Going to keep it brief today as the lawn needs cutting and rain is forecast.

Lovely day today.

Straight into bath to be ready for 11.15am physio. Physio was better than yesterday. kp did all the usual exercises with the main man and then finished the session off with a stand. This stand was amazing, she seemed to just do it in a much more fluid action. The main man assisted throughout of course and he said she did really well, and all he had to do was to keep her left hip and left knee in the standing position, but from time to time kp was keeping them there herself. As an onlooker, it looked like kp did 95% of the standing action and 90% of the “stay standing” Whilst she was in the “stay standing” position, he got her to crouch slightly and practice the last bit of a stand. She practices this quite a few times, and this will no doubt help her to maintain a standing position next time.

This photo makes it look a lot easier than it actually was.

This one looks like kp is dancing with the main man.

When we got back from physio, there was a beautiful orchid plant (with loads of buds) waiting for us. Well, waiting for Karen probably. Thanks to Kevin and Julie Bentley for them !!! It was a lovely surprise. In our care, it should last a day and a half before collapsing in a heap. We are not known for our green fingers. Actually, whilst we were umming and arring on “how to care for orchids”, one of the nurses popped in to do kp’s dressings and her husband grows orchids for a hobby. So, we know all the good tips now. I’ll give it a week now !

Marie came early today to join kp and I for our Wednesday Fish and Chips Day treat ! It was lovely.

That’s about it.

Busy Busy Day today.

kp was knackered when i arrived this morning. When she is tired, she goes very quiet.

1. She doesn’t say much and when she does
2. She is very softly spoken

I told her that Dad was very pleased to hear of yesterday’s progress and that she had some surprise vistors on the afternoon in the form of Tommy and Eileen (our neighbours) and Amy and Niamh (2 of their grandkids). No time to lose, straight into the bath routine. This woke kp up a bit, especially when she had to dry/style her own hair. During the bath, we had a visit from a patient who has took a liking to kp + I and who regular wanders in/out of kp’s room. Well, kp was in her birthday suit in the bath and she wanders in. Thankfully she didn’t get past the curtain and I was able to usher her out. Within 30 seconds, she was back in again. She was looking for Steve, so I suggested looking down the corridor. No harm done.

Straight after the bath, it was physio. Another storming day today. Everyday she seems to surprise me. Today we didn’t use the hoist AT ALL in the physio room. kp went to the standing position from the wheelchair, which was amazing. The main man was needed to ensure it all went ok. His input at the moment consists of coaching kp in how to stand and how to correct her position if it is out of alignment. At the moment, kp goes from sitting to standing, but doesn’t lock her left knee and her bum sticks out (left hip alignment). When she gets to this position, the main man tells her to stand straight, pull her bum in etc etc and then kp is at full standing. On the last attempt, kp was doing 95% of it all herself. She is so close to be able to do it herself. I personally reckon within 2 weeks, she will have nailed standing. Once she can do this, they will then work on her doing the same thing but upto a swivel board, which is kind of a rotating standing platform onto which she stands, and then I can whizz her round 180′ so she can sit down onto something different to which she stood up from. As soon as she can do this without help (or limited help) she can visit home, so she was well pleased with herself today and rightfully so.

Main Man and Karen

Another thing he got her to do was (once she was standing) to sway herself from side to side. This was very interesting, because if you think about it, she can’t walk until each leg can bear the weight of her full body. By swaying side to side, she is working up each leg individually to bear her weight. Very clever stuff.

kp in “Turn the bl++dy camera off look”

So, physio was a great success. On the way back to the room, kp was pleased to be able to tell the nurses that “(she has) been standing herself”. They were all very pleased

When we were back in the room :-

kp:- That was amazing. I was standing myself
dp:- It was amazing love. You did really well, but its not quite standing yourself.

WRONG THING TO SAY !

I explained that “standing yourself” is when you can stand without anyone’s assistance at all. She has a different understanding of it, and I felt so bad for effectively knocking her outstanding achievement

I ate humble pie as much as I could, and tried to praise her as much as possible. We didn’t dwell on this and I think she is ok now.

Silly dp.

After physio, kp snoozed for a couple of hours and then we went downstairs to greet Tommy, Eileen, Niamh and Amy. They treated us to tea/coffee in the restaurant and Amy and Niamh were lovely and really gave kp something to smile about. They also taught us the meaning of loud and quiet.
It was lovely to see them all.

Niamh, kp, dp and Amy

Eileen and kp. How on earth did they get a quiet moment ?

We had a real good laugh !

That’s it. As we bid goodbye to Tommy and Eileen, the sisters arrived.

We’re turning the gas on, igniting it, and cooking on it ! (We’re cooking on gas mum !)
Picked up hot chicken and got in for 10.30am to find kp still fast asleep ! She had slept all the way through until my arrival.

We had a chat for 5-10 mins and then did the bath thing. Whilst we had our little chat a nurse popped in to give kp her tablets, and whilst she was in the emergency alarm went off. (There are 2 alarms a patient can pull, the “attention” button, and the “emergency” button. The attention button sounds one type of alarm and the “emergency” button sounds a more urgent-like sound alarm. The attention-type alarm is triggered by pushing a button on a pad on the end of a wire. The pad is normally kept close to the patient on their bed. The emergency one can not be pushed by the patients unless they can get out of bed because it is a button on the wall marked “Emergency”. The noise we could hear was the urgent one. The nurse immediately ran out of the door, no sooner had she stepped outside the door, than the alarm stopped.

Nurse :- It’ll be X. When she goes to the bathroom, she pushes it thinking it is the light switch.

The bathrooms have lights that automatically come on when you enter them, but they take a few seconds to realise you’re in the room, so naturally the first thing you do is look for a light switch button.

Nurse :- It’ll go off again in a few minutes when she leaves the bathroom as she “switches the light off”.

5 minutes after we went in the bathroom, it went off again for a few seconds. We laughed.

After the bath, we enjoyed our “chicken and chips” lunch. We both then decided on a snooze until physio (2.30pm).

Physio today was another good session. The main man is aiming to get kp ready for going home (for visits) as soon as possible. He told us yesterday that today would be spent strengthening kp’s muscles. Most of the session was spent doing just that. kp was on her back trying to lift her hips off the bed, using her legs to push the main man away, lifting a buttock at a time (always a good skill to have) etc etc… All of this, by the way, is very useful stuff, as it is all muscles needed for standing/walking, they are just being exercised whilst kp is lying down.

Regular bloggers will know that kp has been standing quite a lot this week and whilst standing, she has been swaying her hips from side to side (kind of putting all the weight on one foot, then the other, then the other etc…). I mentioned I thought this was to prepare kp for walking. Well, it probably is, but today I learned the true reason for it.

And herein lies the good news…..

One of the things kp needs to be able to do before she visits home is to be able to transfer from one surface (bed, for example), to a chair without the aid of a hoist.

TODAY, SHE DID JUST THAT !

With the aid of the main man. Here is how it happened. Towards the end of the session by the way, the Prof came in. He is the head of everything stroke at the hospital. He is our consultant’s boss (I think). He sat in for about 10-15 minutes seeing how kp was doing.

So, back to the transfer. kp was sat upright on the bench. and the wheelchair was positioned at 90′ to the bench, right next to the bench. With the main man’s assistance kp went from sitting to standing and just stood for a few seconds to get her balance. He then got her to do the swaying of the hips maneuvre where she takes all her weight off one leg and puts it on the other. After she had got into the swaying motion, he started moving the leg with no weight on into a different position, and within about 5 moves, he had turned her 90′ so she was now standing in front of her wheelchair. She then sat down and did the usual wiggles to be sat fully back in the wheelchair.

