I didn’t go in until 9.30am allowing kp to fend for herself on the breakfast front. It was possibly not the best idea as she overturned her bowl of rice crispies. The nurses were clearing the debris away as I arrived and rather than put kp through bed moves twice, we went straight into the bath. Just as enjoyable as the first one.

No sooner out of the bath we were in the wheelchair heading outside for some fresh air and some exercises. kp did her head moves, her leg stretches, and I tried to loosen her left arm up a bit as it was very stiff, but she doesn’t like me doing it because one wrong move and it’s very painful. So I yanked it around a bit, and then we just enjoyed the fresh, but humid air. Then Marie and Michelle arrived for the afternoon shift.

We had a surprise visitor of Debs who had been picking some Strawberries and just popped in to drop them off. This got some funny looks from the staff, as they don’t like visitors before 2pm without prior arrangement and we had 3 extra. The nurse kindly let us off this one time, but we will make an effort to ensure there is only 1 person attending Karen outside of visiting hours. The strawberries were beautiful and it was great to see Debs. I feel sure they will have had an afternoon of good crack.

kp hardly slept all afternoon because she was having so much fun with Marie and Michelle. They helped take her mind of her pending operation tomorrow which she had been getting anxious about.

Lots of belly laughs all round. Marie had been coordinating a kp move up the bed with Michelle. One person grabs the sheets on one side of kp and the other grabs the other side’s sheets and together you pull the sheets up the bed. This needs to be coordinated or it doesn’t work, so of course, we use the usual “On 3, 1……….2………..3″ and then you both move together.

Well, Marie had problems with this tonight and in fact, sporadically has had such problems in the past. The key to doing a move with Marie is knowing that 3 isn’t always 3. It’s sometimes 1 or 2.

Needless to say, Marie called :-

Marie :- “1…………….”
Marie tries to pull kp up the bed and whilst she tries carries on counting
Marie :- “2………3….”

Michelle started laughing, Marie was in stitches and kp did some good belly laughs.

kp was knackered tonight after all the hilarity and didn’t feel up to an evening trip for some fresh air.

By 6.20pm she was fast asleep.

Premed for the op is about 7.30am, and she goes from the ward at 8.15am. Fingers crossed she isn’t in too much pain when she comes out.

Bit confused. Just had a call from Marie. She was present when the anaesthetist came round to talk to Karen. One of the things she said in passing, was that Karen’s operation tomorrow was going to be quite an extensive one. Marie didn’t want to ask her what she meant by that while Karen was present, as she is anxious enough.

Our understanding was is was just going to be a bit of a cleanout of an infected wound.

We are both aware that kp has MRSA in the infected wound and that it can be fatal if it gets in the bloodstream. Had a telephone conversation just now with the Sister and she has put my mind at risk. It IS just a cleanout and a removal of the abscess. Very little risk of MRSA getting into bloodstream as they will put AntiBiotic Beads (!?) in the wound. So, I feel better.

kp didn’t go down to the Operating Theatre until 10.38am. You may think she would have been anxious waiting from 8.15am for over 2 hours, but she was very calm despite having no pre-med. In fact, so calm, she spent most of the 2 hours asleep.

The op went fine as far as we know. We may know more detail when the surgeon comes round to check on kp. The most I could glean was that she has had the wound widened and a drain fitted to drain the gunk out. I think she may need a further op in a few days to remove the drain.

When she came back she was quite lucid, but quite tired, so I just let her sleep. She was on Oxygen and a drip, but within an hour she was off the Oxygen and I suspect the same will be true of the drip by the time I return tonight.

Only funny moment today was when the nurse came (after the op) to check her blood pressure. kp is used to raising her left arm as they use this arm (‘cos the stroke one is more cumbersome to get the cuff on).

Nurse :- I am going to put the cuff on your left arm.
kp lifts her right arm.
dp:- No, you’re ok love, she is putting it on the other arm.
kp lowers her right arm and then
kp raises her right arm again

This occurred twice !

I think she was a little confused with the anaesthetic drugs wearing off.

Got a phonecall from Marie at about 4.45pm whilst I was getting ready to go into the hospital. kp had had a massive shaking attack and had a temperature of 38.6′C and low blood pressure. Yikes ! “Was this the onset of MRSA” was my first thoughts !

When I arrived at the hospital, I had a chat with the Doctor who said kp had a “Sea Were Infection”. I didn’t understand at all and had to ask a few times for a repetition. The Doctor concerned is awesome and we are his biggest fans, but his accent means V’s are pronounced as W’s. I realised he was saying kp had a severe infection. She looked clammy and pale and she couldn’t be bothered with anything.

The doctor went on to say that kp had had a “Rigor Attack” (excuse me the spelling if that’s wrong), but that is what the shakes were, low blood pressure, high temperature and that there is the possibility that the infection could be MRSA (“which can be a deadly infection” (were his words)). So, to be on the safe side, he had prescribed the 2 drugs that combat it, both antibiotics. I was told the names but let’s just say gobbledegook1 and gobbledegook2, that’s not far off ! He also advised that the bed be tilted so her head was lower than her body. Not very nice for kp, but that’s what the doctor ordered.

Of all nights to have lots of visitors, this was the one that we had picked for my mum and dad, Jane (back from Thailand, land of Lady Boys), Michelle, Marie and Me to be present at the same time. It was a bit overpowering for kp in her state, so Dad, Marie and Michelle took it in turns to wait outside the room. But, despite the infection, kp was won round by her visitors and perked up quite considerably by the time they left. We had some laughs, but I could tell it took a bit of a toll on kp when everyone left. It was a good tonic, but she had drank enough of the tonic.

When her obs were taken again, she had a normal(ish) blood pressure, good temperature and looked much healthier than when I first arrived. Blood samples were taken earlier in the evening and preliminary results were back, indicating that kp does indeed have an infection, but the nurse concerned didn’t seem too worried about it. It will be a couple of days before we know if it is MRSA or not. The antibiotics she is on kill off bad bacteria but they also kill off good bacteria, which means that kp will probably have another bout of Clostridium Difficile (Clos Diff) which isn’t pleasant, but is preferable to MRSA.

