I would like to take a moment to thank EVERYONE who has posted a comment on the blog. These comments were so invaluable when they came in. I remember reading them all out to Karen back in the hospital and she was always amazed at the level of support everyone gave her. THANK YOU SO MUCH for that support. It really is appreciated and I _KNOW_ it helped me along my journey through Karen’s Biggest Challenge. The blog was started and continued to let family and friends know how kp was doing. I didn’t envisage the two-way flow that would come from it, and for that I thank everyone who posted and offered a message of support.

Time for some special thanks in no particular order ……..

The early days in the hospital were awful. Marie, thank you so much for all your support. You brought food, amusing magazines and poor horse racing tips to the Green room and we made the best of a very bad situation. You also helped me by keeping everyone informed (pre-blog) on how kp was doing.  Thank you for that and of course all the work you did on the kp care rota so we ensured Karen had someone with her at all times !!

Michelle, Yvonne and Adele all helped cover the kp care rota too, so thank you to you all !!

Jane Burns dropped everything to come and be my side for about a week. She stayed with me at our house until Karen was out of the woods (1 week+), so thanks to Jane. And to Jane’s husband Tony, for the loan of Jane !!

Veronica (kp’s friend down south) – you may not have been in the area, but you were the most avid blog reader and contributor and every comment you made was read out to Karen. We thank you for your ever-lasting friendship and support !!!

My family have been awesome. Mum, Dad, Jane and Guy all came up regularly from Lancashire to support me. Not only emotionally, but with the housework which wasn’t quite up to kp’s standards under my charge. Thanks Mum for that !

Thanks to everyone who came to Karen’s homecoming !

Thanks to all Karen’s colleagues at the National Blood Service especially Angela, Deborah and Lydia. Karen couldn’t want for better work colleagues. Thanks too to Sue Brady (kp’s ex work boss) for your continuing support and friendship.

I could thank people for ever, but I’ll end with another 2 important “Thank You”s.

Thank you to the staff of the QE Hospital, Gateshead (and Sunderland Hospital). You are heroes in this story. We all thought Karen wasn’t going to make it (including you!), but this never stopped you not giving up on her and giving kp 110%.

Final thanks, of course, go to the real hero in this story, Karen Pollard ! You have battled consistently throughout this horrendous ordeal. Failure was never an option. You have been an inspiration to me and everyone who knows you.

Well done Karen, not only in the way you dealt with, and are dealing with your “biggest challenge”, but for never giving up. I am _SO_ proud of you. I know the battle is not over and the fight may never end, but I know you’ll continue to give it 110%.

All my love !

dp
xxxxx

Monday – Brain Training & Gym and lots of chatting.

Tuesday – Auditory Attention Training and practice road crossing whilst I had a heli lesson. I was back in time to take kp for her annual hip x-ray and review. Dr Scott was very pleased with how it looks but wants to keep regular checks as it’s far better to catch things early and fix them, than let it get loose and then try and repair it. Made sense to us.

Wednesday – Auditory Attention, Dog walk and Brain Injury book work (with me). This is a book that helps brain-injured people (and family) come to terms with the effect of a brain injury. It’s a cracking book, it really is. And we’re both getting a lot out of it.

Thursday was OT in the morning. They did more of the laser eye pointer stuff to try and get an improvement in kp’s left-sided neglect. I think it needed both Nat and Rachel to do it. Karen had misunderstood the instructions the previous week, so when it became clear she was doing it wrong, they explained and she came on really well !!

The afternoon saw Lydia (one of kp’s ex workmates) come round. What a great afternoon ! kp was laughing like I haven’t seen for quite a while. It was a real joy to see. She stayed all afternoon and kp (and I) really enjoyed the catchup !!

Friday was a solo flight to Carlisle for me and then the return flight back to Newcastle. Loved it. Karen and Nat went shopping and to Costco.