FAN-BL++DY-TASTIC !!

She had gone from the bench to the wheelchair with no hoist ! A big achievement.

He then went onto say how well she had done and that she just needs to work on strengthening her muscles so he has to do less work. Once she can do more of this herself, he will train me in how to do the bit that he does, so that we can think about getting her home for regular visits. He didn’t want to say when this will be, but given the progress kp has made this week alone, I think we are looking at a lot less than 6-8 weeks !

We are having a party on the Bank Holiday Monday for Adele’s birthday (at the hospital), and it would have been great if we could have got home for that, but I don’t think we are talking that short a time !

Well done kp, you have done a great week’s work ! Very proud of you !

dp
xxxxx

Very short blog ‘cos nothing of note to report. Snoozy morning. Both kp and I were tired when I arrived at 9.30am, so we both just chatted for a while and then went to sleep until about 11.15am.

A bath followed and then we arrived back at the room to find Yvonne had already arrived. kp styled her hair and then we got in the wheelchair to await the arrival of Abbie, Adele and Michelle.

We went for a cup of tea in the cafe and that’s the morning. Short and Sweet !

Here’s a picture taken a few weeks ago (at Louisa’s birthday party) when kp was still being barrier nursed (hence the apron and gloves) :-

It sounds like kp had a fun afternoon – lots of laughs with Abbie, Michelle and Yvonne.

kp had a bath in hot tea. Apparently, she was lying on the bed on her side with the top part of the bed raised (in other words, she was lying at quite a strange angle). Tea was being served and according to Michelle the scenario went something like this :-

kp:- I am looking forward to my cup of tea
Michelle :- Do you want me to turn you on your back to drink your tea ?
kp (lifting her cup of tea to her mouth) :- No, I should be ok.

Whoosh ! Hot Tea all down her !

The only thing injured was Karen’s nighty and pride. The nighty sadly drowned, the pride has recovered remarkably well.

Tonight was the usual Pizza and Program (X-Factor). Not as nice pizzas as previous weeks.

kp was ABSOLUTELY exhausted tonight at the end of the X-Factor. Her eyes were bloodshot and she said she felt drunk. She’d only had some Diet Orange Crush. The last few sentences I got out were met with closed eyes and murmurs of response. I feel sure she was fast asleep by the time I shut the door.

Short blog for this morning.

kp was a lot more “with it” this morning. A good night’s sleep was just what she needed.

She had just been turned shortly before I got there, and the turn had caused her a lot of pain, so she was gagging for a bath to ease her aches. Thoroughly enjoyed it (surprise, surprise).

We had a nice chat when we got back and then she went to sleep. Marie arrived to take over for the afternoon shift.

And that’s about that for now

kp slept a good part of the afternoon but also had some nice chinwag with Marie.

Mum and Dad visited tonight. Mum brought with her a chicken sandwich which kp thoroughly enjoyed with the plate of chips provided by the Q.E.

Very little to report, but an enjoyable day for kp overall.

kp was very tired when I went in today. She had gone to sleep when I left the night before (7.30pm) and not woken up until 7.30am this morning but was still tired.

I had forgot to mention that last night, kp’s left arm and hand had swollen up slightly. This morning, they were a bit more swollen. So, we mentioned these things to the Sister who had a good chat with kp. She gave us some exercises to do with kp’s left arm. The tiredness may be down to the pain patches/medication, but kp and I had a chat about these and she would rather be tired than risk being in pain and was happier just knowing that there was a cause for the sleepiness.

During the bath, we had an attempt to try and remove kp’s rings from her left hand (in case the swelling got even worse), but they wouldn’t budge (even with loads of soap), so fingers crossed the swelling only goes down. The doctor came to look at the arm/hand and has asked for a scan just to make sure that she hasn’t had any clots, and I think she mentioned upping the anti-embellism injection.

After the bath, it was lunchtime, and kp walloped down some Kate and Sidney Pie (as one of the nurses calls it). Whilst she was waiting for lunch, she was in her big chair, and kept falling asleep while sitting upright. Quite funny to watch.

After lunch, she couldn’t get to sleep quick enough and we both had a lovely snooze from 12.30pm till about 3.45pm. Marie arrived at 2.45pm apparently and we were oblivious to her arrival.

No physio as the main man is away today, although kp’s old physio popped in for a nice chat and an arm rub.

Physio back on tomorrow. kp has a urogram on Wednesday 2.30pm. They pump die into a vein and do loads of x-rays to ensure that kp’s bladder is ok given the damage it sustained in the accident.

That’s it for today.

Over 12 hours sleep for kp. But, she looked a bit more refreshed than the last couple of days.

I took my laptop in for kp today as she wanted to dictate a letter to her work colleagues to thank them for a present. In fact, I have taken my laptop in every day for the last week but we never got round to it until today.

Bit of background info, yesterday, kp had asked me what I was missing about her and I told her what I was missing. She then asked

kp:- “Do you not miss me making you laugh ?”
dp:- “I don’t remember you making me laugh ?! You didn’t used to make me laugh. I used to make you laugh !”

Back to today, during the dictation of the letter to work coleagues, she said something like “I did my first move from a wheelchair to a bed the other day. Yippppeeeeee”, but when she said yippee, she actually sung it, like you would when really saying “yippee”. I laughed, and asked her how she wanted that typing.

kp:- I thought you said I didn’t make you laugh !

We found this amusing.

kp’s swollen arm has gone down nicely today. It is not back to normal, but the raising of it and the moving of fingers etfc that we have been doing has obviously helped.

kp got weighed today. I am not allowed to report her weight on pain of “pickled testicles”, but I can get away with writing that she has lost a pound since her last weigh-in.

She was generally aching today and has some breakthrough pain, and was keen for the bath to ease the aches and pains. I don’t need to report that she loved the bath.

After lunch, we snoozed for 90 mins or so before physio.

You could tell today that kp hadn’t done physio for a few days. The movements she found so easy last week were a bit more taxing today. I think the main man was going to start the session with a transfer from the chair to the bench, but as he was preparing her for the move, it became clear that her left arm was giving her jip and instead he worked on this and hoisted to the bench.

He did some muscle strengthening moves and finished the session with quite a few stands which weren’t as strong a stands (from kp’s perspective) as last week. The main man said that is to be expected given that we didn’t do as much pre-strengthening routines. The finale was a transfer from the bench to the chair. He offered kp a choice of whether she wanted to be hoisted or try a transfer. The star she is, she opted for the harder route.

The transfer wasn’t as strong as last weeks, but I feel sure by the end of the week, it will be stronger than Friday of last week.

After the physio session, kp had blood seeping trough her buttock wound dressing, through her shorts and onto the sheets. This was redressed. I got a good look at the wound today, and it looks a lot better than last I saw it (about 10 days ago). There is still a bit of sluff at the top, but less than before.

At about 4pm, Marie, Michelle and Jane arrived and within minutes, we were laughing our heads off as we always do when Jane comes. She was telling us about the things she used to say when she was on the market stalls in Middlesbrough. I’ll end this blog entry on Jane’s cucumber sales pitch.

“Come on up ladies. Get your cucumbers here. Give your husband a rest for the night. We’ll chop it in half if a full one is too big for you.”

We were in stitches.

I’ll not mention how she sold black grapes !

kp was surprised when I walked in the door at 9am instead of 10am. Physio was at 11:15am today and she had forgot that we have an early start when physio is early so that we can get the bath done in time.