So, kp is much better now than she was earlier this afternoon. Time will tell what kind of infection she has. We are hoping it’s not MRSA. If tonight is anything to go by (the last part of tonight), she has knocked the worst of it on its head. Fingers crossed !

kp hadn’t had the best of nights. She couldn’t have breakfast because she couldn’t sit upright as they wanted her head lower than the rest of her body to get her blood pressure (78 over 45) right again.

They gave her quite a few pints of liquid intravenously this morning. Probably about 4 pints over a period of 2 hours and that helped with the blood pressure and kp was able to sit up for 20 mins or so and have some tea and toast.

She was a bit confused today (and last night also). She didn’t think she was in her room. When I walked into her toilet, she thought I had gone outside – things like that. No doubt down to the infection/low blood pressure.

Lots of sleep also, which suited me as today I was exhausted, to the point she nearly had to shout me to get me to move her legs I was so zonked. Will fix that this afternoon.

Apparently, Marie had some crack with kp in the afternoon before she landed back into snoozeland. The afternoon was not without glitches however. The venflon thing which they put drugs into kp with intravenously had “tissued”, which basically means passing any fluids into kp this way is painful for her. When this happens, they have to resite it. Well, kp has no veins FULL STOP. They do well to find them anywhere and she is notoriously difficult to tap into.

The Doctor tried his best to find a vein in the arm, but couldn’t so had to resort to a foot which is more painful. kp knew this and bribed the Doctor and the Nurse with chocolates to keep the pain to a minimum. The Doctor and Nurse scoffed the chocolates BEFORE they did the maneuvre. Suffice to say, it took 4 attempts to seat the venflon.

kp:- Owwwww, Owwwww, Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
kp:- Marie, Get that chocolate out of the nurse now.

Everyone laughed.

Lots of bowel issues this afternoon also.

The consultant came to see Karen tonight. After checking various things through with her, I asked if kp could see her pelvic x-ray. I had seen them, but hadn’t managed to get kp to see them. He brought them in and kp was amazed to see all the screws and plates which show up so brightly on the dark x-ray. He then asked kp if she would like to see her brain scan. This was very interesting. He highlighted parts of the scan to us, showing us wide areas of dark on the right hand side of the brain. This was the part of the brain affected by the stroke. I know now what they mean by a wide area stroke. It wasn’t isolated to a certain part of the brain. You could see it across a lot of the right hand side.

Lovely chap and very helpful. We complimented him on the staff and care we had received. It really has been excellent !

All of the above left kp exhausted tonight and couple that with the fact she is very weak at the moment, she just wanted a comfy position and to go to sleep, which she did.

An interrupted night’s sleep ‘cos of bowel issues.

There is a certain patient on the ward who is always up and about and does things like picking up the ward telephone, shuffling through staff and patient’s notes and wandering into peoples rooms. If you say to the lady that she needs to stop something and head back to her room, she invariably does. She is a lovely lady meaning no harm by what she does and well liked on the ward.

Karen told me that in the middle of the night, this lady had come into her room. kp was half asleep at the time. She started playing with karen’s sheets.

kp:- X, you need to go back to your room.
Lady:- Why ?

kp got a little frightened (unnerved is probably a better word, but there was some fear in there) at this as she normally does what you ask of her. kp buzzed the nurses.

kp:- Because I am trying to sleep and you are wanted back in your room.

At this point the nurses came in and ushered the lady back to her room. I think this left kp a little unsettled at the time, but we were smiling about it this morning.

A very tired kp today and basically she just slept all morning having no energy for chat or bedbaths. Lots more bowel issues this morning meaning she again had interrupted sleep.

Fingers crossed for a better afternoon.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I forgot to mention that the “blood” lady came today to try and take some blood from Karen. She only managed to get a couple of teaspoons, which wasn’t enough.

A hectic afternoon for kp.

kp had a visit from the orthopedic consultant who did the surgery on Monday who assessed kp’s wound and the work he had done to see if it had improved. Unfortunately things have deteriorated. He was hoping to see less infection, but there is more, so kp needs another operation tomorrow. He had hinted that she may need a further op later in the week but not for this reason.

The need to get blood from kp is becoming an issue. Without blood, they can’t deduce what the infection is exactly, and without that knowledge they can’t fire the right missiles at the right bugs.

kp’s main stroke consultant accompanied the orthopedic consultant and after the latter had done his thing, the stroke consultant tried to get some blood from kp. He tried on numerous occasions to get blood but for “humane reasons” (his words) he left it. kp has the smallest veins in the world. We must get that in the Guiness Book of Records !

They still need blood from kp, so I think they are going to fit a central line, probably whilst she is asleep in the operation tomorrow. This is a line that goes into a major vein in the neck, but as regular bloggers may recall from Weeks 1-4, it can take a few hours to find these in karen. So tomorrow is going to be a long day.

kp was mostly ok this afternoon, but is getting more and more confused. We are sure this is because of her temperature, which has been as high as 39′C today. It seems to come down with Paracetamol but when that wears off it shoots up again. She couldn’t understand why Marie was here when she woke up this afternoon and “Where’s David ?”.

kp:- Am I in my room ?
Marie :- Yes
kp:- Are you sure ?
Marie :- Yes, definately your room

When Marie, Jane and Adele left tonight, they all said goodbyes and got hugs etc. 5 minutes after they had left, kp started a conversation about which I can’t recall, but I thought it was a bit of a strange conversation to have with me. And after a long monologue, she said

kp:- Don’t you think Marie ?
dp:- Marie’s gone love, she went a while ago.

Another strange thing tonight was kp’s eyes went to sleep, but she was awake. Let me try and explain. Her eyes were doing the Rapid Eye Movement associated with dreaming. Her eyelids were sometimes a bit open, sometimes closed (which is typical of kp’s sleep at the moment), so I could see them going from left to right, up and down etc. But she was holding my hand and we were doing Morse Code to each other with our hands. She would squeeze my hand twice, I would do the same back and things like that. Very strange !

The last thing she said to me tonight was

kp:- Thanks for staying with me tonight.

She knows I am not very good at visiting when there is no action going on. Tonight I just held her hand for 90mins. It’s as if she was awake the whole time.