Saturday was usual dog walk, tv and catching-up on emails etc…..On the night time we watched The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing. Great night, although I must say I’m VERY annoyed that Arlene Philips isn’t judging on Strictly. Alesha Dixon is a lovely lass, but who the hell is she to be a dancing judge. She’s not a scratch on Arlene !!! Bring Arlene Back !!!!

While I remember, Bonnie has not been very well this last week. She’s been leaving a hell of a mess on the kitchen floor every night. Very unlike her. Sometimes, there’d be 5 piles of mixed consistency poo. I’d clean it up before kp got up. We were laughing about this, because we think the problem has been caused by Bonnie stealing some Pig’s Ears off the table and scoffing the lot (only 3). We were talking earlier in the week about how to stop the diarrhoea and Karen said not to give them pig’s ears  for a week. I told her “a week’s a bit long“. Karen said “But who has to get up and clear it all up ?”

Karen then realised that it was me who gets up and clears it all up. She was laughing at herself, because she had meant to score a really good point and then realised that it was an own goal !!!

Now, last night (Saturday night), kp did get up before me and went into streaks of diarrhoea on the hallway carpet and then a kitchen floor covered in sloppy and firm poos. I was fast asleep. To top it all off, there was a big pile of diarrhoea in the Utility Room. It was bad ! Real bad !

kp came in to wake me up having tried to clear it up. Bless her, she’d tried. There was some kitchen roll on top of each of the poos  (not sure how that helped), but what she hadn’t realised is she had stepped in quite a few poos and had walked it around the house. So, a bad mess was a terrible mess. Her slippers went straight in the bin, she didn’t realise she had spread it around. Spatial Awareness issues and a diarrhoea-laden kitchen don’t go hand in hand.

So, thankfully, kp had got me up (at 5:11am) as she knew she couldn’t do it. We’re laughing about it now, but it wasn’t so funny at 5:11am.

Today, we’ve been to see my family in Lancashire. Mum cooked us a gorgeous Roast Lamb (with all the trimmings). And it was good to see everyone

So, good week. Another busy week coming up.

Monday and the day started with the girls going to the Gym. Auditory Attention training followed with kp scoring 27/30 on her first attempt at a new exercise

Medico-legal appointment in the afternoon which was very interesting. kp had an early neurophysio called Paul Johnson. We were always amazed at the skill level of Paul. I remember remarking in the blog how he looked at kp and you could tell he wasn’t seeing a person, more a set of muscles and bones. It was uncanny and he worked miracles. It turned out this lady knew him and he is a Bobath tutor. It turns out this is the “dogs bollocks” of neurophysio. It was nice to get confirmation that our respect for Paul is mirrored in the neurophysio community. She also knew Heidi who is also Bobath trained, so it appears kp fortunately had the best physio she could have done to start her recovery.

Tuesday was physio, some shopping in Seaham and an OT visit in the afternoon. At OT, Rachel worked on kp’s left-sided neglect. She brought a laser pointer and used it (and some blu-tak) to train kp to attend to her left field more. It seemed to go well.

Wednesday was another medico-legal appointment (for the other side). No tears, which is good ! But, it was a long one (About 3.5 hours) with Syd here too.

Thursday and I had a heli lesson while kp  went to see Angela. They had a good catchup and Angela took kp to get some good dog beds (for our 2) plus a short walk with her dogs which kp enjoyed.

Friday and another heli lesson (for me). The weather was gorgeous !!!! Karen and Nat made the most of it with some gardening.

The weekend has been a relaxing one.

First, I’m going to start with a general overview. It seems a while since I’ve done one.

kph is generally in great form at the moment. She’s quit smoking for 3 months+. Pain is in control (unless she pushes it) and the patches are on the decrease. She was on 600 at the peak and is now down to 237.5. It’s a strange amount, and that is because dropping too much has given her cold turkey, so we’re dropping by 12.5 every month now. Sleeping is 1000% better than when she was at its worst. 9/10 times she has a good sleep. Thanks to venlafaxine and amytrypteline we think.

