her some break-through pain relief in the form of Gavapentin, and she is on a bigger morphine patch from tonight.

When I arrived at 6pm, she was snoozing and the pain was much less severe. She was as settled as she could be.

We did have some smiles before Yvonne, Dave and Marie left. Yvonne was recalling an incident in the previous ward, where kp was sitting upright in the bed, and one of the staff was in adjusting her bed.

Staffmember :- I wonder what this red lever (on the bed) does ?

Staffmember pulls the red lever.

kp’s bed shoots instantly from sitting upright to flat ! This could have been quite bad for kp, but because the staffmember was so upset about what they had done and it hadn’t hurt kp too much, kp broke out into a belly laugh.

The evening was uneventful. kp was exhausted, and was asleep by 7.45pm. I left at 8pm.

Visitors
If anyone would like to visit Karen, please call Marie on 01642-284812 or 07961346149 to arrange a time. Please note that visiting hours are now 2pm-7.30pm. For staffmates of Karen who mostly work those hours, you can visit at different times, we just need to inform the staff a day ahead of your visit of the time you are coming.

PS – Kevin has emailed me the photos of the car that kp, Angela and Kevin were in. I am going to show them to Karen tomorrow (if she wants to see them). I am also checking with Kevin and Karen to ensure its ok to post them to the blog for others to see. It is amazing how any of them survived the accident.

kp had a better night last night but was very lethargic when she woke up, staring into space a lot

We did the usual bedbath thing, and it was much quicker today, which is better for kp.

Car Photos
At kp’s request, I showed her the photos of the car she was in when the accident occurred. She wasn’t phased by them at all. I think that was partly because she couldn’t see them properly, despite me printing them off A4 size for her. Marie later showed her them with the magnifying glass, but because Marie got upset when she saw them, I think kp was putting on a brave face – or maybe, she just was too lethargic to get upset.

Rather than include the photos so they show up straight away in the blog, I have made it so you need to click on the links below to see them. Kevin warned me to sit down before I saw them. They are quite shocking, and it is unbelievable that there were 3 people in the car in the pictures. Only click on these links if you want to see pictures of the car kp, Kevin and Angela were in.

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4

Policeman’s Visit
The policeman from the scene came in today. He answered any questions Karen had. Here are some snippets I can recall from what he said, which was either new to me, or interesting from his angle (I can’t say too much because the man in question hasn’t been interviewed yet) :-

When the policeman first got to the car, he was unaware there was a third person (Karen) in the car. He could only see Kevin and Angela. It wasn’t until he was looking at Angela’s predicament that he saw Karen.

He told Karen that he had had to lie on her to help Angela at one point, and he apologised for putting his weight on her. As soon as he said this, kp recalled this part of the crash. She said

kp:- So that was you
She then made a fist at the policeman. We all laughed. kp smiled.

The road was closed for 3 hours.

About 18 policeman were involved at the scene.

The man (who is at fault) was going about 60mph in the van when he impacted Kevin’s car. The momentum of the video tapes in the back of the van caused the rivets to pop

Physio
The physio did his thing, and the occupational therapist came today also. She is going to be helping kp learn how to do day to day things again with only 1 working arm/hand.

Good Afternoon with Marie and Michelle
kp had a good afternoon with some laughs with her sisters.

She seems to have lost a bit of confidence when we move her round the bed. At one point this afternoon, Marie was moving kp (with Michelle’s assistance), and kp got so unnerved by the move, she grabbed a hold of Marie’s blouse and was lifting it high in the air. Marie had a bra on apparently. After Marie commented, kp grabbed Marie’s hip and trousers (for support) and proceeded to pull them down (unintentionally).

So, if you want to be stripped naked whilst visiting Karen, just volunteer to help in moving duty !

Pelvic X-Ray
kp is due an x-ray tonight or tomorrow to see how the pelvis is mending. That should be interesting.

Occupational Therapist
kp enjoyed hearing how the occupational therapist was going to help her do things for herself again. Over the next few days, she is going to learn how to take her nighty off and a few other basic things which we all take for granted.

Feeling better in herself
kp is much more settled in this ward. The nurse to patient ratio is probably the same as on the last ward, but the care is better. This is probably because the patients are generally more well than on the last ward and therefore they have more time for the patients. This ward is also more geared for rehabilitation.