This got to me as I was leaving the hospital and I had a few tears. On the way out, I told one of the nurses that I was concerned about Karen tonight. This is the first time I have had to say such a thing to the staff of Ward 22.

I feel like this moment could be a turning point. I hope (and if I were religious I would pray) it’s a dip in the hilly road kp has been battling so well, but I fear that it may be something more sinister. But, that’s the way I deal with things. I always have the worst in my mind, so I am not too shocked if it comes true. I am sure it’s just a case of me preparing myself for the worst as I have had to do so many times on this journey and kp will show us how much of a star she is.

Love you kp.

Thinking of you.

dp
xxxxx

Not a bad sleep for kp who woke up a few times with some bowel issues.

Nil by Mouth today of course and a very tired/weak kp who couldn’t be bothered with bedbaths. Not much conversation but we did have a couple of fun moments. I’ll come to them in chronological order.

The visit today was from the anaesthetist. He had come as they really need blood from kp so they can handle her right in the operation among other reasons. He was determined that his hospital-cred wouldn’t suffer and that he would get blood. Apparently, when noone else can get blood, they call these guys. Well after a bit of poking around, his hospital-cred was intact and we had enough blood for the necessary tests.

The next visit was from the orthopedic doctor who had come to get kp’s consent for the op. He also wanted to mark the wound with a marker pen so they could put her on the right side for the consultant. This was funny. He drew a big line on the back of Karen’s Leg from the knee to the buttock with an arrowhead on the end. Both kp and I tittered at this. I was tempted to add on “Wound This Way” for a laugh, but kp wouldn’t have been amused. I managed to get a good look at the wound today. Marie copped a good look yesterday when they undressed it, and her description was spot on – a hole the size of a 50p which is very deep.

Then kp’s nurse came to do the operation checklist, a series of questions that she asks kp.

Nurse :- Have you got any jewellery on ?
kp:- No

Nurse :- When did you last eat ?
kp:- About 4pm yesterday

Nurse :- Have you got any glass eyes ?
kp:- No

Nurse :- Have you removed your false teeth ?
kp:- False Teeth My Arse

We Laughed.

The operation time is unknown. She is on the emergency list, which doesn’t mean she is urgent, rather she has to wait for a free slot and if there isn’t one, she gets it done last thing today.

Marie is keeping me posted. I feel a bit more positive than last night. Fingers crossed this is her last cleanout.

Forgot to recall a conversation with kp this morning. It went something like this :-

To set the scene, kp was on her side looking towards the window, at her last bouquet of flowers.

kp:- Those flowers are looking a bit withered.
dp:- Aye. They need a bit of Marie Magic. I am sure she will do her flower arranging tricks when she gets in
kp:- THAT WON’T HELP. They’re drooping.

10 second pause

kp:- There like me – a bit past it and withered.

Not wanting to dwell on her weakened state, I just said :-

dp:- Silly Egg

(which is a phrase that normally makes kp smile as my mum uses the phrase from time to time).

I promised to bring her in some fresh flowers. Typical bloke needing a very not-so-subtle hint to kick me into action.

kp has just gone into theatre. Should be out by about 6pm. Let’s hope the next few days, kp is feeling a lot better.

kp had had a snoozy afternoon before going down to theatre at about 4.30pm. I arrived at 6.15pm to find an empty bedroom, so I assumed she was still down at theatre and Marie had gone to pick her up, so I went to Theatre.

I found kp lying on her bed, eyes wide awake staring into space. She was still a bit spaced out, but knew I had arrived. We spent 10 mins going through things with a theatre nurse before heading back to the ward. We entered kp’s room with a slightly different maneuver than usual. We kind of went past the room, and then backed up a bit. This will become relevant later on.

kp’s eyes stayed wide awake from 6.15pm until 9.30pm when we left. At 6.15pm, she was spaced, and gradually we felt her come back to normal. We knew she was definately back with us when she started getting irritable.

Let’s get the key facts out of the way. The op went very well. All cleaned out of gunk and the gunk sent to the microbiologists. No sickness after the op. He temperature was very low 33′C when we got her back to the room. I was convinced the equipment was faulty, but the nurse was insistent that it was fine. I thought you were dead below 35′C and couldn’t do ironing below 36′C but obviously not. The temperature was taken every 30 mins and went up to 37.2′C (perfect temperature) and then dropped to 36.5 before we left, which we are happy with.

Her blood pressure is fine and her sats (how much oxygen is being absorbed) was also fine.

Yay !! So far so good. The next couple of days will be the key days to see if infections kick in.

The irritable kp will no doubt revert to the normal kp tomorrow after a good night’s sleep.

kp was very confused after the op. She thought the door to her room was a lift door and she was convinced she wasn’t in her room. We got her to look at the cards on her wall and things that she knew were in her room, but nothing would convince her that she was in her room. She also said that it felt too closed in for her room, so we lowered the bed to the very lowest position. She was nearly on the floor. That felt a bit better, but still didn’t feel like her room. At this point a very tall nurse came in to do kp’s obs. She did a double-take at kp who was virtually lying on the floor. We raised the bed up for her.

kp couldn’t settle at all. She was too unnerved at not being in her room. We thought that the way she entered the room wasn’t the normal way and may have disorientated her. I suggested we push her (in the bed) back into the corridor past the kitchen and enter the room again describing everything as we passed. We did this. It must have looked very strange pushing kp up the corridor saying “This is the kitchen where hear all the clanging from.” etc….

When we got to kp’s room, we made a point of pointing to her Room Number and the pictures on her wall and I even banged the bed against the wall, the way I normally do when I need to move the bed in the room. As soon as she got the bang, and thanks to Marie’s descriptions ….

kp:- Now I am in my room. This feels right.

Very strange, but funny.

So, kp is ok after her op and couldn’t be better for the night’s sleep ahead. Let’s see what the next few days bring.

One last thing before I forget. Little funny incident. Marie and I were turning Karen on her side. I was at one side of the bed and Marie at the other. The bars on the bed were down. The bars are like an accordion in that if they are up they are wide apart, if they are down, they are very close together. In getting very close to the bed for the move, my penis had got lodged between the bars. Not drastic in itself. At this point, for some reason, Marie decided to move the bed down a bit at which point the bars got closer together. Well, with willy trapped, I had to very skilfully move down at the same speed as the bed and do a reverse pelvic thrust to dislodge. Mrs Bucket was oblivious to these antics and was not amused when I relayed this story to her.