We chatted for a while and I read out blog comments from people for the last few days. Carole, she was dead chuffed you were still reading the blog. Veronica, she always enjoys hearing from you and laughed at your stories of Irene and the highlights !

kp had a few swabs taken before her bath. She is MRSA-clear now in her back of head wound and her buttock wound, which is good. She has two new wounds now. She has two head scars on either side of her head (behind and above the ears) where the bed in intensive care clamped her in position. The scabs of these have come off over the last few days and the wounds are quite moist so they have been swabbed as a precaution. I personally don’t think they will find MRSA, but it’s best to be sure.

Lovely bath, surprise surprise.

dp:- What would you do if you couldn’t have a bath every day ?
kp:- I dunno. I’d survive though, but I’d miss it. Do you remember when you used to give me bedbaths ?

I did remember, but I wouldn’t have a clue how to do them now. I know I had it down to a routine, but could I hell remember the routine ? It’s funny. Karen’s accident happened 118 days ago, just under 4 months ago, but it feels like years ago. One of the photos on Karen’s wall is of her standing outside a London theatre having seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with the kids. I was looking at this photo today. She was standing normally, no fuss. I can’t remember that Karen. That photo seems surreal, unreal, strange.

After the bath, physio was due. It mostly consisted of physical exercises with the main man. One of them involve kp lying on her side and lifting her weak leg (left) horizontally up in the air. She did it brilliantly. I try and do most of the exercises myself, and I couldn’t do this one. It was very hard. But, I suppose women are better at spreading their legs than men (dp ducks !!!!!). No standing today, no transferring, not because of kp, but because it wasn’t appropriate for this session and the main man had a bit of a bad back.

Karen couldn’t have any lunch because of the Urogram, so we went for a snooze. Lovely !

At 1.40pm we woke up in time to get ready for the porter to collect kp. He came at 1.55pm with a wheelchair (instead of a bed). kp needs a hoist to get into a wheelchair, so there was a bit of a set to between the porter and Ward 22 staff because he should have brought a trolley bed. The porter disappeared muttering “well, she has missed her appointment then”. There was talk of rescheduling for tomorrow. kp wasn’t really bothered and was just keen to drink something as she had been nil by mouth since breakfast.

Suddenly another porter appeared with a trolley bed and we went to X-ray. At x-ray, they pumped this iodine contrast solution into kp, and took 5-minutely x-ray pictures of her. It was very interesting. I had to leave the room every 5 minutes while they zapped her, but I was dead chuffed I finished a “fiendish” Su Doku puzzle in one of my outings. It had been taxing me for ages. A couple of minutes after every 5 minute photo they brought through the picture. It is intriguing to see kp’s insides. You can see the plate, the screws, the pins, the screwdriver (presumably left in by accident). Actually when I asked it turned out not to be a screwdriver, but some other contraption. kp is now the bionic woman. lol. Each 5-minute shot of kp’s inside showed the dye going from the kidneys, down the ureter, and the final shots were of the bladder, but we never got to see them. We’ll know the results in a day or so, but I am sure there is no problem in this area.

We got back to the room and got settled. Jane and Michelle arrived. Jane brought some lovely Lillies (spelling mum ?!) and her wicked sense of humour ! Michelle brought her bionic woman impersonation. It is very funny. Very very funny and involves lots of her saying Tsch Tsch Tsch Tsch (to herself). Probably have to see it to see how funny it is.

Soon after they arrived, kp’s consultant arrived. He had been off for a few weeks. It was very good of him to come in given his personal circumstances at the moment. He had a lovely long chat to kp about her situation and her progress. During the session he kept referencing Karen’s log. Both kp and I thought he was referring to some medical record on Karen that the nurses keep. It turned out he was referring to this blog. Blog is short for WeBLOG, so he was dead right, but because kp and I always refer to it as the blog, he threw us. I was chuffed to bits that he had been reading bits of it to keep up with kp’s condition. The end result of the visit was that kp was going to reduce her painkiller to see if that reduces her sleepiness and other issues. She doesn’t have a problem with this, given he said we can up it again if she gets pain again.

That was about it for today. A good day overall.

Forgot to mention…………..

The consultant said the results of one of kp’s blood tests was that she needs a scan of her left arm (stroke side). Apparently, the result showed a possibility of a blood clot. He didn’t seem unduly worried and that “we have drugs that can treat that”.

I think the scan is tomorrow.

Will keep you posted

dp

Some readers may have noticed spurious comments appearing advertising everything from Viagra to Loans. People have been abusing the ability for ANYONE to post comments to pass on to Karen. I have been deleting these as quickly as I can, but they have been getting more frequent and harder to keep up with.

A slight change has now been made when you post a comment on the blog. You can still post anonymously, but you will be required to enter some letters you see on the screen. This helps stop the automated spamming of the blog.

To post an entry to pass on to Karen (for anyone who is unsure), please follow these steps :-

1. Click on “Comments”

To see this picture in more detail, click on it.

2. Write your comment in the white box at the top and then click on “Other” (unless you want to remain anonymous (in which case, click “anonymous”))

To see this picture in more detail, click on it.

Fill your name in the name box, and don’t worry about your web address, you can leave that blank.

3. Enter the letters you see above word verification into the word verification box

4. Send your comment to Karen, by clicking “Publish Your Comment”

That’s it.

On the way to the hospital, I picked up some fresh bread rolls to have with the home made Tomato Soup I had made with the help of Mr Henry Heinz.

I read out some blog stuff to kp, and went through some post she had received from work. We took our time and were in no rush.

Whilst I was running the bath, I got a bit bored, and saw some sit-down weighing scales. Well, I had to weigh myself. It’s a long time since I have.

13 stone 4 lbs MY ARSE !!!!! Our scales at home say I am about 12 stone and a half. I told kp as soon as I got back to the room.

dp:- So please will you tell those scales when we go in the bathroom that they are LIARS !
kp murmured, probably thinking “You are a bit podgy!”

Well, when we went into the bathroom, she stood my ground for me :-

dp:- Those are the scales love
kp (looking at the scales):- You lie ! My husband is not 13 stone.

Actually, I just jumped on the scales at home to check, and they say I am 8 stone 4lbs and the longer I stand on them (they are digital scales), the less I weigh. I think the ones at the hospital could be right

You shouldn’t have scales in a bathroom anyway. And I did have all my clothes on, and lots of change in a pocket and a watch, and I could do with a haircut.

Back to kp.

Bath was great although a little on the hot side. kp likes a hot bath, but today it was the hottest it has ever been 41.4′C. She had to be lowered in bit by bit. But she loved it. I thought she’d be out in 5 mins, but after the wash routine, she soaked for a LONG 15 minutes. When she came out of the bath, she looked like a lobster. She was boiling !

Just before lunch, we went outside for some cool air. It took a bit of the red shine of kp, but not much.

For lunch, kp had her best t-shirt and shorts on for the main man and I had visions of tomato soup going everywhere, so I put an apron on kp. Normally, I just give her a serviette. I took the cup of the thermos flask and the tomato soup dripped on the table, my hands and the floor. The seal had broken

kp ate all her tomato soup and the apron wasn’t touched. Sod’s Law !

Physio followed. Interesting start to physio. kp was hoisted onto the bench and then the main man got kp to go on her back by herself. She did it with only the slightest help. It was amazing to see. I think I’ll faint the first time she stands by herself.

Physio consisted of lots of muscle strengthening exercises and then the finale was a stand, but a stand with a difference. This time, the physio did virtually nothing. It looked like he just made sure that she didn’t fall over during the maneuver. So, kp had to do all the stand herself. It REALLY was a LOT LOT harder than previous stands, and I would say she got to about 80% of the stand position, but no matter how hard she gripped her teeth, the legs wouldn’t lengthen that extra bit.