Mood-wise, things are also vastly improved. There are still teary days, but there few and far between and whereas previously, they would have knocked her for 6, when she gets them now, she bounces back within 24 hours – a sure sign the depression is under control ! Yay !

So, life is good.

So, this week..…

Monday and kp & Nat went for a swimming lesson. It went very well. kp wasn’t as impressed as Nat and Gail, but she knows that it was an improvement. After that, she did the weekly shopping trip, allowing me to do some revision.

Tuesday and the last throes of Summer saw kp gardening. She did some road safety with the dogs. Some brain and auditory training as well. She got 27/30 on a certain auditory attention test. I managed to get the only flying lesson in of the week.

And the rest of the week followed the same pattern. She managed to get her auditory attention mark unto 29/30 !!!! Well done kp. That’s good enough to move on to the next part of the testing/training.

Saturday, we walked the dogs and caught up on TV.

Today, I’m going diving and kp has a day to herself. She’s going to catch up on emails and her tv.

Here are some photos from the week with the Boxall kids…..

Monday and Patti came to the house and together, kp and Patti interviewed Sharon (the new support worker). She seems canny. I got involved when it came to the driving section and we went out for a drive with her. She drove fine.

After Patti and Sharon left, Nat arrived and the girls went shopping.

Tuesday and Adele came up with the kids (Abbie and Louisa). They stayed until Thursday and we all had a great time. They are really well behaved and a pleasure to have. On Tuesday afternoon, we all went to Beamish. Perfect weather for it.

Despite they’re being trams/buses between the various parts of Beamish, kp was still knackered by the end.

Here’s  the video of Beamish…..

On the night time we all watched Mamma Mia with pizza and then the girls went to sleep after dp read a Gruffalo story.

kp and I slept very well that night !!

The following day, we all went shopping. Tesco & Pound shop kind of shopping.  Not the most fun, but the girls enjoyed it.

Thursday and we all went to Hall Hill Farm. A few tears on this trip (from Louisa who was bitten by a rabbit). Here’s the video of Hall Hill Farm….

The kids returned on Thursday and despite them being excellent, we always enjoy the peace when they’ve gone.

Friday and Nicky Brosnan (neuropsyche) came at 11.30am. It was a very good session. No tears from kp, and a fruitful session.

Saturday and the next bout of kids – this time, my nephew/niece (Sophie(7)and James(5)). Being much similar ages and being very excited, there were many more squabbles. They’d squabble at squabbling. Good example……

dp :- Tomorrow, we’re going to get up early and walk the dogs
Jamie :- Can I take Elsa on the lead ?
Sophie :- No, I want to take Elsa on the lead !
dp :- Let’s toss a coin for it and then it’s fair
Sophie :- ok
Jamie :- ok
dp :- Now, are you both going to be happy with the result of the toin coss ?
Reluctant nods all round.

dp :- ok……Who wants to be tails ?
Jamie :- I do !
Sophie :- I do !

So, we ended up toin cossing for the toin coss, with me allocating Sophie “heads” because the Queen was female like Sophie. What else could I do !?

Crikey !!! Where is ACAS when you need it ?!

It was a challenging 24 hours, but we enjoyed it all the same. Sophie was a bit of a diva at times, and I ended up having a chat with her along the following lines……

dp :- Right Sophie, we need to have a chat. If something doesn’t go your way, you tend to get into a strop. Do you know what that means ?
Sophie did a wry smile.
dp:- The problem with that is it means you’re being a bit of a spoiled brat.
Sophie gave a puzzled look
dp :- Do you know “Bratz” the dolls ?
Sophie :- Yes
dp :- Well, like that.

At this, she looked like she was going to cry…..

dp :- You see what I mean.

I think I gave her a hug at this point and said that this is the kind of thing she needs to avoid so that we enjoy our time together.