Oh well… she’ll mebbe laugh tomorrow.

Good News !!

But it didn’t come straight away today !

I arrived just before 8.30am to a crying and very confused kp. She was so upset, one of the nurses was staying with her until I arrived. She didn’t think she was in her room, and “the nurses wouldn’t take her to her room” and she felt the nurses were “talking about her outside the room” and “conspiring” to convince kp that this was her room.

Now, of course, it was her room, but there was NO convincing Karen otherwise. It was heart-wrenching for the staff ‘cos I think they are quite fond of Karen. There is one nurse who kp is particularly close with who had done a “Would I lie to you ?” speech to Karen, but even then kp wasn’t convinced. The nurse involved was very concerned as I found out later.

When I arrived, the nurses caught me before I entered the room to update me as to this latest saga. When I entered the room, I could tell she was glad to see me. It was very heart-warming.

kp (crying) :- David, the nurses are trying to tell me that this is my room. There all talking about me outside, I know they are.
dp:- They are talking about you love, ‘cos they are concerned about you. etc etc….

I basically gave her lots of reassurance, offered to take her around the ward again so she could get her bearings, and told her of all the other times she was confused, like when she saw spiders on the walls and it turned out to be a whiteboard. By the end of our chat, she felt much better, and the icing on the cake was the Doctor came in and explained why the anaesthetic drugs cause confusion and what she had experienced was natural etc….

Within an hour of me arriving, I would say we had the old kp back. She was chatty, smiling and NOT AT ALL suffering any signs of infection. This was my big fear from last night. Yay !!!!!!!!!!!

I said I would phone my mum and dad ‘cos they were very concerned, and suggested kp speak to them which she did. They were thrilled to hear from her.

The morning went from initial sadness to happiness and just kept getting better until lunchtime.

The order of events was :-

Microbiologist
Marie had expressed concern to the nurse that we weren’t sure what the state of all kp’s infections were and that we would appreciate an update. kp’s main nurse today arranged for the microbiologist to come round. She basically said that kp’s buttock wound was infected with MRSA. MRSA = Methycillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (Methycillin being a type of Penicillin). The 2 drugs they had tried this week were not being effective against the MRSA, so she had advised the ward doctor to prescribe 2 other drugs which are taken orally. This is much better for kp, ‘cos the intravenous ones have been stinging like hell. kp raised a fist at the “Modern Matron” today who was giving them to her they hurt that much. According to the Doctor, these new drugs should be effective. “Modern Matron” is the new title for the rank of people who are matrons but they don’t do the old “Matron” duties. kp can’t remember the title “Modern Matron” and so refers to this lady as “New Matron”.

We asked if kp’s blood had MRSA in. It can take 5-10 days to find this out, so we may need to wait another week for that.

Dietician
The dietician came round also. kp pretended to be asleep as she didn’t want to discuss her diet. I did all the talking. She has to treat food like medicine and force it down. Otherwise the bugs win. That was the gist of her speech.

TV Cleaned
A lady came round to clean kp’s tv. kp was laughing at the thought that she had all these problems going on and there was a lady here to clean her tv. We hid our laughter until she left.

Physio
The physios came and did their stuff with kp. They checked if she felt upto it, which was nice, and she did (which was great), so they got her into the wheelchair and did her exercises. kp shared the tv cleaner lady’s visit with the physios and we had a giggle. If the physio hurt too much, kp just said “It’s ok, at least my tv is clean”. After physio, I took kp outside for a bit of fresh air, but it was a bit nippy and noisy (with the building works) so we came back in.

Lunch
Marie had brought in some fresh chicken that kp could have with the chips they bring round on a Friday Lunch. She said the chicken and chips tasted funny. I tried them both and they were delicious. I said she should force them down if she could and ignore the taste, which she did.

5 minutes later, the whole lot (including breakfast) came back up. Poor Cow ! They are going to change the time of the anti-sickness drugs so they are effective for mealtimes.

And that’s it for this morning….

A much perkier kp today. The old kp is back in town !

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the infection’s stay out of her way ! For the infection’s sake !

A sleepy afternoon for kp. Just as well, as Glenn, Adele and her kids, Abbie and Louisa were invading !

kp really enjoyed seeing them all. Lots of smiles all round. During this visit, kp’s consultant came to check on her progress. Nothing new to report from his visit. But it was nice that he came to see how she was. It was a very active 1 hours visit with lots of photos taken, lots of fun to be had, and leaving a very tired kp at the end. Within 15 minutes of their departure, she was zonked.

By 6.30pm, she was fast asleep.

kp wasn’t feeling like eating today, but due to the doctors, bloggers, husbands and family telling her how important it was, she forced down 3/4 of a toasted bacon and egg sandwich. Her meds then came round and she has to take this new oral antibiotic in liquid form. She was nearly sick when she took it last night so she had asked if she could have it in tablet form.

It looks like blood and doesn’t taste much better according to kp :-

Well she had drunk about 3/4′s of this evil liquid, she said “Sick Bowl” and projectile vomited her guts up. For Ronnie’s info, there was bacon, egg, milk, tea and red antibiotic liquid.

Poor kp, she had put such effort into eating breakfast and then this liquid buggered it all up. To add insult to injury, at the very moment she did her last vomit motion, a nurse walked in and said :-

Nurse :- Karen, you can have that antibiotic in capsule form.

DOH !

Whilst the nurse was there, I asked if Karen could have a real bath. She said she would check. After a couple of hours, the chap who had performed the operation and another surgeon visited kp to assess the wound and they are happy with it as it is at the moment, and are also happy for her to have baths . This is great news for kp.

We didn’t get chance to have a bath this morning as it was then lunchtime. She ate her beef stew and then Yvonne arrived and we all went outside for about 30 minutes fresh air.

Yvonne is on afternoon shift.

Not a good evening for kp. An afternoon of mostly snoozing meant kp hadn’t taken her painkiller gabapentin. Tonight she suffered for it

I think she put on a brave face for Michelle, Adele and Yvonne, but within 10 minutes of them leaving, kp was in tears.

kp:- I am sooo fed up of this. I feel like I am back to the state I was in on Ward 3.