I just want to say there were some cracking staff on the last ward and the above comment is not intended to disrespect their efforts.

I left a very tired kp at 7.30pm (official visiting end) for the first time tonight. She was zonked. And she is happy for me to come in at 8.30am instead of 8am. She has no fear of being left alone in this ward. The long shifts we cover were needed for the previous ward, but I am confident kp feels comfortable in the care of Ward 22.

Good Night’s Sleep.

Ate a good breakfast. At one point, she couldn’t find her cup of tea, which was right in front of her. (As stated in previous blogs, she has difficulty seeing anything lower or to the left of her, unless she looks directly at it).

dp:- It’s on the table in front of you. Have another look.
kp:- I am getting as bad as you at finding things.

(Personal Joke, cos whenever I can’t find anything around the house, I always call kp).

Bedbath by dp. Offered to wash her hair.

kp:- No disrespect, but I don’t want you to wash my hair.
I laughed.
dp:- None taken

She feels more comfortable if the nurses do her hair because of her head wound which is very sore.

kp was taken for a hip x-ray.

When the stroke consultant came round, he said the x-ray looked ok to him, but he didn’t know what it looked like before. He mentioned there being a bit of loose bone around the hip. I vaguely recall this was there before. We need to wait for the Orthopedic people to give their opinion. kp feels there is something wrong with her hip as it has been giving her a lot of jip over the past 24 hours.

The consultant also mentioned that kp’s infections seem under control now. She certainly hasn’t had any temperatures, and her blood pressure is back to normal. It was low yesterday (83 over 50) – forgot to mention that !

I think because of the hip problems, kp won’t be put in the chair today. Too much aggro for her.

She may get some physio this afternoon.

kp didn’t get in the chair today, but did have some physio and the physio was pleased with her progress.

She then had a very upsetting afternoon. She was in a lot of pain and was convinced there was something seriously wrong with her hip. The orthopedic team had said they would try and visit to review her x-rays, but they hadn’t come round.

One of the Ward Sisters said she would try and get the orthopedic doctor to come round later in the evening.

On the good news front
Whilst Marie was on duty, kp had an itch on the back of her left hand (stroke side). Normally, kp can’t feel anything but pain on her left side, but she instinctively grabbed her left arm, lifted it onto her stomach and started scratching it with her right arm. Marie was over the moon.

Orthopedic Doctor
Sure enough, later in the evening, the orthopedic doctor came round. He reassured kp that there was nothing seriously wrong with her hip, and she had nothing to worry about. There were some minor issues that he couldn’t comment on, but they weren’t really significant. He later elaborated that these were things like when she could bear weight etc…

Weeping Wounds
kp had some major weeping of the stomach incision tonight. One of the sisters redressed all her wounds and took swabs for analysis.

The head wound was causing kp a lot of pain, because of course she has to lie on it most of the day. This was redressed and kp felt better after that.

Change of nighty (because of the weeping wounds) and positioning in a comfy position, she was asleep in minutes.

kp had a great night’s sleep. She didn’t wake up until I stepped in the room at 8.20am.

Ate half her breakfast, had a little snooze followed by bedbath (dp) and wash of her hair (nurses). “Felt Great” she said.

Physio was the big event today. Yesterday she was able to slightly tweak her left thumb on request. Today, after some limbering up, she could wiggle her thumb quite a lot, which was AMAZING to see. kp was looking at her thumb saying “That’s me doing that !”. It was so funny and so heart warming it brought a tear to my eye.

Then another humorous moment. The physio moved her left hand to her chin and touched her chin with her thumb and asked her to “scratch your chin with your thumb”. Well, rather than wiggle her thumb to scratch her chin, she wiggled her chin to be scratched by her stationary thumb. Nice Try Love ! Eventually kp scratched her chin by wiggling her thumb.

Once this physio was over, she was moved to her chair, where she stayed for an hour whilst eating her Fish and Chips (1/2 fish, 4 chips).

More physio this afternoon

kp lasted 1 hour in the chair and the physios returned later in the afternoon to do some exercises on the legs and left arm. They have left us with some exercises to do over the weekend.

We had a cracking belly laugh from kp tonight. I read out Veronica’s blog comment to her and when we got to the mention of Veronica reading out the contents of kp’s vomit, she grabbed her belly and laughed for ages. It’s weird watching her laugh as since they didn’t sew her stomach muscles up (only the outer skin), her laughs seem to make her nearly burst open. She isn’t in any pain, but she could bounce a ball a foot in the air with the amount her belly expands during laughter.

