Day 63 - Thursday 30th June - Part Two

Poor Marie. Shortly after I left, kp had her physio session, then kp fell asleep until the moment I arrived back. Marie didn't get any private time with kp to have a natter. Maybe tomorrow.

The physio has said that tomorrow they are going to put kp on the edge of the bed with her feet dangling off to give her the sensation of balancing her torso in preparation to standing up. Very exciting ! It's something for kp to aim for and look forward to.

Dinner tonight was Cottage Pie and Sliced Potatoes. kp gave it a go and ate all the cottage pie element of the meal, which was good. Her appetite is picking up slowly. Tomorrow is Fish and Chip Day - it's lovely. In Ward 3, an extra portion would appear from nowhere for me, which was great. Tomorrow, I'll just tell Karen that they have missed you today, how do you fancy some soup ?

After dinner, I was falling asleep while kp was watching the tennis. I couldn't bear the grunting women, so fell asleep with my head on the bed. That got uncomfortable so I got the bedchair out and had an hour on that. When I woke up, kp was out for the count. She woke up when I tried to quietly put the bedchair away unsuccesfully. We had 5 mins of natter, but she wanted to sleep again. I prepared the room for the sleep (buzzer, sick bowl, water, phone) and did my usual "See you tomorrow, love you..." and left.

kp was asleep by 8.10pm tonight

Day 63 - Thursday 30th June - Part One

I got a phonecall last night from Marie that she had read an article in the local paper that there is a new killer superbug and it had taken the lives of X people in North Eastern Hospitals (including Gateshead) . It was called Clostridium Difficil. That's the same thing Karen has. Shine a Light. Both Marie and I were worried. I switched on the news just before I went to sleep and sure enough it was on North Eastern News as well.

I checked the internet for a good article on it. It reassured me that it was rarely a killer, and in the majority of cases it could be cured with an antibiotic and I recognised the name as the one Karen is now on. Marie had also mentioned that it was a certain strain of Clos. Diff. that was a problem. I made a point of finding out which strain this morning. It doesn't look like it is the bad one (more later why this is thought to be the case).

Heading in the right direction again

When I arrived, for some unbeknownst reason, I broke into song to wake Karen up. It did the trick. I'd like to say also she appreciated it, but she didn't.

She was a little more talkative than the previous day, but at that time not really feeling any better. We had a bit of a conversation during the breakfast where she said

kp:- I feel I am going down the pan.

My first thoughts with anything bad go back to something our first consultant said.

"Slow steady progress is what we want, not fast progress"
He made it clear that the people who make the slow progress generally do better. I know each case is indigidual blah de blah, but it was my first thought. And kp has made such good fast progress.

I reassured her why she was feeling under the weather but didn't go into too much detail about my concerns about clos. diff.

She was going to have some Rice Crispies (half a bowl) for breakfast but was waiting for the anti-sickness drug. It didn't come until 9am and the nurse who brought it unnerved us a bit. She said she didn't want to give Karen's drugs out until I arrived and then the first thing she said after that was to me :-

Nurse :- So, what drugs would you like ?

I was tempted to say 1/2 Kilo of Cocaine, 240 Ecstasy tablets etc etc...but resisted the urge.

This unnerved us both and we got confused as to which tablets were which and kp lacked faith in taking them because she didn't know what they were.

We asked to see the Sister about this nurse for some reassurance and it was promptly given, so we feel a bit more confident now. The sister also stayed for about 10 minutes to give us a good talk about the future. Key elements :-

• Be prepared for hard work - Damn Right kp, the ironing is REALLY mounting up.
• People with just a stroke take upto 3 months to be able to walk again properly. kp has additional injuries which will make relearning to walk even harder).
• It is 4 more weeks (end of July) when kp will be able to weight-bear on her pelvis (end of July). The 3 months (minimum) starts then.
• First, she will have to learn to sit upright unaided and keep her torso balanced.
• Then they will get her to reach out for things, remaining balanced.
• Then the same things standing up.
• Then walking.
• Then hoovering.
• Then ironing.

kp was feeling a littler better by this stage and talking more.

Bedbath was uneventful which is good as there was no vomiting.

No time for a snooze today as a Doctor came in to check kp over. I managed to ask what strain of Clos. Diff kp had. He said they wouldn't know for a few more days. Apparently, it takes a few days to grow the bacteria to know what type it is, and then even longer to know which strain it is. But he said he wasn't worried as he could tell kp was looking and feeling better and therefore the antibiotics seemed to have started working.