Now, you may think we would be disappointed at this, because I, for one, thought kp had been doing more for herself on previous attempts, but we weren’t. The main man was impressed with how well she had come in the last week. And I think we needed to see that she wasn’t at standing yet. What we saw today was kp’s standing ability with pretty much no assistance. She was tantalizingly close. Another week or two and I think she’ll be doing it on her own (that’s a dp guess, and is accurate to within a month either way).

Physio over and it was time for the arm ultrasound scan (to check for blood clots). I found this very interesting. It was just like they do to check on babies in wombs, although they are not looking for babies (no, seriously !). It took about 15 minutes, and I could pick out kp’s windpipe when she did her neck and could pick out blood pumping through veins when she turned a certain switch, but apart from that it was rocket science to me.

The end result is that she didn’t think kp had any blood clots, but the report would say that she also had great difficulty in finding kp’s veins because the blood flow was so restricted. kp’s has awful veins. People hate taking blood from her.

kp was KN+CKERED at the end of this and just wanted to go to sleep. I’ll get wronged for saying this, but she was falling asleep in physio. The main man has a very soothing voice, and when he says “relax your legs” to Karen, her eyelids very nearly close. She didn’t nod off, but if it weren’t for some exertion on her part, she would have and that’s no disrespect to the physio, she is just so tired most of the time.

kp went to sleep after the ultrasound scan. Marie arrived and I left. Poor Marie. I doubt kp will wake up until tomorrow. Fingers crossed she has some conscious moments.

When I got home, I was greeted by this sight :-

Click on the picture to see it in more detail

Tommy (our neighbour) had made a ramp for kp’s wheelchair. I had mentioned that she could be coming home within a few weeks and that the front two steps (very close together) would be tricky. He offered me some help making a ramp. That’s like offering a blind man a pair of glasses. DIY + dp = DeathTrap.

I accepted his offer of help and awaited the call to say “give me a hand”.

Alakazam !

The job’s a good ‘un. It’s a done deal.

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOO much Tommy for the ramp. It is spot on. And thanks to Eileen who kept the dogs at bay and trimmed back the jungle so Tommy could get in to do his thing. You’re both stars in our eyes.

I’ll leave you with a piccie of the ramp from the other direction :-

Click on the picture to see it in more detail

Hot Chicken Today so I was a little late arriving – still plenty of time for the bath.

She wanted it 40′C today instead of 41.4′C. Her wish is my command. 40′C was served up and she had another long soak.

After the bath, it was time for lunch. Lovely with a big portions of chips

The sister popped in to see if kp had told me the results of the arm scan. No clots, but something like “her veins are very restricted in her left arm”. We both understood what she said, but it dawned on us after she left that we didn’t know what it meant (implications-wise). So no doubt we will follow this up next time we see her or the doctor. We are not overduly worried.

kp got in her chair at 11.45am to dry her hair and get ready for lunch (12pm). She stayed in the chair all the way through until physio ! We even managed a trip outside in the lovely weather.

dp:- Do you like coming outside ?
kp:- It’s alright
dp:- Well, it’s a change of scenery isn’t it ?
kp:- David, we are sitting in a car park !

LOL ! I think I appreciate the outside trips more than her.

1pm we were in the physio room ready. Today was american football. kp was in “sideline” as the main man causes it, “on her side” to you and me. But, she was very “on her side”, teetering between falling forward or backwards, so I was employed to steady her hips, while all the action went on with her arms.

Today, 90% of the session focussed on kp’s left arm. He moved kp’s arm and asked her if she could feel him moving it ?

Main Man :- Can you feel me moving your arm ?
kp :- No
Main Man :- What about now ? (different move)
kp :- No

He did loads of exercises on her left arm, but she was in quite a bit of discomfort on her side which was distracting her.

Later on in the session after he had loosened her arm a bit, he asked her if she could feel him moving her arm and in what direction and she could and guessed the direction correctly also !!

He then got a blue football from his cupboard and positioned it in Karen’s right hand, and got kp’s left hand on top of the ball and asked her to move the ball up and down. For 5 minutes, there was VERY little movement and the main man had to initiate the move, but by the end of the session, she could slowly move the ball in each direction with a bit of control.

The session finished with a stand which she did well with assistance.

On the way back to the bedroom, I asked kp how she thought it went.

kp:- I’ll tell you when I get back to the room

When we got back to the room, she told me she didn’t feel very positive after that session. It was a long session (70 mins+) and I think she felt she didn’t have much to show at the end of it. She was uncomfortable for a lot of the session also which didn’t help.

She didn’t have too long to dwell on it, because she was tired and we both went to sleep for 90 mins until Marie, Adele, Abbie and Louisa came in. We had a good laugh with them and I left them in their company.

That’s it for now.

dp

Little to report.

Left arm still giving her gip. The main man taught me a little maneuvre that gives her some relief (dislocate kp’s shoulder, turn her arm round 360′ and then relocate her shoulder). Well, actually, it’s not quite that drastic, but it does work for an hour or so.

Before the bath, kp + I had a snooze for about an hour, until she got her pain patch changed (every 3 days).

That’s about it. Very uneventful morning. It always seems a bit quieter on the ward on a weekend.

Pizza night tonight

kp had a very quiet afternoon with Michelle. By quiet, I mean that she wasn’t full of beans or in the mood for talking.

When I arrived this evening, she told me that she can sense her mood is changing. I forgot to mention that the other day we had both had a talk about the situation and we had both said that we were fed up with it now :-

dp:- It’s like “ok, we have had the accident, we’ve done the lying in bed thing, we’ve done the trying to stand thing, right now let it end and let’s get back to normality”
kp:- Yeah, that’s it exactly.

I want kp home, she wants to come home. I think we both (kp moreso) have to come to terms with a different reality. It’s easy to say “this is a long haul trip”, but to live it, well that’s the tricky bit. There are no easy answers, there is no right thing to say, there is just a big challenge ahead. Technically, she has travelled the hardest part of the road, and she was asleep for that, so following that through, if she is awake, she’ll be able to crack anything.

I sense a little dip in the road ahead, but when it’s needed kp will bring out her shovel and fill it in and then ride all over it with a steam roller.

Tonight was subdued. We enjoyed the X-factor and our pizza, but it was a small bit of sun shining through a cloudy room. She was tired after that so didn’t have any more thought processes left to mull over her situation.

Tomorrow is a new day and we think, (but aren’t sure), that vdfromboro (Veronica Dennison from Middlesbrough) is visiting tomorrow. That should perk kp up no end.

And then we have the Bank Holiday Get-Together for Adele’s Birthday, so some nice bits of action to keep her mind off things.

Fingers crossed !

dp

I was interested this morning to see what kp’s mood was after the previous night. It could have been better, it could have been worse. She was “ok”. She has been on the same anti-depressant I have been on (Citalopram) for about 2 months. I know, from experience, that it takes the edge off really bad situations and doesn’t make them feel as bad as you perceive them to be.

I feel sure this is helping her at the moment.

We had a good chat first thing this morning, talking about this very thing and other mood-related topics. We didn’t solve anything, but “it’s good to talk”.

After the chat and before the bath, we had a snooze for about 45 minutes. It was all we needed to give us enough energy and zest for the bath.

After the bath, we had a cup of tea and some hobnobs. At 12.45pm, Marie and Veronica arrived. Both kp and I had been looking forward to seeing vdfromboro. Within minutes of her arrival, the girls were in “full gossip” mode. I could feel my eyes getting heavy and another snooze coming on. I went in the bathroom for a lie-down and 90 minutes later, they were still gossiping but were due a Tea-break to lubricate their vocal chords.

Tea-break, more gossip and then it was time for me to check out of the talk shop. I can still hear all 3 of them gossiping and I am 18 miles away.

Tomorrow is Adele’s Party, so we’ll try and get some photos to complement what should be a fun time to report.