She understood. Later strops we gave no attention to and let her cry them out. It seemed to do the trick. The last strop saw her cry herself to sleep. And she woke up absolutely fine in the morning.

Here’s some video of Sophie and James……

We handed Sophie and James back at lunchtime on the Sunday and then went straight to Marge’s to see Marge, Mark, Tracey, Megan and Tommy.

Marge cooked us a gorgeous shepherd’s pie !     And we played games all day long with the kids.

Last night, we were alone in a quiet house and it was great. It’s funny that at one point, we were really sad we couldn’t have kids, but now we really appreciate our time on our own.

Today (Bank Holiday Monday), we are chillin’ in da hood !

Monday started with Nat taking kp to the gym for an extra long session. She’s ramping things up a bit. On her return to maximise the weather, she took the dogs for a walk, which was too much and she later paid the price. Brain training concluded monday. The dog walking was meant to be Karen walking the dogs on her own, but she decided to do a trial run with Nat. Just as well, as kp got into difficulty getting the dogs back on the lead promptly when she needed to. This brought the first of the realisations and quite a few tears. Karen thought her only obstacle was building up her stamina to walk the dogs, but hadn’t thought of the intricacies of getting them back on the leads in a hurry when you’ve got to do it with just one hand. So, kp was quite down on the night. But, I can really see a change of attitude in kp. She is determined that this accident has took up enough of her life and she’s not about to let it have any more  !!!! Good for you love !! I think Karen understands how much her getting upset affects both of us, and is working really hard with Nicky Brosnan to get her mind thinking in the right way so that we can enjoy the good times together.

Tuesday, the girls went to Whickham Villa for a swimming lesson (for kp). She did brilliantly and did her first swimming since the accident WITHOUT any buoyancy aid !!! Both on her front and back too !!!! Well done kp. She was visibly thrilled when she returned !!! She knew how well she’d done without Gail (Swimming instructor/OT) having to tell her.

After a short break, she went shopping at Arnison for a bumper food shop !!! She’d agreed with Nat to do the shop herself, so Nat waited in the cafe. She ran into difficulties along the way and I got numerous phone calls about various issues. And in the end, she had to get Nat to help, as she had sooo much stuff !!!  Some road safety training concluded Tuesday.

Wednesday, the girls were due to go to Whitby, but Karen wanted to make the most of the sun and do some gardening. They also took the dogs for a short walk to get in some more road safety training. Jane was due to come but had difficulties so she had to postpone her visit. I went to do some exams at the flying school

Thursday, brain training and road safety and a trip to the hairdressers. Unfortunately, Karen never came back from the hairdressers. This other woman with blonde hair came back. Her name is “Blondie” !!

Friday, the girls went to the Metro. They had to be back in time for me to take kp to see a consultant at Durham hospital. They were back in time and when we arrived at the hospital, we found we had the wrong dates. DOH !!! We were out by a month !!! It’s in September ! Few tears on the night time following another moment of realisation, but then kp picked herself up and by the time Big Brother came on, she was able to laugh hysterically at Rodrigo’s “No, you shut up !”

Saturday, Karen was looking forward to some time by herself. She spent the whole day gardening, tv watching, gardening, tv watching etc … Even I wasn’t home as I had gone for some flying lessons.

Today has been writing emails and blogs.

So, kp has been going through the mill a bit with her realisations this week, but because of her strong attitude and determination, she’s been bouncing back !

Monday, Nat took kp to the gym. On their return, Rachel (OT) arrived, and more road safety training. In the afternoon, the girls did more auditory attention training. kp had been struggling getting past a certain exercise. kp and I had done it about 15 times whilst Nat was on hols, and Nat and kp had done it more times the previous week, but this week, she cracked it !!! 30 out of 30 !!!

Well done kp. Now, it gets harder still, but the good news is that even if she doesn’t score 100%, she is training her brain, so it’s all good either way, even though it’s disheartening to consistently not get 100%.