Day 62 - Wednesday 29th June - Part Two

kp is still out of sorts. Not eaten anything all day (that has stayed down). We had a few smiles from her tonight when Adele showed her some phone video footage of her daughter (2 year old Louisa) playing with a spider and shrieking.

Most of the afternoon and evening was spent watching the tennis & sleeping - very little talking.

By 7.15pm, she was fast asleep.

Day 62 - Wednesday 29th June - Part One

I thought the tide may have turned on the bad day from yesterday as kp said she had had a good night's sleep and her first few sentences were typical kp. This changed very quickly however. My first job in the morning is to get her sitting up for breakfast, which I did and within seconds of being sat up, she was very sick. She hadn't eaten anything overnight, which made the process of vomiting even more tricky and there were a few tears (not though upset, more through the strain of being sick I think).

No breakfast today.

She didn't feel like a bedbath today either. Not surprising, given the number of moves required for a bedbath, so instead, we both had a sleep. I was snoring again apparently.

When the physio came at 11.15am, he did a good workout on kp and I could see progress in her right foot. Previously, it wasn't able to get as far as 90' to the leg, but today, she could manage it. Very important for walking apparently.

She didn't really want to get into the chair, but together we all persuaded her to give it a try. She managed about 40 minutes. Not bad for an off day. We also persuaded her to have some soup and bread that Marie and I had brought in. Within 10 minutes of it going down, it was back up again :-(

She is on a new drug to fight the infection in her bowel. Apparently, one of the side effects is increased nausea. Well, we can definately confirm that !

Adele came with Marie today but it was very difficult to get any conversation out of kp even for us family. We asked her what she wanted to do about her visitors and she asked that they be put on hold until she is feeling better.

Hopefully that won't be too far away.

Day 61 - Tuesday 28th June - Part Two

The results of some tests came back today and they confirmed that Karen has an infection in her bowel. I can't recall the exact name, but it is a form of Chlostridium (not Botulinum that's for sure).

She is very lacking in energy and just sleeps most of the time at the moment. For the first 20 minutes of Debs' visit she was zonked. A Doctor had visited kp on a number of occasions today and kept leaving 'cos he didn't want to disturb her, but this time, he had to wake her up or he would never have seen her.This is when she realised she had a visitor.

I don't think Debs got the best visit in the world, but thanks for all the goodies Debs. The Madeira Cake and Lemon Cake were lovely. Karen didn't feel up to them, but it would be rude if I didn't try them for her. ;-)

He checked her chest and a few other things and informed kp and Marie of the infection. She needs to drink 4L (8 pints in Geordie) of water a day. If she doesn't she will be put on a drip to try and clear away the bowel infection. They don't want to put her on a drip if they can help it, because of the risk of infection.

Today has been a low day for Karen - A trough in a sea of many crests.

She has hardly eaten anything today. Bit of breakfast (slice of toast), half a bowl of soup and a bread bun and nothing for tea apart from some cherries. Maybe that's enough for someone who is in bed all day, but I, for one, would feel better if she ate more.

She could barely keep awake tonight.

To end on a positive
The doctor informed kp that the consultants had given the ok to put Karen in the hoist. This opens up a lot of doors for Karen that were otherwise closed such as

• Having a Bath
• Having a Shower
• Going in a normal chair
• Having a ride in a hoist

Which reminds me that the physio is going to dangle Karen on the end of the bed so her feet are hanging off the end. This will be weird for Karen after nearly 9 weeks of something always being beneath her feet. It is supposed to give her the sensation of going to stand up in preparation for that day.

I feel sure I have forgot some things, but the gist of this blog entry is that it has been a bad day for kp, upsetting, sad, and a generally low day.

Let's hope a good night's sleep does the trick, which reminds me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The "Chillow" arrived today. I took it in for kp and set it up. The "Chillow" is the chilled pillow - it was something her work team wanted to buy for her. It is basically a bag with some foam and water in, but after following the instructions I must admit it feels cool. We'll know if it has been of benefit in the a.m.