Shortly after I arrived and we had chatted for a while, kp + I both decided to have a snooze as we had PLENTY of time for a bath. Midway through the snooze, Uncle Bernard (and Lauren) arrived with a card for Adele’s Birthday Bash. They ended up staying for 30 minutes or so and we had a really good natter with them about various issues. By the time they left, we no longer were tired and did the bath thing.

I had brought some makeup in for kp the other day. So, as well as “doing her hair”, she also puts her lippy on and other makeup things (too complicated for me). Speaking of too complicated, I had to bring in her flip-up compact with “foundation” in. I had specific instructions which one. When I got back home, I delved into the depths of the makeup drawer to find 4 what appeared to be IDENTICAL compacts, all slightly different states of usage and what appeared to be different shades. I had to “use the force Luke” to bring the right one in, but I nailed it, either that or kp’s eyesight is bad enough for me to get away with a wrong shade.

So by 1.30pm we were all set for the party (due to start at 2pm) and she looked great. I persuaded kp to greet the first guests outside as it was a glorious day today. She wasn’t keen to go outside, but she did it for me. Here’s kp with vdfromboro (pronounced BOWROW) outside the Jubille entrance

It wasn’t long before all the guests arrived. Michelle was 30 minutes late, but that’s her trademark and we love her still.

We all had instructions from Karen and Marie. I was on soft drinks, Adele was on nibbles, Marie was on Corned Beef Pie and Fancies, Michelle was on Vegetarian stuff and Yvonne was on the cake (and other stuff). It worked out brilliantly and it was cracking fayre.

The nurses had kindly said we could use “the day room” for the party (sorry kp, the “get-together”). kp doesn’t like me calling it a party.

We all tucked in and stuffed our faces – the food/drinks was lovely and a smashing example of how a family can pull together to produce a cracking feast.

After the food, it was time for the day’s highlight, the moment we had all been looking forward to, namely Yvonne’s Salsa demonstration. kp had been in stitches when she did it in her bedroom, and we were all gagging to see Yvonne strut her stuff. UNFORTUNATELY, she wanted to change it in to a Salsa Dance Class. YIKES !!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of a sudden, everyone of us had an excuse why we couldn’t do it. Mobile phones popped out of people’s pockets to pretend we each wanted to record the event so “therefore” couldn’t be involved. Some people needed the loo, some people downright said “no” (yvonne’s son and husband initially).

Karen had the only real excuse, but thankfully I got out of it referring to the blog, the need to record it etc…

It started with a demonstration by Yvonne….

it was quite lengthy….

but it did finish eventually….the following day….

In no time, everyone was up……….

kp was amused…………

Abbie(8) took centre stage for a while. She is great and has natural rhythm (just like me (ahem))…

Freddie took to the floor with his dance partner Louisa (2) …..

A good time was had by all…………

Some people weren’t too keen on dancing, but motorbikes were a big attraction ….

^^ Ethan wearing kp’s gloves, helmet and my boots

Marie became very aware that kp would normally have been the first one up dancing and the last one down sitting but of course she can’t, so she suggested something that she thought kp would have been able to do and that she enjoyed, namely “Charades”. kp has a reputation for charades. She is the most participative and CERTAINLY the loudest competitor. Well, it started off great and kp was her usual boisterous self for the first round, but she then became a bit quieter. It was soon “her turn” and it became very clear that she couldn’t participate with only one arm in operation. I was sad but didn’t let it show, so was Marie. I suspect everyone else was feeling the same, but none of us let it show. I asked Karen if she wanted me to take her go, and she said “yes”. Our team won, which was great, but this didn’t take away from the fact that this is one of the many things that Karen can’t do, and perhaps won’t be able to do again in the future. It is very sad and I have shed a few tears over this (as has Marie) when we got to our homes.

Before I came home, I asked kp how she felt about not being able to dance or play charades. She said words to the effect of “it was no big deal”, but I am pretty confident that this is a bit of a front to protect us (the star she is). I KNOW she has SO MANY of these kind of situations to face in the future. In hospital, you can’t fully realise what the implications are of having a bad arm/hand. kp knows this also in theory, but the practice of it is going to be very hard to bear. kp enjoys all the things that need 2 working hands and I don’t think it is until she tries to garden, read, walk the dogs, etc etc… that she will realise her full predicament. I feel so sorry for her.

That aside, she has still had a good day. She stayed in the chair for a WHOPPING 2 hours 45 minutes !!!!!! TROUNCING her previous record by at least an hour ! She said she could have done more also.

It was a great day overall, we all enjoyed it, but it was also a day that showed us all that we don’t have the same kp (in body) that we did before. In some ways, this is good, because our ear drums remain intact in a game of charades, but obviously we yearn for the old kp back. I know in time, she will get louder, but I will miss seeing her do the charades and strutt her stuff on the dancefloor. Who knows, one day, she may regain enough strength and ability to dance and do charades. The dancing I can see, but I fear it may be one-handed charades

dp

Video Footage of kp and the party to follow within 24 hours when my mate Nigel Gibbs strutts HIS stuff and converts my video footage to “viewable over the web” footage. It’s funny stuff imho. I was LOLing when I saw it back

Sung to The Three Lions :- “She’s coming home, she’s coming home, Karen is coming home (for a visit)” (You have to sing “for a visit” VERY quickly)

What a day. It started off bad (for me) and got better and better.

I hadn’t had much sleep last night, caused by a late night at the hospital, a long blog to write, an upset stomach over the night and dogs needing to be let out. I was exhausted this morning when I arrived and wanted to go straight to snooze, but it wouldn’t have been fair on kp to arrive and then sleep. So we chatted and I showed her the video footage took from the party. She had loads of smiles as she watched it. It was such a good day, it really broke the monotony of hospital life.

The video footage is now available (courtesy of IT-PS.com and Nigel Gibbs). The clips are quite long downloads and could take from 3 minutes to 30 minutes to download depending on your connection speed.

Yvonne and KP – Part One
Yvonne and KP – Part Two
Michelle dancing to “Making yer mind up” (Bucks Fizz) – Part One
Michelle dancing to “Making yer mind up” (Bucks Fizz) – Part Two
Michelle dancing to “Making yer mind up” (Bucks Fizz) – Part Three
Michelle “Line Dancing”
All Together Now

So, back to today. I was quite ratty this morning and if a bed component didn’t work correctly, or a sheet didn’t tuck under kp when I told it to, then I was getting annoyed with it. I apologised to kp and explained why, she was understanding

We pretty much went straight into the bath. Well, I didn’t but it’s big enough to get two in ! We were back in time for lunch, but kp didn’t feel like any Chicken Pie and instead opted to put her makeup on. Snooze followed (yay !) and we slept from about 12.25pm until 2.20pm. I was out for the count as soon as my head hit the pillow.

10 minutes later we were in the physio room. The session started off with kp transferring from the wheelchair to the bench (WITHOUT the hoist). The main man helped but kp did a lot of the work herself. Not bad for having no warm up ! He then proceeded to put kp through a whole stack of exercises which she did from the sitting position. Some of them looked really hard. She had to get her legs really wide and virtually have one on the bench while the other was on the floor with a slight lean to the side. I am sure it must be a woman-specific exercise, because I didn’t even attempt this one as it looks so torturous on the nether regions. She did very well and I think the exercises were designed to strengthen kp’s left leg and her ability to lock her knee (crucial for standing on her own).

After this the main man introduced the “swivel standing thing”. I must find out what they call it, but it allows kp to transfer more easily from A to B. Basically, it involves kp standing up on this swivelling platform from surface A, someone whizzing it round so her bum is over surface B and then kp sitting. kp didn’t understand how it worked, she looked daunted.