Uneventful Night really apart from that.

Few Bowel Problems which they are sorting. Very tired kp generally for most of the afternoon and evening, but that is a known side effect of a stroke.

Good Night’s Sleep

Ate a good breakfast, but was too tired for lunch after an exhausting bedbath and change into clothes. When she got into the chair, I wheeled her outside for some fresh air. It was boiling and kp enjoyed it as much as she could given her bum was starting to hurt.

Only stayed 45 minutes in the chair, but enjoyed the time outside.

Adele, Michelle and Margaret are visiting today as Marie is enjoying a well-deserved birthday weekend in Cardiff.

kp had a cracking afternoon with Michelle, Adele and Margaret. Lots of belly laughs. Kevin visited also and she enjoyed his company. When Margaret left and said her goodbyes, Margaret started crying. I think they were tears of joy at Karen still being here. She had just seen the car accident pictures.

By the time I came back she was knackered. She was still in her tracksuit bottoms and T-shirt, so 2 nurses and I got her out of them into her nighty and BOY did we sweat !!! It’s been a swelteringly hot day today and with our plastic aprons and plastic gloves on, you only had to wave your hand to begin sweating.

kp was as cool as a cucumber after all the upheaveal, we three were in a heap on the floor.

I left at 7.30pm and she couldn’t stay awake.

One thing before I sign off. I forgot to write something up which happened this morning. This has happened before, and I may have written about it before, but I can’t remember so am mentioning it again just in case.

At the end of the bedbath, kp moisturises her own face and hands because she wants to and it’s also good therapy.

Being only able to use one hand, she can’t open the cream bottles so I do that. She asked me to put this hand cream on her cuticles (on her left hand (stroke side)) so she could rub it in with her right hand, which I did. She started rubbing the cream into each finger one by one. She can feel herself rubbing it in in her right hand but can’t feel the cream being rubbed in in the left hand. Part the way through her hand, I had to move her hand so she could get to her other fingers. Bear in mind, she tends not to look to the left and down, so she isn’t aware (apart from by touch) what she is doing.

In moving her fingers (which she couldn’t feel), she started massaging my fingers. She thought she was rubbing the cream into her remaining fingers, but she was actually doing my fingers. Moments like this make me very sad, I think because she doesn’t know she is doing anything wrong. I could have left my hand there and had a nice little hand massage and she would have been thinking she was doing her own hand. Very sad.

kp was on her own today at the hospital until 11.30am (by choice). She gave the nurses 8/10 for their bedbath. I’ll have to find out what I score. She didn’t eat any breakfast as she felt nauseous.

From breakfast time until 3pm in the afternoon she had sickness and diarrhoea and felt very unwell. Adele was on hand to assist kp. The nurses took some samples to check for infections. We’ll know the results in a few days time.

I took the bike to the hospital as usual. By the time I got to the hospital, my shirt was ringing wet through with sweat. It’s very hot under biking gear when its a hot day. I simply couldn’t wear the shirt when it was so wet. So, I took it off and hung it out of the window. kp didn’t want me walking around with no top on, and I didn’t want to wear my shirt until it had dried out. So for the next 2 hours, I walked around Ward 22 with one of Karen’s blouses on. I looked quite fetching if I say so myself !

When I arrived at 3.30pm, kp was feeling better in herself. She still had very little appetite and had not eaten any lunch. She was quite talkative in the afternoon and had some good chats with Adele and myself, that was until Adele nearly choked on a Polo and went bright red whilst laughing to herself at her predicament. kp + I were nearly having coronaries.

kp:- Slap her on her back !
dp:- errr, ok.

dp slaps Adele hard on the back.

Adele laughs more while choking.

Adele survived.

Mum and Dad visited again today. kp was quite perky for their visit having recovered from her sickness earlier. Dad let the cat out of the bag for a surprise that may be coming Karen’s way. Wendy (friend of the family who plays Cilla in Coronation Street) is rumoured to be getting some Coronation St. goodies (signed photos and things) for kp. But we didn’t want to say anything to kp, as the surprise would have been better. There is also mention of something amazing from Wendy, but I don’t want to mention it in the blog at the moment, because Dad managed to keep it under wraps after Mum and I hurled abuse at him for mentioning this topic at all.