Day 61 - Tuesday 28th June - Part One

The Day of Realisation

No laughs this morning. kp was very quiet, hardly talking at all. The first thing she wanted to do when she woke up was to go back to sleep :-(

I persuaded her to have some breakfast and then we had 45 mins kip. We then started on the bedbath. Half way through, kp broke down into tears. She said she felt so helpless. I was moving all her arms and legs to allow for washing, and I could tell that for the first time, the reality of her situation was dawning on her. I told her to hug me, and she did. 1 minute later, I tried to move away so we could talk, but she didn't let go. I tried to comfort her and tell her the things she has got to look forward to like "coming home, having a bath, a shower" etc.... And her reply was "Why should I have to look forward to those things ?". She is dead right of course. They are all things we take for granted and now they are things that Karen has to aim for through no fault of her own.

Shortly after the upset, the physio came and halfway through the physio, kp broke down again. The physio didn't know if he should push on or talk to Karen so he asked her. She said "Carry On". So kp was crying while the physio was carrying on his arm/leg-bending.

I have been amazed (as a lot of people have) at kp's progress to date. She works hard every day to make herself better. But every so often, she is going to have days like today. I tried to explain this as best I could to her - she is a very positive person and I feel sure she will bounce back within the next day or so.

When Marie arrived, kp hardly said a word until 30 minutes after we had took her outside. Her first real words were :-

kp:- "David, tell Marie what your mam said yesterday !"

I did. Marie and I laughed. kp smiled.

Day 60 - Monday 27th June - Part Two

When I arrived, kp was asleep. Asleep is too light a word, she was very very deeply asleep. She didn't hear

• Me arrive
• Marie tell me everything that occurred on the afternoon
• Mum and Dad arrive
• Mum and Dad discuss things
• Nurse shouting at her if she wanted soup

She even scratched her head in her sleep, said "Ow !!!!" 'cos it hurt and still didn't wake up. Seriously.

I can't remember if it was Marie shouting "Karen" or something else that woke her. Even when awake, she didn't realise Mum and Dad were here for a minute or two.

She had had a VERY tiring day. The morning I have already mentioned in Part One. The afternoon was jam-packed according to Marie.

• The nurses came in to change all kp's dressings.
• The consultant who performed the initial pelvis operation on Karen visited to see how she was doing and to inspect her wounds. This meant all the newly done dressings had to be removed.
• He was very pleased with the wounds and advised a new type of dressing.
• The nurses came and redressed all the wounds according to the consultant's wishes.
• Then the physios arrived and gave kp a gruelling physio session with lots of pain (all necessary of course). At one point, the 2 physios were each working on a different kp body part and both were painful. The physios couldn't work out if kp was saying "Ow!" at the move they were doing or their partner physio was doing. They asked Karen to come up with a different "Ow!" for each physio. Oh, how Karen laughed ! ;-)
• Somewhere in the midst of all of this was a change of sheets requiring multiple moves.

In a nutshell, kp had a very active afternoon. When Mum and Dad arrived and kp finally woke up, we had some really good laughs. I was amazed that kp had the energy as I could have sworn she would not wake up.

One particular moment I can recall was when Mum was trying to reassure Karen that she would get some compensation for everything she had been through.

Mum:- Oh, you will love. You were nearly dead !

kp was belly laughing at this !! She knows my mum can be a bit "foot in mouth" at times.

Another moment of hilarity is when a member of staff, (Mrs Overall), came along the ward and we could hear her say many times to each different patient :-

Mrs O :- Would you like some Butterscotch Pie ?

This got funnier and funnier as she got closer to Karen's room. She speaks very like Mrs Overall and when she said it in our room, we had to try very hard to mask our laughter. Mum failed dismally.

Lots of laughs - a great night with a bit of a downer to end.

kp had some sickness and diarrhoea which wasn't very pleasant. As soon as she had finished, she was out for the count. I barely made it to the door before she was fast asleep.

Day 60 - Monday 27th June - Part One

Better night sleep, but still disturbed with too many bowel issues.

Had a piece of toast with some tea for breakfast.

Then the choice - snooze or bedbath before Lydia's visit. We were both keen on a snooze and so grabbed an hour. Bedbath followed. kp was laughing at me at one point. There is a remote control unit for the bed on a bouncy bendable stem. I moved it out of the way and it bounced back and headbutted me. I instinctively raised my fist at it which made kp laugh as I am not generally an aggressive person.