She asked

kp:- “Will you show me what I have to do before I do it ?”
Main Man (laughing) :- “Yes, don’t worry, we’re not just going to ask you to do it.”

Basically, kp grabs the rail on the gadget with her good arm (for stability), does a stand and then it rotates, and she sits down.

She stills needs quite a bit of assistance to stand, but the main man and his assistant (who is a big Daniel O’Donnell fan) got her standing onto the platform.

The session was finished with kp standing on the gadget, swivelling round to the wheelchair and sitting down. She did really well. The main man believes that she isn’t quite ready to do this with just me present and that she needs to get stronger in her standing before she can do it with no physios present. I fully agree. In typical fashion, kp asked when she might be ready to do it without physios present.

And here comes the good news…………

Main Man :- Well, not this weekend, but the following weekend should see you strong enough.

He wisely added some cautions that “it isn’t set in stone” etc etc…..but it was great to hear talk of a visit home. kp understands that it may not be next weekend, but it has given her something to aim for. I asked if there was anything we can do to maximise the chance of that weekend, and we now have a set of exercises to do that will help strengthen key muscles.

So, fingers crossed, with a following wind, kp may be at home for a visit on the 10th September weekend.

She was absolutely thrilled with just hearing talk of “going home”, and when we got back to the room, she put her fist in the air and waved it around. We had a group hug (ALL TWO OF US). It was great to see her so happy. She will go all out to make sure she is strong enough to go home. I just hope she doesn’t have any infections or knockbacks in the next 10 days. She does have the start of a cold today.

It wasn’t long after we got back from physio that Vivian arrived, one of kp’s work mates. She shed a few tears when she saw kp, which was nice. kp couldn’t believe that she was upset over her.

Vivian and kp talked like they were back at work and had a good conflab.

After about 30 minutes Marie and Ronnie arrived and it was time for me to go.

An excellent day overall. Some great news and something big to aim for !

Well, it would be hard to top yesterday with news, but I am pleased that we have something better to report. Thats better !

Today I arrived early to get kp bathed and ready for an early physio at 10.45pm. No time for lipstick this morning (for kp that is).

No hoisting was done at all today, kp doing all her own transfers from the wheelchair to the bench and back again. Actually come to think of, she never sat on the bench and did all her work today in standing. Just before she stood up from the wheelchair, she was eyeing up the physios arms and she said :-

kp:- X, I must tell you. I could get blood from your arm no problem. You have great veins.

We all laughed. There then followed a discussion on blood donoring and I think kp may have persuaded X to give blood again in the future. Lee would be proud.

She stood from the wheelchair with help from the main man and his cohort. At one point during her stand, she wasn’t being assisted AT ALL apart from the very slightest pressure on her left knee, but I think this was more for the main man to feel if she was about to fall rather than to assist her maintaining the stand. He got her to raise her arm in the air whilst transferring weight between legs and she did it great

All pictures can be made larger by clicking on them

That is the first time I have been able to truly gauge how much assistance she needs. Don’t get me wrong, she does A LOT of the work herself, but when the physios have their hands on her (as they nearly always do), you just don’t know true percentages of how much work she is doing. I would say she was
doing the stand 80% herself
maintaining the stand 80% herself, but later in the session 98% herself

So, the physio got her to transfer her weight from one leg to the other. At first her left leg needed a lot of persuading to lock and hold the weight, but kp, after a while, got the hang of locking her left knee. It doesn’t come naturally at all, but she can do it if she really thinks about it.

Then without any warning with all her weight on her left leg, he asked her to move her right leg forward a step. She did it brilliantly, HER FIRST STEP ! When she was safely on that leg, he asked her to do the same with her left leg. Now remember kp has little sensation and awareness of the left leg but she moved her left leg forward. It didn’t look at all as fluid as the right leg, in fact it looked like she was moving her left knee forward by taxing the thigh muscles and the rest of the leg (knee downwards) just dragged along the floor. She was completely unaware of this as the physio helped her left foot come forward. She was so chuffed. This continued for another 2 steps, making a total of 4 steps in total. I was so proud. I have learned from previous days NOT to tell kp how much assistance she was getting and just to praise the positive. She has done absolutely superbly I have no doubt about that, but I think kp thinks she has done 4 steps and that her left worked as well as her right.

It was actually quite sad to see her left foot/shin just drag along the floor, but in time, hopefully she will be able to get more movement out of it.

During the session, kp was asked to open her left hand fully. She opened it “fully” and looked at her hand and it was only partially opened.

kp:- You see X, I think that hand is fully opened but its not.

He went on to explain that the body thinks things are in a certain position because it has learned how much exertion is required to do various positions. In a nutshell, this explains quite a lot of things we have seen about Karen. She thinks her left leg is locked, when it isn’t, she thinks her bum is tucked in (for standing) when it is sticking out etc etc…..It was very interesting.

But hopefully, she can relearn these things. While we are talking about kp’s left side, she has a LOT less feeling in it than in her right. I can put the cold shower on her left leg and sometimes she feels it, sometimes she doesn’t. She can have a bit of food on her left cheek and not know it’s there. I can hold her left hand and she is unaware of it sometimes. I was stroking her thumbnail (left side) today, and she had no idea.

I don’t want to make today’s physio sound negative, because she took her first steps, but there is still a long way to go.

kp was over the moon with today’s session and no sooner had she got back to the room than she was phoning all the family with the good news.

We didn’t have too long to think about her achievement as we had arranged for me to go and pick Angela up and bring her in. Angela is the other lady who was in the car in the accident. She is out of hospital now and can walk a few steps unaided which is amazing to see. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing about her experiences at home/walking etc….It really is like someone is testing the ground before we walk on it (pardon the pun).

Here is a photo of kp and Angela having a cup of tea in the cafe at the hospital. We also enjoyed a Fish Supper in kp’s room.

When I returned from taking Angela home again, we had a little natter before Jane, Michelle and Ronnie arrived. It was heavy conversation in no time. Bras, Tops, etc…. They had been shopping for kp and were all threatening to get their breasts out to try things on. Definately my cue to leave. There may have been only 4 women in the room, but there was more breast in that room than any man should have to see in a day.

When I got home, I was greeted with this site.

Tommy (our ace neighbour) had only built another ramp to go up the final step into the house and it also provides a bigger platform on which kp could be turned around in her wheelchair. Thanks again Tommy. Your DIY skills are nearly as good as mine (ahem !).

Here’a a closeup

CLICK HERE for September’s Chapter

Before I forget and go in to see Karen at the hospital, I must recall “an interesting thing about strokes”.

Regular blog readers will know that kp doesn’t see things that are in front of her, down and to the left. So, she will ask for the hairbrush, and it will be on the table in front of her, but maybe on the left of the table and she needs to be told “It’s on the table”, and then she has to move her head to look directly at it.

It’s peculiar, but not drastic.

Well, another funny thing has started happening. She is now starting to put makeup on and looks a lot better for it.

For the last 2 days, she has been putting mascara on. On both days, she has done her right eye, and then put the mascara back on the table. She thinks she is done.

On both occasions, I have had to remind her about her left eye.

Weird. Very interested to see if this fixes itself with all the reminders.

Will keep you posted

dp

It would be hard to beat a day with 4 steps. But 6 steps will do nicely thank you !

But first…..

I phoned kp this morning to say I would be a bit late in as I had a few oddjobs to sort. I arrived at 10.30am and we had the usual natter and blog comments exchange. Thanks for all your comments !!

Bath followed with a new twist to the day, the Sports Bra. Well, what a chew on ! Apparently you can’t put bras on when your damp. We had previously worked out that if we put talcum powder on to do the final drying, she gets VERY itchy on a night time so we had stopped using talc a couple of weeks ago and it solved the itchiness problem. Today we had to resort to talc to achieve the desired dryness around the bra area.