No Nat on Tuesday (car problems) – but the weather was good, so kp could catch up on all the solo gardening she could do. I took Elsa to the vets because of an ear infection but that’s clearing up nicely now.

Wednesday and Karen had a neuropscyhe test for the case. It was mammoth, absolutely mammoth. Thankfully, it was within 2 miles of where we live at a place where they turn people into catholic priests. An idyllic and quiet location with beautiful grassy areas. I can tell I’m becoming a helicopter pilot, as I am thinking of everywhere as a potential landing area Would I get it in there ?

Anyway, back to kp. We went into the room with this neuropsychologist, and had about 45 minutes of “interview” (her words), and then I was asked to leave as she started the neuropsyche tests on Karen. After about 2 hours, a teary kp emerged, she was pig sick of “feeling stupid” (kp’s words). She had really struggled. The lady had said Karen could take a break when she got teary, but kp was adamant she wanted to get it over. She took a 20 minute break halfway through the day and then endured another 2 hour battery. Karen was very annoyed with the lady at one point. She was crying her eyes out because of the tests and the lady suggested, let’s take a break from the tests and continue “the interview”. Well, this made Karen on edge,

Karen :- “Why didn’t she just say ‘let’s take a break and have a chat ?’”

So, they had a chat, and with a teary Karen, they started chatting about the time in our lives when we couldn’t have kids and when her mum died. Of course, kp was still teary from the tests.

The Neuropsyche :- “I can see this still makes you upset !?”

Well, kp gave her “what for”.

kp:- “I am not upset about the kids and my mother. I’m crying ‘cos of your tests”

GO GIRL !!

So, we arrived at 10.30am, and didn’t leave until 3.30pm and that was with 20 minutes break. Very hard going for kp.
I am pleased to say kp made a great recovery from the testing upset. Another good sign she is out of the depression. I still associate every bit of upset with the depressing times of a year ago, but continually, I am reassured by things like this, that the depression is in the past

There was another test for this on Thursday. I can’t go into any detail, because kp has asked me not to include it in the blog. Before I go any further, this, in itself, is ANOTHER good sign that the old kp is back. kp was always a private person. When there’s been anything private, I’ve always asked kp if I can include it in the blog. Sometimes, I’ve been quite surprised that she’s said “yes”. The fact she is saying “No” is a sign that she’s back to her old self. Or, perhaps, I’m reading too much into it.

Anyway, something happened on Thursday, that I can’t go into detail about, but it was a bad night. Friday, after a nice visit to Angela’s, Nicky Brosnan (neuropsyche) came to see us. I’d already tipped her off, about the upset. She did an AMAZING job of turning both kp (AND me) around. Well done Nicky !!

Friday night we were once again positive again.

And the weekend has been a good one, dog walking and tv catching up.

No flying for me this week, partly due to weather, but mostly because I’ve been wanting to catch up on revision and it’s been busy with kp appointments.

Two lessons booked for next week. Karen has another busy week.

Monday and it was Nat’s first day back after her hols. Unfortunately, as Nat arrived, I was consoling a kp in tears. So, I ran out to the car and asked Nat to give us 10 minutes or so. The reason for the tears was that we had learned that one of the first people at the scene of the accident had been looking to find out how Karen was. This itself wasn’t the problem, of course, more that Karen was interested in what this person had done at the time of the accident, and I had pointed Karen to the relevant bits of the blog which answered her question. In the blog, I had called the lady who was first at the scene Wendy Dougal. She was absolutely superb and was the one who helped kp until the emergency services arrived. It was this lady’s statement and looking back at the blog that gave Karen full realisation that it had happened to her and not someone else.