Lydia arrived for visiting with loads of goodies - thanks Lydia. Scones, Butter, Strawberries, Fresh OJ etc etc.... I may let kp have some later on.

We had a good laugh with Lydia then the physios came to get kp into the chair. When Lydia left, Marie and I took kp outside for some fresh air. It was a scorcher. We had about 20 minutes outside, took some photos which I will put up later on with kp's ok and then returned for some more of Aunty Lillian's Ham Shank Soup.

And so concludes the morning.....

Day 59 - Sunday 26th June 2005

A very disturbed night's sleep because of bowel movements.

Enjoyed hair wash and bedbath by 2 of the funniest loveliest nurses. I had the morning off for good behaviour. They had kp in stitches as they went about the bedbath routine. Jokes such as the following were flying across the bed between the double act of nurses.

Nurse :- "I see you have the Irish Shampoo"
Karen :- "What do you mean ?"
Nurse :- "Tim O'Tei" (pronounced in an Irish accent like the name of an Irish man)

She didn't eat much breakfast and hardly any lunch. She slept MOST of the afternoon and it was a DEEP sleep : the kind of sleep where every so often I would glance at her chest to check she was still breathing. At some points of her sleep, she had her eyes wide open - very disconcerting. Looked like something from the Omen Films. Karen Pollard aka Damien.

When Lillian and Bernard visited, she didn't even hear them come in and chat to Marie and I for 5 minutes. Marie brought her back from the dead with a loud "Karen" and she went on to enjoy her visitors' company and especially Lillian's Ham Shank Soup. She had a GOOD size portion and polished the lot off. Nice one kp.

By 7.30pm she was knackered again, and doing her "I'll fall asleep while I am in mid-sentence to my husband" routine. I left her to sleep.

Day 58 - Saturday 25th June - Part Two

Fast Asleep when I arrived for the evening shift. Ate a good tea. Watched some Wimbledon before falling asleep again. She woke up for a turn and during the 5 minutes she was awake explained that she doesn't seem to be able to concentrate as much on Wimbledon. She watches points and then doesn't know who's in the lead at the end of it. Very unlike Karen. Normally, Wimbledon contact Karen if they have lost count of what the score is.

When she fell back to sleep, I left for the evening.

Day 58 - Saturday 25th June - Part One

Good Night's Sleep and fast asleep when I arrived - Looked as snug as a bug in a rug.

Adele had some personal issues to deal with today, and kp spent a while on the phone to her discussing them with Adele.

Ate a good breakfast and lunch. Nice Bedbath and Leg Shaving.

Both had a snooze in the morning.

Yvonne brought her iPod in and played kp a tune or two while I was there. She played Mambo No. 5 and it sounded great. I was dancing to it and kp was strutting her stuff too. Smiles all round.

Day 57 - Friday 24th June - Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 57 - Friday 24th June - Part One

Good Night's Sleep

Ate Good Breakfast

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

Quite an uneventful morning.

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

Day 56 - Thursday 23rd June 2005 - Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All joking aside, thanks Nige and Terry

It was lovely

dp

Day 56 - Thursday 23rd June 2005 - Part One

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

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

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

I will relate a couple of incidents :-

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

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

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

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

Day 55 - Wednesday 22nd June - Part Two

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

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

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

Will I be classed as disabled ?
No.

Will I walk with a hobble/limp ?
Probably

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 55 - Wednesday 22nd June - Part One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

:-(

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

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

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

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

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

Day 54 - Tuesday 21st June - Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

kp:- Is it me ?

LOL.

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

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



And an extra one from Wendy



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

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

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

Gone !

Day 54 - Tuesday 21st June - Part One

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

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

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

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

Day 53 - Monday 20th June - Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

kp had a good laugh at this.

Day 53 - Monday 20th June - Part One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 52 - Sunday 19th June

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

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

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

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

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

dp slaps Adele hard on the back.

Adele laughs more while choking.

Adele survived.

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

I left a very tired kp at 8pm.

Day 51 - Saturday 18th June - Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 51 - Saturday 18th June - Part One

Good Night's Sleep

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

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

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

Day 50 - Friday 17th June 2005 - Part Two

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

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

Uneventful Night really apart from that.

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

Day 50 - Friday 17th June 2005 - Part One

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

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

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

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

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

More physio this afternoon

Day 49 - Thursday 16th June - Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 49 - Thursday 16th June - Part One

Good Night's Sleep.