I dress kp at the moment after the bath because she can’t do it herself.

T-shirts – no problem
Shorts – With one eye closed
Socks – Walk in the Park
Bras – How the hell do 40% of the population put these things on ?

I couldn’t work out which was the inside or the outside. Do you have the seam on the inside or the outside. Inside it would itch, Outside it would show – big dilemma !

Up or Down was ok. But how do you put it on someone who can only lie on the back or side. It takes some thinking about. In the end kp came up with the (now obvious) solution………..

Let’s leave the bra until she is sitting upright (with the help of the hoist) drying her hair.

It worked a treat. And she looked a lot better for it.

Lunch followed bath. Tomato Soup and Buns.

Marie arrived in time for the physio and the main man didn’t mind 2 of us sitting in on kp’s session.

For the last few days kp hasn’t needed the hoist to transfer from the wheelchair to the bench and today was the same

Today’s exercises were mostly done in the sitting position. Tilting from one hip to the other, one leg to the other. Leaning on one hip, while trying to get her left leg on the bench. Lots of holding awkward positions. Here is a picture of kp holding a position halfway between sitting and standing at another point of the physio session. It’s hard for a healthy person to do, and must be even harder for kp.

Shortly after this photo was taken, he got kp to hold the same position :-

Main Man :- Good, Hold it, now transfer your weight on to the left leg (pause), right leg (pause), left leg (pause), right leg (pause), lean your weight forward (pause), backward (pause), forward (pause), backward (pause) and now sit back down
kp :- Blimey that was hard
Other physio :- You’re right that was

We were all laughing at the fact the hold had gone on for so long. It’s as if the main man’s record had got stuck.

To finish the physio session off, he got kp to stand and helped her walk forward. Marie and I counted – 6 steps !! There is no way she could do it without the physio’s help, but it is 2 more than yesterday

When we got back to the room, Marie hoisted her back into bed and said she looked lovely and suggested I take a photo of kp in the same pose as the one that was taken the very first time she was hoisted.

Cracking Idea

See for yourself how better she looks :-

Before in hoist for first time (nearly 2 months ago):-

After in hoist :-

That’s about it for today.

Just a quick note to confirm that Karen found both eyes yesterday with her Mascara brush.

Hot Chicken Day of course, so not in until 10.30am.

Blog comments read out.

Bath.

Bra on – think I have cracked it now. I found out the prices of bras today. If there are any men reading this blog, ask your wives/partners/friends how much they pay for bras, but make sure you’re sitting down first. It’s a lot !! £22 for kp’s sports bra. And apparently, you can get them more expensive. Even Marie, Karen’s sister, who brings in 5 T-Shirts for 4pence everyday said that was about the right price.

Perfect timing for the hot chicken lunch. Lovely. Huge portion of chips today, enough for two sets of chicken sandwiches – Lovely !

We then went out in the sun for a bit, because it was a scorcher of a day. Then we went for a lie-down before physio.

We had about 90 mins.

Physio today was mostly done in standing. Lots of long stands to strengthen kp’s muscles. She had to stand on her right (good) leg and try and lift her left as high as possible. She did well with this and got her foot nearly a foot off the ground. She can’t do the same thing with the left as it is not yet strong enough to support her without a lot of assistance. She has problems keeping the left leg locked. She thinks it’s locked and its not, but gradually she is relearning the position the rest of her body is in and that should reeducate her about what is the feeling when her left knee is locked and her left hip is pushed in.

She did quite a few stands from sitting today. To start off with she just couldn’t lock her left kneed and I was started to get concerned that she may have problems walking as a long term thing, but by the end of the session, it was getting much better. She still hasn’t stood without assistance yet, and I think personally, I need to see that, before I can believe she’ll be ok with her legs.

After the stands, she did “chucking bean bags” practice. As the main man pointed out, this wasn’t to practice chucking bean bags, but more a balancing challenge. She had to maintain her balance when she chucks it.

I stood at lengthening distances from kp and she had to chuck some bean bags to me. If you look closely at the foto below, you will see a red bean bag mid-flight (top of photo)

I then chucked it back and she had to maintain her balance again. She did it no problems. She only dropped one and that was because I had done a poor throw (as one of the physios was keen to point out LOL !

After bean bag chucking, it was walking time. With kp’s right hip agaist the raised bench (for extra balance), she walked about 4 steps.

This photo ^^ shows kp in walking action. The main man (left) sits on a little stool and wraps his feet around kp’s left foot, clamps his knees around kp’s left knee. He makes sure that her left foot moves forward the right amount and makes sure her left knee locks when it needs to. It is very clever to watch.

After the 4th step, kp was absolutely knackered and slumped right back in the wheelchair at the earliest opportunity.

We all laughed.

We have some physio homework for the weekend and it seems we are still on target for a visit home a week tomorrow.

After physio, we went for a cup of tea with Marie, Michelle, Jane and Ronnie and then went to sun ourselves outside. We found a lovely little suntrap and took the photo opportunity that presented itself

Left Top – Marie
Left Bottom – Michelle
Middle Bottom – Ronnie (vdfromboro)
Right – Jane B
Centre – kp

Not much to report so far.

I had “sign off” today to have a lie-in and arrive an hour later

Straight into bath. Yvonne had arrived towards the end of the bath. Skipped lunch. Natter with Yvonne followed by a snooze for kp.

I woke her up 5 minutes before her visitors (Sue and Danielle Brady) arrived. We met them in the hallway and went for a nice cup of tea/chinwag.

Sue hadn’t seen kp’s new room so before she left she came to give it the thumbs up and I managed to snap this picture of Sue, kp and Danielle.

That’s it for the morning.

Uneventful evening.

Pizza Night of course with X-factor.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

That’s it

dp

Got another slip to say I was allowed to sleep in today. As it happened I was in by 10.30pm (only 30mins late). I’d like to say she was chuffed and pleased but she was sooooooooooo tired. She had been up earlier for bacon and tomato sandwiches, watched a bit of tv and was in snooze mode.

So, I joined her in slumberland. We slept from about 10.35am until 1pm !! It was lovely sleep. I caught myself snoring once, but it hadn’t woke kp who was well gone !

We didn’t wake up until Michelle and Adele arrived. From my viewpoint (on the floor under kp’s bed) all I could see was their legs enter the room. There was a single chair on the floor and they came in quietly. Seconds later, both pairs of legs were straddling the single chair. They had decided to share it so as not to disturb our sleep by rustling chairs around. Nice of them

We hadn’t had the bath by the time they arrived and kp definately needed it to wake up so Michelle and Adele went for a nail-painting session in the day room as we did our “bath routine”.

She was much wider awake on her return. Adele had brought some face masks for Karen to try. kp decided to put it on whilst in the bath :-

Scary !

Here is the after shot :-

I am sure all the female bloggers can see a remarkable transformation and no doubt kp looks 10 years younger. But for me, it was a bit of flannel with some soap on, but kp enjoyed it.

After the bath, we went for a cup of tea with Adele and Michelle. They had to leave at 3.30pm (Sunday busses). kp and I returned and had some chats about the forthcoming home visit. kp is really looking forward to it (understandably), but I think I am even more excited than her. I had to say “let’s not talk about it anymore” as I was getting too psyched about it and didn’t want to be let down in case the physio says she is not quite ready.

Fingers crossed (as always)

She was tired at 4.30pm so I left her snoozing, ready for Debs visiting at 6pm.

Straight into snooze when I arrived this morning, but only had about 45 minutes. Bath followed and another weigh-in. The scales (that lie through their teeth anyway) said she was a pound or two heavier. But actually that is good for kp as I think they want her to put some weight on.