I left a very tired kp at 8pm.

kp had a good night’s sleep and ate a hearty breakfast.

I told kp about her extra special surprise today. She was over the moon. Wendy (Cilla in Coronation Street) is going to arrange for kp to spend the day at Granada Studios AND to be an extra in one of the scenes.

Well, kp had the biggest of smiles. She couldn’t believe it at first and kept saying “NO!”, “Noooo!”.

kp (smiling) :- I could be sat in Roy’s Rolls having a cup of tea in the background.
dp :- Aye, or you could be in the Snug at the Rover’s
kp :- I could buy a packet of mints off Rita at the Kabin.

And this just carried on for ages. We were laughing our heads off.

Thanks for that Wendy !!! It’s something else to aim for !

Student Doctor
We had a visit from a student doctor who wanted to ask kp loads of questions about the effect of the stroke. I think he found kp’s experience interesting and he also made kp think a bit about the kind of question we should be asking the consultants, specifically, what is the likelihood of kp regaining full use of her arm ?! It’s the kind of question, you want to ask, but don’t want to ask (if that makes sense). I suspect she will now ask the question.

Physio
She had an excellent physio session. Lots of pain, but lots of gain in the form of free-er movement in her arm and legs.

The Chair
kp has had problems with this bedchair for a while and struggles to stay the full hour in it. Well, today, we realised that there was another configuration of the chair which means kp has a better sitting position. She stayed a full hour and 20 mins in the chair with less aches and pains. It will be interesting to see how this pans out and if in fact, it does allow kp to stay longer in it.

Whilst in the chair, Jane and I wheeled kp down to the coffee shop which has a nice outside quadrangle and we enjoyed a leisurely cup of tea/coffee.

Occupational Therapist (OT)
The occupational therapist spent 5/10 mins with kp today and was basically assessing kp’s ability to feel things in her left hand. She got a cup of hot and cold water and dipped a spoon in it and saw if kp recognised hot or cold on different parts of her arm. Mixed Success with this.

At some moments, she didn’t even know she was applying the spoon.

She got kp to close her eyes and put a pen in her hands and asked her to recognise what it was. She couldn’t.

OT :- Is it rough or smooth ?
kp :- Smooth

OT :- Is it hard or soft ?
kp:- Soft

When she opened her eyes she was a bit disappointed she hadn’t got it right.

It’s early days. A few weeks ago the same tests on her legs would have met with limited success as well. So there is a lot of hope here.

I left Jane and kp with bottles of champagne and orange juice, strawberries and extra thick double cream. They were going to have a cracking afternoon watching Wimbledon.

kp had a good afternoon with Jane Burns watching the tennis at Wimbledon. Strawberries and Cream (no champagne yet, didn’t feel up to it).

Before I forget, there is something I should have put in this morning’s blog relating to the physio. The physio has started to try and get kp to try and move on to her side by herself. She can’t do it yet, but he has broken it into about 5 moves. She can do some of them herself, like lift her knees in the air, turn her head, move her arm, but she can’t do the final move of the hips yet. When she cracks this, she will be laughing and less stressed. There seems to be very few people who can actually move her into a comfortable position. And if you are in a painful position for too long, it can be quite frustrating.

Weeping Wounds
One of the wounds on the back, which had been fine until today, has started weeping. It was dressed tonight along with her head wound, and a couple of front wounds. I don’t know if the heat encourages the weeping, but all the wounds seemed to come out in sympathy with each other today.

Comfy Position then Sleep
When i arrived tonight, I immediately got kp comfy, and she went straight to snooze. She was knackered. But before she had time to sleep, Dave and Yvonne arrived. She snoozed for a bit, but then woke up for some good banter. kp was belly laughing at the fact that when she had mentioned earlier she felt sick, Dave had bolted straight for the door saying “Oh hell”.

I don’t think Dave is too compatible with hospitals. Yvonne went on to say that if she was ill in hospital, he’d be hopeless and would probably only come in the hospital to visit if he could plane the doors or something (he is a carpenter by trade).

kp had a good laugh at this.