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

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

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

Bedbath by dp. Offered to wash her hair.

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

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

kp was taken for a hip x-ray.

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

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

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

She may get some physio this afternoon.

Day 48 - Wednesday 15th June - Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Day 48 - Wednesday 15th June - Part One

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

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

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

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

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4

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

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

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

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

The road was closed for 3 hours.

About 18 policeman were involved at the scene.

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

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

Day 47 - Tuesday 14th June - Part Two

Spoke too soon :-(

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

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

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

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

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

Staffmember pulls the red lever.

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

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

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

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

Day 47 - Tuesday 14th June - Part One

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everything is heading in the right direction.

Day 46 - Monday 13th June - Part Two

All settled in new ward

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I think she'll sleep like a log.

Day 46 - Monday 13th June - Part One

All Change

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

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

Well, maybe not the first team :-)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 45 - Sunday 12th June

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good Night my love

dp

Day 44 - Saturday 11th June - Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 44 - Saturday 11th June - Part One

Very little to report.

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

No more sickness and diarrhoea thankfully.

Full Breakfast.

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



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

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


She isn't asleep - she is just resting her eyes - or so she tells me.

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

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

Day 43 - Friday 10th June - Part Two

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

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

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

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



It didn't. She spontaneously got upset and started crying :-( She misses them terribly.

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

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

It was a nice way to end their visit.

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

Day 43 - Friday 10th June - Part One

What a HOOT !!

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

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

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

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

Click on Pop Quiz to see kp's answers or go to "Day 41 - Wednesday 8th June - Part Two" and click on comments.

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

Part One
Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But the conversation went something like this :-

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

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

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

When the physio was stretching kp's arms, kp said something like "hey, my scapula's hurting".

Again, funny at the time.

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

dp

Day 42 - Thursday 9th June - Part Two

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

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

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


Karen sitting in her chair and moisturising her hands.

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

Day 42 - Thursday 9th June - Part One

A cracking morning with a little bit of bad news.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My first question to the Eye Man :-

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

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

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

• Driving HGVs
• Getting a Pilot's Licence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's about it for this morning.

Day 41 - Wednesday 8th June - Part Two

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

This is NOT a call for sympathy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

kp:- It's in my slabs

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

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

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

Day 41 - Wednesday 8th June - Part One

Karen had slept well, but been in a lot of pain when she woke up.

It is very difficult to get the right blend of pain/nausea medication. It seems the balance has shifted from nausea to pain. No sickness at all, but kp is constantly in pain.This challenge continues today. kp is going to try Diazepam today to see if that helps.

Not much to report from this morning.

Bedbath, New Nighty.

Both kp + I slept for an hour or so.

Her limbs had stiffened up a bit since last night, so I did a bit of physio to try and loosen them up.

The Doctor came to report that the E.Coli infection is on the wane thanks to the Amoxycillin IV drip, which is great.

That's about it.

I got called into the visitor's room for another meeting about the blog. This time it was the physios who were concerned about identifying them by one of their initials. And also one of the physios felt that yesterday's Part One made it sound like they were giving kp too much pain. Neither kp + I believe this to be the case. We think they are doing a sterling job and to be fair I think the blog reflected this, but to save any upset, I have anonymised the Physios initials and toned down the specific comment that was referred to in the meeting.

Day 40 - Tuesday 7th June - Part Two

What a cracking day - When I thought it couldn't get any better.......
When I arrived tonight (7pm), kp had been having a helluva crack with Marie, Michelle and the comedian that is Jane B.

It carried on for a good 20 minutes with kp holding her belly laughing. They sleep is the best medicine, well laughter must come a close second.

Marie was keen to pass on kp's latest good news.

1. kp had eaten nearly her whole lunch and whole dinner.
2. kp can read without the aid of the magnifying sheet.
3. kp's itch

Eyesight
Fantastic. After this morning, my only concern was her eyesight and that looks like it is on the mend. She read out a card from Sue, Alan and Danielle Brady that had just arrived. She had read it out earlier to the girls. When she read it out to me, she got it nearly correct. She read it all out perfectly, but where the card might have said "Love and Best Wishes", kp said "All the best". I didn't say anything. It reminded me of a child reading when they think they know what the next bit says, but can't quite read the words out. I think she was just tired.

All the work is done through her left eye (stroke side strangely). Her right eye can't see at all. This has been referred to an eye specialist.