We had some tomato soup and buns for lunch, and then went for another snooze before physio (2.30pm), but no sooner had we put our heads down, Phil walked in (one of kp’s work colleagues) for a surprise visit. We pretended to be wide awake and were very convincing.

kp had a nice chat with Phil and quite a few laughs.

Physio today. Just before the main man arrived for kp’s physio, one of the other physios that has “done” kp before came and said “Hi” and asked how she was etc. She complemented kp on her makeup and said her eyes look lovely with Mascara on.

Physio :- You have really lovely long eyelashes, you look like a cow

Now, she meant it as a compliment and both kp and I knew this, but at the same time, she suddenly thought how that could have been received and we were laughing at her backpeddling attempts. We went through cow breeds and everything before the physio felt at ease with what she had said.

We knew kp would be in for a lot of muscle strengthening and that’s exactly what we got. Mostly on her back, the main man put weight on her left leg and got her to hold it in all kinds of positions. Later in the session, he got her to lie on her side. He encouraged her to turn on her side herself, but she isn’t quite there yet and needs a bit of a push. Whilst on her side, he got her to stretch her left leg out and move it up into the air. A very difficult maneuvre.

The main man asked her to do this a number of times. After about 5 attempts, I could see the main man look at the other Physio (Daniel O’Donnell fan) strangely. kp kept doing the moves when he asked. More looks were exchanged. Finally he said “ok, Karen you can relax your leg now”.

Main Man :- I was expecting you to say your leg was tired or you’d had enough

I think they were impressed with kp’s stamina today. I knew exactly what they were looking at each other strangely for as I did a practice leg up and one was enough for me. The main man gave us homework for the weekend and we have been doing it relentlessly. We don’t want to miss out on the Saturday visit.

The session finished with some stands and transfers, but by this stage she was quite tired, but she did them nonetheless. On the very last move, she nearly dropped to the floor, but the main man had everything under control.

At the end of the session, kp asked the question I knew she was going to ask. She can be very pushy can kp, and so the following question won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows her :-

(Bear in mind, we had told we probably could have a couple of hours at home this Saturday)

kp:- So (Main Man), do you think I can stay the night on Saturday at home as well as the afternoon and come back sometime on Sunday ?

I had told Karen that it was a long shot that he would agree.

To my surprise he didn’t rule it out straight away, and in fact left it with kp to see how she feels by Saturday, which is grrrrrrrrrrreat.

Then came the second question I knew was coming :-

kp:- Do you think I can go home this Wednesday afternoon for a few hours ?

The answer was “probably best to leave it until Saturday so you have had a week of practising transfers”.

kp:- Do you think I could run the London Marathon next year ?

Well, she didn’t ask that question, but I wouldn’t rule that one out for future weeks.

She was happy with the fact she can go home on Saturday (nearly certainly) and may even be able to stay the night. I can’t wait, and I know she can’t either.

The main man had a proviso which was we would need two people to be on hand to assist with transfers. kp is going to speak to Marie tonight to see if she is upto it.

Shortly after physio, Marie arrived followed shortly by Sue McKay (kp’s work colleague). That’s it for today.

Bath followed natter. She was very glad of the bath as she had really cold feet. But the water was so hot, she had to be lowered in the bath bit by bit over the course of what seemed like an hour. Probably about 3 minutes.

After the bath, kp had a new gadget fitted instead of a catheter bag. It’s like a little tap, but with no bag attached. It gives kp the sensation of needing the loo. It’s to train the bladder (a muscle apparently) to understand full and empty. And also to encourage it to not think it’s full when its not (if that makes sense). From now on, kp needs to say she needs the loo and we come and turn the tap on and drain the bladder. After a while on this, the catheter will be removed.

It was then time for lunch. Chicken Casserole and Roast Potatoes. It looked lovely, but kp wasn’t impressed. I finished it off for her. It did have a funny aftertaste, you could say “kick”.

Snoozetime after lunch. I was knackered and was out like a night and didn’t wake up until my alarm went off at 2.25pm.

kp needed the loo by this stage and we drained her bladder for the first time – worked a treat.

Physio today started with a transfer from the wheelchair to the bench with the “turner” (the gadget that turns when kp is standing on it). Her stand was VERY strong, and she made it look very easy.

• Lots of different exercises today.
• Leaning on her right hand and twisting (from the sitting position).
• Holding the halfway position between sitting and standing
• Holding the halfway position between sitting and standing and then whilst doing that twisting to the left, right, left, right etc… Very strenuous stuff

A table was then brought in and the main man positioned kp’s left hand on one side of the table, kp put her right at the other and then she did some press-ups from the table

Whilst halfway between sitting and standing, she then had to move her right leg to the left and then right. Very hard to do with her weak left leg taking her weight. She ended up shuffling it, but hey she did it.

Physio over, we went for a sit outside (beautiful day) and on the way out passed one of the physios. As we passed, kp was “having a go” at me for faffing and wasting time in getting outside. A little marital dispute if you will. The physio was typing away at the computer and could hear this and I could see her smiling as she typed on the computer. She was dying to laugh.

dp:- Are you ok there X ?
X:- I am fine (big smiles)

I told kp what I had seen and it really broke the ice and kp was laughing at herself.

Jane and Marie arrived and we had a cup of tea with them in the dayroom and started organising the cleaning of the house ready for the royal visit, which kp is gonna try and wangle for Thursday now.

Forgot to mention that at the end of the physio session, I helped with the transfer of kp back from the bench to the wheelchair. It is a 2-person job with this “turner”. One helper stands in front of kp securing the turning device with their foot and hands. The other helper (I did this one) sits by Karen and assists her stand if she needs it. After 40 minutes workout, she definately needed a help up.

Tomorrow (actually today now), Marie is coming in early and together we are both going to learn how to transfer kp from the wheelchair to the bench and back again.

We have no physio on Thursday or Friday this week, so kp is going to ask if she can go home for a few hours on Thursday as well as the Saturday night stayover.

An early blog today as Adele and I have come home to get the house ready for the Queen’s arrival tomorrow. She is coming home for a few hours. I am so excited, I just can’t hide it, I know, I know, I know, I know, I like it ah ha ha. (lyrics may be wrong by a few words there).

Arrived at 9.30am for an early bath. By 11.15am we were all done and ready for physio.

Today’s physio was Marie and I learning how to transfer kp from the wheelchair to the bench and back again by using the turner device.

It is very straightforward and kp does most of the work herself and all I am there for is for steadying kp and all Marie is there for is turning the turner once kp is stood up on it. We did a couple of transfers safely and all was hunky dory.

I then nipped out for a Fish and Chip Supper for us all which we enjoyed in the day room.

We then went back to the room to do our first transfer without the physios present.

We transferred kp to the bed no problem and then back again and then back to the bed again. The last thing we had to do was get kp lying on her back on the bed from the sitting position. Well, it didn’t go quite to plan.

dp:- Put your arm on the bed to bear your weight and lower your back down to the bed. I’ll get your legs
kp:- ok

Well, she started going down slowly and then suddenly THUMP! Her arm gave way or she couldn’t wait any longer, but for whatever reason, she went from sitting up to lying (on the bed) in about 1 second. Karen was laughing her head off, Adele and Marie joined in. She just kind fell back onto the bed.

No harm done, not even any pride lost. We need to work on that one though. It was tricky with the hospital bed as she has a new air mattress (from yesterday) which isn’t very firm for maneuvring but she loves the comfiness of it.

So, enough blog writing, cleaning time. 12pm tomorrow, kp’s coming home

Saturday we have an over nighter !!

dp