It was heartbreaking

I tried to reassure her that it was just down to missing the medication and I think she knew this played a part, but she was concerned that it may be due to something else we haven’t thought of.

She was so upset, I went for the nurse. She found it a little strange that just one medication missed could cause such pain, but offered her Diclofenac or Tramadol. kp didn’t want Tramadol as she feels it has no effect, so took the Diclofenac and 2 Paracetamol (from earlier). 30 minutes later, she was no better and started getting upset again. So I went for the nurse, but instead found the Sister who came in and persuaded kp to try the Tramadol, which she did. A further 60 minutes later, she was getting some relief.

During all this time, she could only be on one side for 10 mins before needing to be turned. The turns hurt kp themselves, so it wasn’t a nice time for her. In between turns, kp couldn’t sleep and all she could do is shut her eyes and hold my hand which I think gave her some comfort.

After this 90 minutes of turns and nurse visits, I noticed her lips go into a sad face. This is a sure sign kp is asleep. I was very relieved for her. I gave it a further 10 mins, said my goodbyes and left for the evening. Hopefully, she’ll have a good night. Bath tomorrow with a bit of luck.

Couple of funny incidents out of all this pain. I think I may be losing my marbles.

Whilst kp was crying (of all times), I saw Sam (friend of the family) go past kp’s door, see kp and me and say a big “Hi !!!”. I said “Hi, come in Sam!”. She came in. kp looked at her with a confused face.

dp:- Grab a seat

Which she duly did. We chatted for a while. kp didn’t say a word. I explained why kp was upset. Sam explained that she was doing some Bank work (nurse temping) to get some money for a flat and various other things. All of this I found very strange, as I thought she was going to do some more law degree, but maybe it was a Summer job. She talked for a while and I started to look confused at some of the things she was saying.

dp:- Sorry, can I just stop you. Who are you ?
Lady:- I am Lorna (name changed to protect identity)

Well, I was gobsmacked. She looked the spit of Sam and talked like her as well. I apologised profusely for dragging her in the room, explained why and she duly left

dp:- Sorry love, I thought she was Sam. She was the spit of her
kp:- She looked nothing like her !

Well, I felt so stupid. kp was in such a state, and here’s me inviting a temping nurse in and asking her how she is etc…..

One last incident which shows how spaced I really was tonight. One of the nurses was in at some stage, telling kp about a party in the park there was in Newcastle. She was saying “They had Meat Loaf on”.

dp:- I love Meat Loaf

She carried on a bit more, and then it was clear she meant the band and not the food.

dp:- Eeee, I am sorry. I thought you were talking about a buffet they had on, I meant Meat Loaf the food.

Doh !

kp gave me a stern look.

A good night’s sleep which is a relief.

Taken the new antibiotic form today so no vomiting issues.

But we had a bit of sadness and tears this morning. kp was very subdued, and eventually she told me how fed up she was. We had a good chat about how this has changed our lives, the pros and the cons and how we’d tackle it. It was positive and a good outcome as the rest of the morning kp was chirpy and gagging for THE BATH !

She loved it. The nurse removed the dressing over the buttock wound leaving a load of padding shoring up the wound. She said it might come out during the bath, but it wasn’t anything to worry about. It came out, leaving a cavernous hole. But, it didn’t seem to affect the bath enjoyment. It was redressed afterwards.

Sleep followed the bath and then Marie arrived for the afternoon shift.

Not much else to report.

I came back on the evening shift to see a kp in her chair looking very excited. I could tell she was pleased to be able to surprise me being in the chair. It was lovely to see and I wasn’t expecting it. She also had some news she was very excited about – namely, that she has been weighed and is over the moon with the result.

I had to guess and suffice to say I was out by more than 2 stone !!!

kp weighs in at ……………….

Just under 9 stone. She was thrilled at this.

Sam visited today. The real one, no decoy ! kp thoroughly enjoyed her afternoon with Marie and Sam. After they left, we went outside for a bit, but in no time at all, her cocchyx was hurting and we were back in bed.

Few tears tonight when I showed her a video of the dogs. I do this over and over again. I say I won’t show her anything to with the dogs again because she cried last time, and I do it again Idiot !

Anyway, thankfully the tears/upset were shortlived.

Marie and kp had been having talks in the afternoon and it appears the shifts may be changing. I won’t be required until 10am, and can leave at 4pm. And Marie can come a lot later and not stay as long. It sounds great and kp seems happy with it.

We’ll give it a few days before we kick it into place.

About 7.30pm tonight kp started to be in pain again

She had Diclofenac and then 30 mins later a Tramadol and I left her comfyish ! We even tried putting kp on her front, but that didn’t work out. It wasn’t painful, just not comfy. Fingers crossed she has a good night’s sleep.

I was pleased to hear kp had had a good sleep as I had left her in a bit of pain.

Not much to report from this morning.

We saw the doctor about kp’s breakthrough pain, and he has upped the Fentanol Patch to 100mg. That should do the trick we hope. kp was very subdued today, and hardly speaking at all.

She wanted a bath but not for the pleasure of it, more for the effectiveness of a real bath over a bedbath.

The bath was a real trial for kp. I couldn’t find the hoist canvas bit that goes under kp and lifts her out of bed. So we had to make do with a portable hoist one which requires a different hoist. I moved kp around to fit that, and then the nurse that came round said we couldn’t use that. She went looking for a real hoist canvas and found one on a different ward. We turned kp twice to get that in place etc blah blah blah.

The bath itself was just as trying for various reasons and poor kp was knackered by the end of it.

As soon as kp was back in her room and comfy she was out for the count.

She didn’t want to wake up for lunch but was persuaded and wolfed down some nice Gammon and Sponge and Custard for dessert.

Fast asleep after lunch within minutes

Couple of hours sleep in the afternoon. She woke up asking me for some water. Didn’t even realise I had gone and Marie and Glenn were there.

Jane B. arrived and did a bit of a show to cheer kp up which is great Jane thanks. BUT THEN, she let Karen down by eating one of her curly wurlys. Never eat Karen’s curly wurlys if you want to stay friends with kp. Actually, Karen isn’t keen on curly wurlys but I love them.