The Itch
Another thing Marie relayed from the afternoon, was that kp had an itch on her left side and she instinctively tried to move her LEFT arm to scratch it. Previously, her left arm just sat there like a dead weight and now it was moving on an impulse.

Me + kp
A few more belly laughs later and it was time for the girls to return to Middlesbrough. That left me and kp for the evening.

We sat and had a chat about what I had done on the afternoon (mow the grass) and a few other titbits.

J, the auxiliary nurse, came in and together we gave kp a bedbath and changed a dressing that was weeping. With new Nighty on, kp looked very settled. Unfortunately within an hour of the bedbath, kp's nighty was in a right state because the pelvic wound was weeping badly. They are going to sort that out later this evening.

E. Coli 156
Before Marie left, she told me that had a certain strain of E. Coli in her bloodstream. Apparently, there are many strains, but the strain kp has E.Coli 156 (which I am sure we are all familiar with ;-) ) isn't too bad, whereas another strain is bad. She is on an IV drip of Omoxycilin to sort this. I say she is on a drip. The doctor came round and simply couldn't get a new Venflon (sp) into her vein to give her the drip. The doctor tried about 3 different places and then referred it to the Senior House Doctor to sort. That was being done later tonight as well.

kp has the worst veins in the world. When she used to give blood, they always struggled to find a good vein.

Sickness Cracked ?
kp wasn't and didn't feel sick at all tonight despite lots of moves. So we may have the sickness cracked now. I do hope so, because it makes the day much worse for kp. Finger Crossed, Touch Wood Etc...

Stiff Left Arm
Tonight her left arm (stroke side) was a bit stiff after all the physio. So I did all the exercises we have been taught to loosen it up and then asked Karen to lift her arm (as she had done earlier). It takes a lot of concentration for her to tell the muscles to move in a certain way. But, unlike the physio, I didn't guide Karen, I just waited until there was a bit of movement in the right direction and then coaxed her on.

Well, when the arm lifted to her head, I started crying. She was lifting her arm, without ANY support from me. I couldn't have been happier. kp did a huge smile, because she knew how much it meant to me. Hugs time !

But then of course, I got carried away.

Can you bend your fingers ?
Tiniest of Bends

Can you bring your arm to your chest ?
Yes

Can you do this .....?

Can you do that .....?

kp:- David, I am not a performing animal !
dp:- Sorry love.

She knew I was excited and it was a nice way to end a dp physio session.

kp Phone Home
kp has made such progress over the past 24 hours, I thought we could see if she could do something practical which she hadn't been able to do previously, namely use the phone. This was a problem before, because her hand-eye coordination was poor and when she tried to replace the phone on the tv (where it sits), she would just end up pushing the tv away. She also couldn't dial because she couldn't see the numbers.

So, I brought the phone into range, and suggested making a phonecall.

kp:- I'll phone Marie

Sure enough, she could lift the phone off & dial the number. A huge smile appeared when Marie picked up at the other end. I think she was chuffed with herself. Could she replace the headset however ? You better believe she could !

That's about all I can remember.

So, all in all, an absolute cracker of a day. I can't help but think back to something F said, (the consultant in ICU). He said the patients in Intensive Care that do the best are the ones that make slow steady progress,. I am ever so slightly concerned that kp is doing too well. Stupid really. She is not in ICU, so maybe it no longer applies, but its at the back of my mind. It's also on kp's mind. She doesn't know F said this, but she said to me yesterday :-

kp:- It's just my luck that after all this effort and progress that something else comes along and kills me off.

Obviously I reassured her to the contrary.

Well done Love for today. You're storming !!!!

dp
xxxxx

Day 40 - Tuesday 7th June - Part One

WOW !
Have I got some good news for Karen's friends and family ! I will come to that in chronological order.

Good Night's Sleep
Karen had another good night's sleep and this time it was without Tamazepam, simply because she threw it up. When I say a good night's sleep, its not what I personally would call a good night's sleep, but its what kp is happy with. She woke up a few times and was sick a few times, but for Karen that's a good night apparently. I think the key thing is that she got some good segments of sleep.

Physio's Timetable
One of the first things I did was to check the timetable of events that we should be following.
8am should have been breakfast followed by a bedbath. Well, no sooner had I sat kp upright for breakfast than she was sick. Of course, she didn't want breakfast then and passed on it completely. Karen insists I buzz whenever she is sick which I duly did and a lovely auxiliary nurse (J) came in to help her and to arrange some anti-sickness drugs (taken intravenously).