I was 15 minutes late today. Knowing kp would worry, I phoned the Ward Clerk and asked her to pass on the message that I would be late. It didn’t get passed on. kp was starting to worry. I was annoyed.

kp felt in good form today. She was full of life. She ate a piece of toast and drank some tea. The Sister came in to talk about the amount of food kp is eating. She was worried that she wasn’t eating enough and that if she didn’t eat more, her wounds wouldn’t heal quickly. The talk did good and kp polished off ALL her lunch. In the meantime, the housekeeper came in with about 10 different types of supplement build-up meals for Karen to try in case she ever didn’t fancy a meal. That was very kind of her. The Sister is also contacting the dietician to discuss other possibilities.

As soon as Wimbledon started, kp started watching it on the TV. I am very relieved she can watch Tennis on the TV, as it would have been very upsetting for her and the family if she hadn’t have been able to see the ball and enjoy her sporting highlight of the year.

No physio in the morning, it must be this afternoon.

The Policeman that attended the accident scene came this morning with the photographs from the accident. He couldn’t leave them with me as they are possible evidence if it goes to full jury trial.

They weren’t as shocking as the photos Kevin took as they were more distant shots showing where the vehicles were. The only surprising thing (to me) was how wrecked the 3rd vehicle was. Kevin’s car (the one kp was in) was hit by the van, Kevin’s car then hit another car, which then hit another car. This third car was a total write-off (as were all vehicles), but there was no boot left. It’s amazing how much energy the cage on Kevin’s Laguna must have passed on to the other vehicles. We are lucky it didn’t crumple further.

Shortly after the policeman came, Marie came to take over and brought Louisa (her granddaughter). kp loved seeing her, but Louisa was a bit wary of Karen in a wee-willy-winky hat. But after 5 mins was relaxed enough for cuddles.

Marie had a good afternoon with kp watching Wimbledon and Karen was in good form.

The physios visited for a brief session today. The physio told kp that the reason they didn’t have so much time was they were getting someone ready for discharge.

kp:- Is it me ?

LOL.

When I got home, I had a huge A1 sized “Do Not Bend” envelope waiting on the doorstep. Thank God, the postie hadn’t managed to post it, as no doubt Bonnie would have eaten half of it.

It was the goodies Wendy promised. There was a Coronation Street poster signed by the cast.

And an extra one from Wendy

Thanks very much Wendy – it is much appreciated !!!

kp was cream crackered on the night and would fall asleep mid-sentence. It was so funny.

dp:- So, how did Henman do today ?
kp:- He did well. He won. He’s playing…………….

Gone !

Another good night’s sleep for kp. It seems they have really cracked the pain and sickness medication and kp is able to consistently get a good sleep. Obviously now I have said that, she’ll have a stinker tonight. We’ll see !

The nurses came in to turn kp at 4am. Sometimes she wakes up, sometimes she doesn’t. Last Night, she woke up and ended having a really long chat with the nurses which she enjoyed (1 hour apparently).

Just before I got in, someone had had a heart attack on the ward and all the staff were rushing around (according to kp). They managed to revive the patient who when revived said “There is no need to shout” to the nurse who was shouting “Can you hear me X ?”.

Apparently the gentleman is well-liked and 2 of the nurses involved came in to kp’s room to have a good cry when it was felt they may not revive him. kp offered them wet wipes.

kp has been on really good form today. If she doesn’t eat a big dinner, I will be having words with her again. She has eaten 1/2 piece of toast, bowl of rice crispies, bowl of soup and bun and half a chicken sandwich, so she really needs a big meal tonight. Sorry if this is too much detail, but if I don’t record it, I forget it, and some of this blog has been quite useful a few days later.

Marie and I took kp outside today for some fresh air. It was lovely weather with a cooling wind. While we were out there, she was complaining that her eyesight had deteriotated today, so Marie and I did some tests. I held my hand over her left eye, and asked her what could she see, and she said she couldn’t even see Marie. This was of great concern !!

When we went back up to the ward we did some more tests. Same thing, I put my hand over her left eye, and asked her how many fingers Marie was holding up. She didn’t know.

Then Marie realised that I had my hand over the wrong eye. DOH !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her good eye is her left eye. The same tests with the hand over the right eye were fine !!

Although kp did still feel that her eyesight wasn’t as good. For now, we have put this down to watching Wimbledon for 5+ hours yesterday !