Mum and Dad visited tonight. In fact, they are UP NORTH for the whole week, which means the house should be spotless when they leave and I will get some good food and company. There is one down side to having parents up however, namely they don’t hesitate to criticise you. Apparently I have made a spelling mistake in the blog. LOL. I know that I spelt cocchyx wrong at some point and the drugs could be spelled wrong, but I give up about what it is. So there’s a quiz for you Ronnie. What have I misspelt ?

Mum had kp in stitches tonight unintentionally. It was a belly holding moment. kp had asked me to move her. So I got in the right position to begin the move and mum had stood up out of the way.

Mum:- 1………….2………………3…………….
I let mum finish the count out and then looked at her…………….

dp:- What are you doing Mum ?
Mum:- I just thought I would help by counting for you.

Well, we were all laughing. I still smile when I think of it. I then relayed the tale of Marie’s counting attempts when she couldn’t get to 3 for laughing which again made Karen laugh. So, lots of laughing tonight which was good.

But……….why is there always a but………….?

kp started to get jitters. That’s the only word I can think of to describe it. She wasn’t in pain, but couldn’t lie still for more than 5-10 mins before a move was needed. Even then, between moves she was fidgeting all the time with her legs (which she finds very hard to move in the first place). It got so bad, I asked the Sister if we could see her. She came and reassured kp of a few things it could be and a few ways out which we could try. We put a couple of them in place tonight (Diclofenac and removal of DVT Socks). Fingers crossed they sort it out, otherwise kp is in for one helluva night.

I forgot to mention a couple of key things today – Memory like a sieve !

First of all, a big thanks to the Dennison Family who sent the loveliest, tallest bouquet of flowers in to Karen. She was well chuffed. There was also a box of chocolates as well – THANKS ! The address, btw, for anyone who would like to send flowers is :- Karen Pollard, Room 2, Ward 22, Q.E. Hospital, Sheriff Hill, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

Second of all, I was on a mini-outing to get something from somewhere on the ward and when I got back to kp, she was staring at her left side intently.

dp:- What you doing love ?
kp:- I am trying to move my left arm.

Sure enough, she was trying to get her left arm on to her stomach. It didn’t work for a while and I recalled something the physio said about her movement being all shoulder-based on her left arm and could see that’s what she was trying to move.

dp:- Crikey love, that’s really close

She tried and tried and eventually she got her left arm on to her stomach. We both had big grins for each other and I told her how chuffed I was.

Not a very good morning for kp

Although she started with the best of intentions.

kp:- Why don’t I get in the chair for breakfast each morning ?
dp:- Dunno, never thought of it I suppose. Do you fancy it ?
kp:- Not really, but I should.

I got kp into the chair.

She ate all her breakfast only to throw it all up when she took her tablets. Unfortunately she had just had her pain tablet when she threw up and this means she could be in pain later on as they don’t reissue tablets when they have come out again.

Lots of bowel issues at the moments which really pisses kp off.

She isn’t feeling mentally right at the moment. She is on a real low at the moment. She was concerned that she has had a bad 2 weeks of physio because of all the ops and next week the senior physio is going on his hols and kp was worried that she won’t be progressing at all in that time.

I caught her other physios and asked for a word with them to tell them of kp’s concerns and how down she was at the moment. They are going to pepp her up a bit this afternoon and give her some mini-goals to aim for and to reassure her that she will still be progressing despite the main physio’s absence.

She has hardly spoken this morning and certainly not laughed or smiled at all. She doesn’t see the point in carrying on, and when I came up with some things to look forward to at the end, she wonders “if it is worth it ?”

There is not much I can say at times like this apart from “You need bad days, otherwise we don’t when the good days are good days” and stuff like that. I am no Socrates.

She didn’t want any lunch and couldn’t be arsed getting in the chair again. I just hope she picks up for dinner. Fingers crossed AGAIN !

The afternoon consisted of some sleep, a visit from the tissue viability nurse and the physios.

The physios took kp to a new location today. It’s amazing how something as simple as this can spark interest. According to kp, they got her to sit on the edge of the chair and put quite a bit of weight on her feet without standing up. She said they were pleased with her progress. They have also took delivery of kp’s new wheels. If anyone has any go-faster stripes or wheels of fire type stickers that they don’t want or need, feel free to send them to

Karen Pollard
Room 2
Ward 22
Q. E. Hospital
Sheriff Hill
Gateshead
Tyne and Wear

Anything to brighten it up would put a smile on kp’s face.

This evening was not a good evening for kp. It started with bowel issues from hell, followed by a waltz through the valley of projectile vomiting, ending up with “what’s the point ?”.

Poor kp. Mum and Dad visited again tonight and no sooner than they had arrived, they had to be kicked out for bowel reasons. When they returned, kp was tucking into chicken and chips, which she really enjoys, but halfway through this, she shouted “David”, and threw up her dinner. She put as brave a face on as she could for Ma + Pa, but they could tell she wasn’t upto much in the way of visitors and left.

She is very down at the moment. She is trying so hard at the moment to kick herself into good health. She ate every meal today as best she could, before throwing it up, so effectively, she hasn’t eaten anything today. The nurses are aware of this. Of course, if you are sick so much, you are reluctant to try food, because you know the pattern. The nurses are going to raise this with the doctor tomorrow.

I spoke to someone today who suggested getting a psychologist in for kp. It had helped him with some similar issues. Excellent Idea and I mentioned this to kp tonight and she wasn’t against it. I’ll bring this up tomorrow.

So, not a good day generally. kp’s last words to me before falling asleep tonight were

kp:- “I really hope I feel better tomorrow”.

Me too love

kp was looking to the door as I walked in this morning. She had been waiting for me since 7am apparently. I said the new shifts are going to be hard then aren’t they if I am not in until 10am. I think the new shifts have been knocked on the head.

kp ate a full breakfast and kept it down !! Her new tactics with her pills are to take them very slowly (“to slyly sneak one in when my stomach isn’t expecting it”).

Well, it worked. It took 2.5 hours to get about 12 tablets down her and they stayed down

She said she felt in a slightly perkier mood today, and certainly she was much more chatty. In fact we had some good conversations for the first time in a while.