This had caused Karen to relive some of the accident as well. And whenever Karen looks backwards, she gets upset, or that is our experience anyway. So, we had a heart to heart, and managed to get the tears dried up, by restating what we know, ie that when kp looks back, we have upset, when she looks forward, she is at her best. Karen took this one stage further and asked me to get Nat in from the car to help get her refocussed, by talking about Nat’s holiday. It seemed to do the trick and a refocussed kp resulted (temporarily)

Nat and kp went off to the gym shortly after to do more “Fat Burn” levels of exercise. They were back in time for Rachel (OT). They did some more road crossing safety. That seems to be going very well. Our road is turning out to be a bit too quiet for kp now. At rush hour, it’s the opposite of course, but at the time Rachel came (2pm) it’s quiet At the moment, Karen isn’t crossing the road herself per se, she is saying when she thinks it’s “safe to cross”. She has another 5 more road successful road crossings saying when it’s safe to cross, and then she moves on to the next stage.

Syd (Case Manager) phoned early on Tuesday to tell us that Natalie had handed her notice in She will be leaving in October to move to London. But, Syd has got a replacement lined up, someone kp had already interviewed for the last job and who was the first choice, but couldn’t take the job at that time, so that’s worked out well

In the afternoon, Karen went off for her swimming lesson at Whickham Villa with Nat. Gail met them there. Unfortunately, the pool had just been “dosed” and the water was not the usual “crystal clear” and the lesson had to be postponed, so the girls came back.

My best man, Paul Hannon, came around in the afternoon. We don’t think we’d seen him since the wedding !! So, we met him and his kids. We really enjoyed the catchup and had lots of laughs.

Nikki Brosnan was due at 5pm, but had to postpone because of the roadworks on the A1, which are causing lots of issues for the North East generally !! The A1 is like the artery of the North !

Wednesday was a gorgeous day and kp and Nat went to the gym and then gardened a good deal of the rest of the day, interspersing it with lots of breaks. I’ve been able to catch up with loads of heli revision this week – yay ! But, I had done so much on wednesday, that I couldn’t take it in, so used a bit of gardening as a nice break from the studies, and it helped. I did all the heavy work for the girls, turning over the soil etc…..

Thursday was another beautiful day – more gardening for kp/Nat. I had a flying lesson in the afternoon and got some video to show kp what I was upto. Here it is, click here. I was back in time for Nikki’s rescheduled visit. Karen had been keen to chat with Nikki. She had been holding back tears generally because she wanted to know if she should deal with the accident itself. Karen and I have been watching House and Grey’s Anatomy, and invariably when there is a patient on these medical programs that is very serious, they have things wrong with them like “MOF/multiple organ failure, ARDS/acute resipatory distress syndrome etc….” and of course, I always have to shout to kp that “YOU HAD THAT !!”. Invariably, the patients on the programs die, and I have to say “You see how lucky you were”. Typing this, I feel stupid now, because I realise, that I’m not necessarily helping the matter by saying these things. ANYWAY, back to the story……so things like this and other stuff already mentioned have left kp thinking of the accident a lot, causing her tears and upset etc etc…….Karen knows I get upset if she gets upset, and so she has been doing the best she can to hide the upset from me.

So, kp was keen to know if she should deal with these issues, or keep distracting herself, looking forward, effectively ignoring these thoughts and tears. So, we sat down with Nikki and had about 30 minutes with Nat present before she left, then another 20 minutes with me, before SHOCK HORROR, kp asked me to leave the room ! Well, this is a first. I have never NOT been involved with kp’s care. That’s bad, double negative !!! I have ALWAYS been involved with kp’s care and for me to be asked to leave the room was a bit of a shocker to say the least, but kp reassured me, and I knew that it was nothing negative. I knew that she was doing it for my benefit ie to save me distress.