Lots of laughs this morning as well, especially when we were doing the bed to bedchair maneuver. It takes 5 of us to get her from the bed to the bedchair. kp had a good belly laugh when it came to Marie trying to get her leg on the bed (with her short legs) to pull kp over. The longer-legged nurses make it look so simple.

kp is feeling more up to visitors at the moment (now the sickness and pain are under control). So if you would like to visit Karen, please contact Marie on 01642-284812 or 07961-346149 to arrange a date/time. Visiting is 2pm – 7.30pm. Work Colleagues who can’t make those hours can come at other times, as long as we let the staff know the day before.

When I arrived tonight, the consultant was in with kp and she was asking him some of the questions we had drawn up for him.

Will I gain full mobility in my left arm and leg ?
He said yes. Personally, I am not so sure about the left arm. It’s very “dead” (for want of a better word). Although she can feel pain in it, she can’t feel light touches or even medium touches. And it never moves unless she is asked to move it and even then, she can only move her shoulder (slightly) and her thumb. Her fingers can do very slight movements on request. It sounds like I am being pessimistic, perhaps I am, but then anything else is a bonus. With the physio’s assistance, she could move her arm quite high so the consultant may be right.As for her leg, he didn’t see that being a problem.

When will I be out of hospital ?
3 months assuming nothing goes wrong. If you make exceptional progress and are ready in 2 months and can carry on treatment/physio at home, then we wouldn’t keep you in unnecessarily. Given that at one stage, we were told Xmas, this was GREAT to hear !

Will I be classed as disabled ?
No.

Will I walk with a hobble/limp ?
Probably

Will I be able to do the ironing/hoovering ?
Yes, and you should do this often. It is your duty to your husband.

Actually, I forgot to add that question in. But I feel sure that this is what the consultant would say !

Visitors
kp had 2 visitors today, Chris Jeffries from work (and Eileen) and Sam (a friend who was close to Lee, kp’s nephew). She thoroughly enjoyed catching on all the work gossip and hearing of Sam’s news after her year in France studying Law. She is supposed to be fluent in French, but when I said “Bonjour Sam”, she either didn’t hear or hasn’t picked any of the lingo up at all

Eating
kp has had lots of little things today and didn’t have a full meal. If she doesn’t have a full meal tomorrow, then I will be upping my persuasion. I’ll threaten to kiss her or something – that normally does the trick.

Concert Pianist
The consultant (when anwering the mobility question) said that kp wouldn’t be able to be a concert pianist. No big loss there. When Jane arrived for visiting, Marie was telling Jane what the consultant had said :-

Marie:- He said she won’t be able to be a, whats that name, Pianist !
(Pianist was pronounced by Marie as Penis)
Jane looked bemuzed and we then started on 5-10 mins of belly laughs with Jane having us in stitches about the fact that it was a shame kp wouldn’t be turning into a Penis. Jokes such as “You were a bit stiff in bed yesterday Karen weren’t you” were prevalent. I was tempted to say that the surgical stocking on her head was a bit like a foreskin, but I didn’t lower the tone to that level. Oops just done it !

kp was in absolute stitches. Generally today, she has been in the best form ever. She has been starting many conversations, where normally, she would just join in. It was my wife in all her glory.

Not a good night’s sleep and didn’t feel too bright this morning.

Did the usual Breakfast / Bedbath thing routine, but we delayed the bedbath until all her dressings were changed. It took quite a while for a nurse to be free and for the nurse in question to change the dressings as she had not done Karen before and was not familiar with her wounds. This made me start thinking that I could do the dressings myself. I have seen it done that many times and often the nurses ask me how did the previous nurse do the dressing. They are looking into whether I can do this or not. Looks hopeful.

This blog wouldn’t be complete without mentioning an incident today which made kp, myself and some of the staff laugh. I am going to be vague about people here purposely. We met a member of staff who kp and I both agreed was the Mrs Overall of Nursing.

I will relate a couple of incidents :-

1. This person was talking to me and walked into a walk-in cupboard. The door was an automatic door which shut behind her. I could hear her muffled speech still. She was still talking to me. This carried on for quite a few seconds, enough time for me to tell kp what was happening and for me then to open the cupboard door to see the person walking out still talking to me completely unaware what had just happened with the door. kp had big smiles.

2. This person was doing something for Karen and the person had some assistance from some colleagues. The person was discussing what he/she was doing on Karen and it was clear that he/she was not very sure about how to do it correctly. Karen had a big beam of a smile and the nurses could see kp had sussed the person out and were smiling back. I was holding back the laughter.