She didn’t want to push her lack of sickness too far, so we knocked the bath on the head given the amount of moves involved.

We wanted to see the Doctor today about a number of things, so we made a list :-

1. Sickness – kp is doing “her end of the bargain” as she calls it, namely treating medicine as food, but it still won’t stay down. What can be done about it ?
2. Psychologist – Further to last night’s blog we wanted to get kp in touch with a psychologist.
3. Sick Note – kp’s sick note ran out on the 19th and we need a new one
4. and a couple of other minor things

Well, the sickness is going to be tackled by subcutaneous injections of Cyclazine instead of taking them orally. He is going to sort out a visit from a psychologist. Sick Note is being sorted this afternoon.

At the same time we were sorting all this out with the doctor, he was trying to take a blood sample from kp. From a “taking blood” perspective, kp doesn’t have veins (or “wanes” as the doctor called them (much to kp’s amusement)), she must run on battery or something. We had real problems getting blood. But he succeeded in the end.

kp came up with some good ideas to keep herself motivated. She is going to try and watch some TV, read the paper and a few other things. And she got her first try today, cos I was knackered and struggling to stay awake this morning and at her suggestion I had 40 winks (90mins) whilst she watched GMTV.

Physio followed and kp did very well. She sat upright on the edge of her new black wheelchair, extended her hands onto the table in front of her and stretched out. It looked very strange after seeing her sat back and laid down for the past 2/3 months. She was knackered after 30 mins of it.

Lunch followed physio and she tucked into her beef stew. And unfortunately, after she had eaten it, threw it all up . One of her antibiotics is bright red and stains everything red inside kp. So seconds after eating brown beef stew, poor kp was vomiting bright red beef stew.

She was even more tired then and was ready for sleep.

The day Karen got engaged and married with orange tears.

A hectic afternoon for kp with no time for snoozes. In no particular order :-

Karen had a visit from the consultant and her favourite doctor. They are convinced the antibiotic for MRSA is causing the sickness. She needs this antibiotic so all they can do is throw the best anti-sickness medication at kp. She is on cyclozine and metrocyclomide (I think), they are now putting her on poppadombhajizine (or something like that). Apparently, it is the grandaddy of all anti-sickness tablets. So far, so good. We have had a bit of nausea but no vomit yet !

She also had a visit from the Occupational Nurse who specialises in the practicalities of living when you have a physical impairment. I hope that is the PC way of saying that ! She is going to be working more with Karen over the next few weeks and with the physios to get Karen to be able to do practical things like brushing her hair, shifting herself around the bed without assistance and ironing clothes.

We also had a visit today from the Stroke Association lady who Karen gets on very well with. She is going to be helping Karen from now until a year after she gets home by visiting her every week and offering advice and practical measures for around the home etc….. She sounds very helpful.

So a busy old afternoon.

I arrived at about 5.10pm to find an even more perky Karen than this morning. Jane and Marie had kept her occupied and her spirits buoyed. We had some cracking laughs before they had to go.

My mum and dad visited kp again and this time kp was much more ready for hosting “an audience with kp”. They had been to Beamish and kp was pleased they had thoroughly enjoyed it. I relayed to kp how dad had very kindly fitted a new sprinkler system to the hanging baskets. He had suggested I put it on while I play with the dogs, which I duly did. The pressure in the sprinklers isn’t quite right yet however and one hanging basket gets a particularly strong dose of water. As I took a breather from the dogs to have a sit-down, a gust of wind blew across the hanging basket, drenching me in water. kp was amused. My cigarette nearly extinguished itself.

Karen was desparate for me to thank Mum and Dad tonight for everything they have done for us over the past weeks. I have thanked them tonight. They have been incredibly supportive and this week alone have pretty much redesigned the whole garden and washed every surface in the house. Thanks M+D !!!

If all goes well tomorrow, kp has a little surprise for them tomorrow evening (their last evening) – fingers crossed !

When Mum and Dad left, kp and I had some of the best conversation we have had since the accident. Typical kp+dp pre-accident conversation about life and the universe. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and given that kp should have been fast asleep by 7pm, she was amazed when she asked for the time and was told it was 8.15pm !!

She had also asked for lots of hugs tonight, which is very unusual for kp. Not upset hugs, but happy hugs. It was lovely. She was also very complimentary of my husbandry skills. Needless to say, we have a psychologist coming out ASAP to check sanity levels. I think she may have to be sectioned.

We also had a couple of very poignant moments tonight. Karen had asked me if she had Angela’s telephone number so she could ring her. She found out today that Angela (a work colleague of kp’s and another of the car crash victims) had gone home today from hospital. I got out kp’s mobile phone and after calling Angela I went through kp’s text messages since the accident and read them out to kp.

Well, I got upset at one message in particular. First of all, there were a load of messages from me from the day of the accident. I had texted kp about 3 times on the day in question, thinking she was too busy to get to the phone. I read out those texts. But the one that REALLY got to me was from Veronica. It was 3 days after the accident, when kp was unconscious and fighting for her life. It read as follows :-

Karen, Please wake up. It’s what Mary (Karen’s deceased mother) wants! Luv Ronnie xxx

I still fill up when I think of it. It really takes me back to that worst of worst times when we just didn’t know if she was going to make it or not.

Thanks Ronnie ! You should have a text from Karen tonight also !

But the most emotional moment of the night for me was when Karen was trying to move her left arm and hand. In her attempts (and it is improving slightly) I noticed that her left hand seemed less swollen.

dp:- Hey your hand looks less swollen ! Can I see if your rings fit ?
(I have been wearing kp’s engagement and wedding ring since they were took off her after the accident)

They did fit ! I took them off again and then put her engagement ring back on her finger.

dp:- Karen, will you marry me ?
kp:- Yes

Smiles !

I then put her wedding ring back on her hand.
dp:- Karen, will you take me to be your lawfully wedded husband ?
kp:- I will. You can now kiss the bride

I had a tear in my eye, but we laughed, hugged and kissed. It was lovely. When Karen saw how touched I was, she shed a tear. It was an orange tear, stained by the antibiotics that stain everything in Karen red.