I was grateful in a way that I wasn’t part of the upset that followed. Karen and I are so close that we DO feel each other’s emotions. When she’s happy, I’m happy, when she’s upset, I’m upset. That’s good for the happy times…………..and bad for the down times ! I have felt so much pain over the last 4 years, that I don’t want any more. I’m quite a black/white kind of person and I can switch off from things quite easily most of the time, but that’s when I have control. I don’t have control over kp’s upset, so I always hate the times when she’s sad, as I am so helpless to fix it. So, I was pleased on an inner level to be given a break from the distress. Karen has not told me what happened at the meeting with Nikki as Nikki suggested to keep it to herself, and wait for the next meeting when Nikki will explain it to me. I’m happy with that. The good news is that although kp did get upset when I wasn’t there (she told me that much), she came out of the session very positive. Well done Nikki and kp of course

Friday was another trip to the gym and the rescheduled Whickham Villa Swimming Lesson. Gym went fine but the swimming lesson involved more upset. Karen bumped into a young lad at Whickham Villa who’d had a brain injury. He was worse off than Karen in some areas, and kp realised again how lucky she was, but also how unlucky she was in other areas, another moment of realisation ! The swimming lesson was a bit awkward for kp as Gail’s swimming costume had gone AWOL, and she had accosted 2 physio lads to get in the pool with kp, so the lesson could continue. Well, kp felt very uncomfortable with having 2 lads help her in the water. But the swimming lesson went VERY well and kp did the best she’s ever done.

The weekend has been gardening and dog walking and weather-wise, it’s made for a good weekend.

I’ll end on a funny. Karen and I have been having a laugh over House (the american medical drama starring Hugh Laurie). We always try and predict what’s wrong (and of course we’re always incorrect), but we always predict what we think the problem is and what the treatment will be and we’re nearly always right. Only House viewers will find this amusing, but one of the possible problems is always Lupus and/or a tumour, and the remedies always involve LP (aka Lumbar Puncture), and/or MRI scans.

That’s it for this week’s blog……..

Here’s a photo my diving buddy sent me. Good piccy of me and a pipe snake fish……

We had the week all mapped out. Karen had done the planning with Nat the week before. I was given my rota and was ready to rock’n'roll.

Monday and the first order of the day was to take kp to the gym and record her progress. 20 minutes of treadmill spread over 2 sections, some rowing machine and some cross-trainer which she finds very hard. Then it was back to the house for some house cleaning. Then a spot of lunch, before we did some auditory attention training. It’s this cd which Nikki gave us where kp has to listen to this bloke read out various numbers and, for example, kp may have to write a mark every time the bloke says the number 5 followed by the number 9. It’s not as easy as it sounds as his pace can be quite fast on later exercises.

Basically, kp has to get 10/10 before we can move on to the next exercise. We got on to an exercise where the bloke was reading out numbers and kp had to record a mark every time he said a sequence where the number was followed by a number that was one up from the previous number. Karen _really_ struggled with this. Initially, it was the concept of what she had to do ie He would say…..

10 9 5 6 and she would make the mark, great, success, but then he’d fox her with…..

4 6 8 3 2 3 4 – Karen would make the mark after the 3 (as 3 is after 2), but would not realise the 4 was also after the 3 and make a mark for this.

When I explained that she shouldn’t be just treating them as pairs of numbers and that every number counts, her scores improved, but she kept losing attention and missing ones out completely. We did this quite a few times during the week, but never got 10/10. I think we overdid it, she was so keen to crack it. Her frustration peaked on thursday, and we have left it until today (monday), when we’ll be giving it another bash.

Tuesday was a trip to Seaham for physio. Good session. Small dog walk in the afternoon.

Wednesday was a trip to Costco to stock up and then Whickham Villa for some swimming practice. She did very well. Lots of laughs when I showed kp how if she did a certain maneuvre she would sink. kp finds it funny when I choke/drown – that’s reassuring. More auditory attention training in the afternoon.

Thursday was another trip to the gym but for fat burn levels of exercise after a discussion with Steve (physio). We did some gardening too.