There was more, but I think any more would make it obvious to whom I was referring and I don’t want to offend anyone.

At 12pm we got kp in the chair, and took her outside in the shade. It was lovely. After 20 minutes, she wanted to go back in as her cocchyx was starting to hurt. She had lunch, not enough in my opinion. I made the point to her, and she wasn’t happy about me making the point. Marie is going to try a more tempting approach this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Out of Sorts
Karen slept a lot of the afternoon. She was a bit out of sorts and the best place to be was asleep, not Wimbledon.

Physio
The physio came round, but didn’t want to disturb her beauty sleep. The physio session went fine when he returned later in the afternoon.

Food
Marie had persuaded kp to have some snacks on the afternoon. They probably made up for small breakfast/lunch portions. I would have liked to see her polish off a full evening meal. She had a full bowl of soup and 1/4 of a portion of mince and dumplings.

Tomorrow lunch is Fish and Chips so she should polish that off.

New Bed
kp is excited that she is getting a new bed (another one). The current one is a gel bed that forms to your body, but it has allowed a body sore to appear on her rump where one of the fixators was. The next bed is like the one she had in Intensive Care. It pumps air to different parts so it is effectively always support her in different places.

Visitors
Eileen and Tommy (our neighbours) visited this evening. kp had a really good chat with them and it seemed to be the best bit of her day. Eileen and Tommy have been very kind to kp and I over the years, and especially helpful to me while kp has been out of action. Eileen has been letting the dogs out for us frequently during the worst times of kp’s battle and more recently inviting me for Sunday lunch. Thanks Eileen/Tommy !!!

Thanks
I should take a moment to thank everyone for all their support. People have helped in so many different ways, from

• the cards they have sent Karen (103 in total, hey I get bored !)
• the presents they have brought
• the time they have given
• for reading the blog and posting comments to encourage kp
• for keeping kp amused
• for caring for kp

I am so very grateful to everyone who has done any of the above. kp has such a positive attitude at the moment and I feel sure part of it is down to the wonderful support she has received !

My best mate and his wife invited me to their barbecue tonight. Nigel promised me a scabby sausage. We laughed. I attended. But that’s what was served alright !!

All joking aside, thanks Nige and Terry

It was lovely

dp

Good Night’s Sleep

Ate Good Breakfast

Speedy bedbath ‘cos kp + I were both knackered. By 10am, we were both snuggling up in our seperate beds for a snooze. Apparently I was snoring. At 11.45am, we were woken by the physio who did a few moves with kp before we all got her into the chair.

Quite an uneventful morning.

I had to leave early today, but hopefully kp will have polished off her Fish and Chip Lunch.

The Doctor did his rounds this afternoon. He’d come round in the morning, but he had seen kp and I fast asleep and didn’t want to disturb us. He is a nice man and was just checking kp was not in pain or feeling sick.

She slept a good part of the afternoon and was fast asleep when I arrived. I tried to creep around her room quietly and not wake her up, but everything I touched seemed to make a noise. Marie went from smiling to laughing at my attempts to be quiet. Within 2 minutes of arriving I had woke her up. I couldn’t be a mime artist.

kp ate a bowl of soup and tried a sausage from her sausages and mash which was brave of her, as I love sausages and wouldn’t have touched it. She has eaten ok overall today, with lots of fruit snacks provided by Marie.

Nigel and Terry visited this evening, and we had a good laugh together. kp was in good form and really benefited from their company.

I did my first dressings tonight – wahey !! I was turning kp when I noticed one of the dressing on a bed sore on her back had come off. I was already going to redo her head one as it had come off also. I asked the nurse for some adhesive allevyns, a non-adhesive allevyn and a dressing pack. And she was happy for me to do it – yay. I really appreciate doing it myself. I get bored sitting around and I know how kp likes it doing ie. Preparation first, and dressing done as fast and efficiently as possible. I am not boasting when I say kp is more comfortable with me doing it than Mrs Overall.

If they do any more surgery on kp (unlikely), I am going to ask if I can do it. Can’t be too hard. I can say “Scalpel nurse” in a posh voice. Nay worries ! Let’s gan on and cut wor Karen up Noorse and then will gan to the pub for a bottle of Newcastle Broon Ale. Way aaaaaayyyy Man.