This is a big psychological step for me as at one point I didn’t envisage ever taking those rings off my finger. I had vowed to keep them on until such time kp could wear them. Thanks Karen. I am so proud of you !!

Love you always

dp
xxxxx

Great Sleep, Full Breakfast, No Vomiting. A good start to the the day !!

Her phone/tv in her room has packed up. It’s Microsoft-based so I am not at all surprised. But last night was the one night kp wanted to start watching TV. Grrrrrrrr!

They are going to fix it today apparently.

kp had a bath today and she really enjoyed it, she couldn’t put her finger on why ?!

She phoned Angela today and had a nice long chat to her. It sounded like Angela was finding it quite hard to be at home after her hospital stay. I think kp will find it similarly hard. Being home is not the same as being well and home. Getting some milk out of the fridge becomes a major expedition instead of a 2-sec job.
But the call did kp a lot of good and reinforced what she was already starting to think.

Physio was very hard today amd kp lapped it up. She had to lean back a bit (no backrests involved), and then bring herself forward using her stomach muscles. The physio would also move her feet and kp had to maintain her balance. kp enjoyed it, but it was physically and mentally exhausted at the end of it. When I got her back to her room and lowered her back into bed, she fell asleep INSTANTLY. She will definately sleep this afternoon and unfortunately she didn’t want any lunch ‘cos she was so tired.

The physios have suggested we arrange kp’s physios to a time that means it doesn’t intrude on eating. kp is going to think about this this afternoon if she wakes up !

Exhausting but enjoyable morning.

For anyone who read last night’s blog before 1pm Thursday 21st, here is the photo that was taken of karen with her rings back on.

Here is a photo I took just before I left for the evening :-

I always leave a sick bowl handy so she can reach on the side of her head in case of sickness coming on. When I got her to check her sickbowl, she put her hands above the wrong side of her head, so to be sure she would be ok, I put a sickbowl on either side. I thought it looked funny.

I got a phonecall from mum and dad to say that they would be at the hospital a bit earlier than planned as they were going straight from Alnwick (where they had been for the day). kp wanted to surprise them by being in her chair outside when they drove up (as a thank you for all they’ve done), so this meant “Action Stations”. I went to the hospital asap and dad said he would be at the hospital at 5.15pm approx.

kp was FAST asleep when I arrived. I told Marie the plans and that we had 7 minutes to get kp awake, hoisted in the chair, wheel her out of the room, down the lift, and outside. So we set about our mission. Waking kp was the hardest thing. But needless to say, it couldn’t have been timed better. We got kp outside, put her brakes on, Marie and I took our seats and Dad’s familiar car drove round the corner. We could see their beaming smiles from 200 yards away. Dad flashed his lights, drove up and took this photo from the car.

Yes, I look camp before anyone else says it !

They were well chuffed. kp couldn’t believe the surprise had been so effective. After 15 minutes we returned to the room and to bed. kp was tired but fought through it and enjoyed the evening with the Pollards. Dad had took some photos of our house on a beautiful day and had printed them off for kp. She has them on her wall now and it cheered her up no end.

I borrowed kp’s x-rays to show mum and dad. Karen even saw ones she hadn’t seen before, and we were all intrigued by them. The ones with the pins and the broken bones are especially interesting.

After a while kp was flagging – it has been one helluva day. Mum and Dad left at the perfect time and within 20 mins of their departure, kp was fast asleep.

Well done today love. You’ve done remarkably well.

Awake since 7am. Good Sleep but she didn’t get to sleep until midnight apparently and really wished the TV had been working.

kp asked me to speak to the physios to tell them that she would have physio at 2/2.30pm. I obliged.

kp could tell something was bothering me today, and I had to spill the beans in the end, cos it was really getting to me. I badly didnt want to miss out on kp’s physio, but being smack bang in the middle of the afternoon means it falls on Marie’s watch. So, kp said she would give our “original shifts” a go to see if she could manage being on her own until 10am in the morning. So, I’ll now do a 10am-4pm shift, and Marie can do a 4-6/7 shift as she chooses. This means I’ll arrive for the bath, be there for lunch and physio. Fingers crossed it works out.

kp ate breakfast fine. Had tablets and one of them caused a little vomiting attack. Called nurse, who gave her the anti-sickness injection. She is now going to get these daily, instead of “when needed”

Great Bath. Eating well !

Mum and Dad visited for the last time this week, they go home today. They brought chicken soup and chicken drumsticks for Karen to eat with her chips. Loved it, may try chicken soup later.

Was tired when they left and fell asleep.

Physio today had been mostly centred on balancing her torso herself whilst reaching with her arms. The physios planted little coloured cones on the table in front of her and asked her to reach for cones by colour. This forces kp to rebalance to stop falling over, something we all take for granted.

She did very well, and wasn’t as tired as yesterday. I think the legs version of this stunt is much more tiring.

She has eaten VERY well today, eating everything in sight for the first day ever. No vomiting of consequence. The TV is fixed.

One of the nurses came in tonight and chatted to us for a while about a few things. She was probably with us 15 minutes. Lovely lady.

That’s about it for today.

Busy weekend ahead with all the family visiting tomorrow and the dynamic duo visiting on Sunday (+ Lydia)

dp

Hearty Breakfast.

Followed by Snooze.

Followed by Bath.

No vomiting.

kp feels great !

Makes for a boring blog, but may we have many more mornings like this one.

kp is going to the Fete at the hospital in the afternoon along with her visitors so sounds like the makings of a good day !

Absolutely cracking day today.

The afternoon was great. kp went down to the Summer Fete downstairs and thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids (Abbie and Louisa) getting their faces painted. Abbie seemed to win every tombola prize going. Louisa wanted to put every necklace of pearls on at one stall. It all kept kp entertained and in her chair for 90 mins with no quibbles !!!

She ate a full dinner, lunch and breakfast.

She felt great in herself. She has even started reading and sending text messages. So if you want to text Karen (NO PHONECALLS PLEASE), text a message to 07974736352. Don’t expect an immediate reply, as the phone is kept switched off in her cupboard (which she can’t reach).

kp’s mood has been awesome and it continued after I left. She even phoned me about 30 minutes ago to say how positive she felt !

Let’s hope tomorrow is the same kind of day.