Friday and I’d arranged a flying lesson, and kp had plans to catch up on TV, but as I was waiting to be briefed by Steve (heli instructor), kp rang, upset that she couldn’t get Sky working. Sky boxes are unreliable and need regurlarly rebooting (or that is our experience). Normally I do it, but it involves pulling the power cord out of the back of the Sky box and then putting it back in. Well, kp needed talking through this. I was on the phone to her for 20 minutes and she still couldn’t do it. A combination of not being able to get on her knees, being unable to bend for a long time and her spatial awareness difficulties meant she unplugged all the wrong leads and couldn’t get them back in again. She was as mad as hell, bordering on upset that the one and only day she got some time to herself she couldn’t catch up on her tv. I felt like sh_t ‘cos I wasn’t there to help. It wasn’t a good situation.

When I got home, kp was in lots of pain because of the 20 minutes of bending down etc…..It was so bad, she was on the oral morphine fix PLUS diclofenac and codeine. Not good. The pain continued on Saturday and Sunday, but thankfully it’s been improving, but it’s monday when I’m doing this blog and she’s still not back to her usual pain levels.

Yesterday, kp got her chance to catch up on TV as I went diving with my buddy (another David) in Scotland. Here’s some snaps and video…….

Another thing kp wanted to do yesterday, was to read about one of the witnesses of the accident. We had heard that one of the original accident witnesses was keen to know how kp was, and therefore, Karen wanted to know how she was involved in the accident. I referred kp to the entry in the blog. It was an accident witness by a lady whose name I changed to Dougal. kp had read this while I was away diving, and later told me she had been in floods of tears. She referred to her crying as a realisation and some reliving the event. She is going to discuss with the neuropsyche Nikki tomorrow.

Natalie is back today, yay ! So I can crack on with my heli theory revision, ready for the next test.

Monday started with a trip to the gym with Nat.

Rachel (OT) came later in the morning and along with Nat, kp did some road safety training. That went very well. No “KO” today Once that was done, Karen wanted to go to a local sports centre and see an Aquafit session to see if it was suitable. She found the session a bit fast and she didn’t think she’d be able to keep up with the group. Karen is a very self-conscious person, she detested the “walk up the aisle” on our wedding day, so for her to fall behind in a group aquafit session would be awful, so I think Aquafit isn’t for her (not in a group session anyway).

On their return, they did some brain training and as it was a nice day, they took the dogs for a walk. I came back from a heli lesson to find kp in great form !!!

Tuesday, Nat and kp did some more road safety training before she went for her swimming lesson at Whickham Villa. There wasn’t much swimming practice, as Gail (Swimming Instructor/OT) wanted kp to crack getting from standing to on her back and vice versa. She did manage it a few times, so all good !! On their return, the girls did some brain training. Karen is starting to struggle as the exercises get a little harder, but it’s meant to get more challenging, so her brain improves.

Wednesday and the girls had planned a day trip to a Health Spa (Matfen Hall). Karen had come up with the idea of leaving early and stopping off at Brockbushes Farm to see if it was worth a seperate visit for strawberry picking. They had a bit there before having “Hot Stones” treatment and a massage, followed by a lovely sandwich and scone afternoon tea.

Thursday, more road safety training, and the girls went food shopping, staying out for lunch. They walked the dogs on their return and then Nat left for a week’s well-deserved holiday.

Syd and the solicitor came later in the afternoon for a meeting which lasted about 2 hours. It was all very positive. Things are starting to come to a conclusion slowly with Karen’s legal case.

Friday with me taking a break from helicopter studies, I took on Support Worker role and we did some brain training, and planned the upcoming week.

Saturday and Karen did some gardening maximising the beautifully sunny day.  Michelle and Freddie visited in the afternoon. I had a heli lesson which involved me flying over the house but I was pleased they were still there when I got back. Pizza and TV on the night time.

And today has been mostly dog walking, snooze, and more tv catching up.

I’m the support worker next week, so helicopter lessons and studying will be taking much more of a back seat. We have a busy week lined up, but kp has insisted I still try and get a heli lesson in at some point, which is great.