The next thing on the timetable should have a bedbath followed by some physio at 10am, but the movement needed for a bedbath would have caused too much nausea and she was exhausted so the bedbath was postponed.

Instead, I got kp into a nice comfy position and she fell straight asleep. I pulled up my bed (kp's chairbed) and brought it alongside her bed and went to sleep myself. I was exhausted as well. It sounds pathetic, but visiting really takes it out of me. I didn't get home until the early hours of this morning, and was up at 6am walking the dogs. I went out like a light. It's a shame the hospital is so far from home. We slept for about 90 mins-2 hours and completely b+ggered up the timetable but we both felt better for it.

Bedbath
The nurses had been in while we were asleep apparently and left us sleeping. But they returned to do the bedbath and kp really enjoyed it and had a good laugh at the same time. Two of the auxiliary nurses did it as it was felt that 2 of them would be able to do it quicker with less faff for kp. One of them is originally from Sweden (B) and still has a strong Swedish accent (although she does a mean "Way aye man"). The other auxiliary nurse (J) was talking to the Swedish one (sorry about not being able to name the nurses) (both are lovely), and was asking her to pronounce various words knowing full well that her strong Swedish accent makes the words come out strange. J was doing this to keep kp amused. Anyway, they got on to an occasion where J had asked B how she made her hotpot dish she had cooked for her husband. The ingredients she put in included various items and "piss". Translated into English, this is "peas", translated into Geordie, this is "peas man" (but her Swedish roots make it difficult to pronounce the "e").

Well, Karen found this very amusing and I was laughing out loud.

Apologies if that's not funny thirdhand, but we were in stitches.

The nurses are excellent at bringing some humour into most situations to brighten the day.

Visitor for Karen
Gill (from work) visited kp today and brought some audio books to listen to. Thanks Gill. She arrived at 11am, but because of the skewed timetable she didn't get to see kp until 11.30am. She stayed a short time because kp was getting tired, but kp really enjoyed seeing Gill and commented afterwards that she enjoyed seeing her.

When Gill left, it was time for the physios and here comes the amazing news.

Physios Visit
The Physio (X) does an excellent job of challenging kp. No Pain, No Gain. All necessary of course !

A funny moment before the good news.

She did all the usual stretches which hurt and then got to this specific one, where she lifted Karen's left arm (stroke side) in the air. Now this REALLY hurts.

X asked kp to watch her arm go in the air and X counted to 10 whilst holding the arm in the agonising position.

Then she got kp to count. She raised the arm into the painful position and the conversation went like this :-

X:- Now, watch your arm.
X raises kp's arm
kp:- Ow, Ow, Ow, Owwwwwwwwwww!
X:- Count to 10 Karen
kp:- 4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Nice try love !! We were in stitches at her subtle try at shortening the duration of the pain by missing out some key numbers.

The same thing happened again and this time kp counted from 1 to 10, but really fast ! More laughs. She wasn't intending to be funny which made it all the more funnier.

kp can read now (as mentioned in yesterday's blog). She can also tell the time which she wasn't able to do before, but here's the fantastic news.

After the physio had done this painful maneuvre a few times, she asked Karen to lift her left arm (stroke side) herself. Sure enough, with X's guiding hand, kp could lift her arm about 2 inches. FANTASTIC !!!! But it gets better !

X:- How far are you raising your arm ?
kp:- Dunno
X:- Look at your arm and raise it.

kp raised her arm about 2 inches.

X:- How far are you raising your arm ?
kp:- A lot !

Well, we all laughed because it was only a slight raise and we were ecstatic that should could do any raise at all.

The other physio (Y) raised kp's right arm (the good one) and raised it very high and said that that is "A Lot !"

X then did some more painful maneuvres lasting about 5 minutes and got Karen to watch her left arm and raise it herself again.

Well, Karen raised her arm from the bottom to above her head (with a bit of pain). We were over the moon and spontaneously burst into a round of applause when she did it.

Is my wife a star ? Or is she a STAR !!!! So proud of you love.

kp was chuffed to bits as well. Well done !!!

Doctor's Rounds
The doctors came round to discuss pain medication. They are going to try some new pain medication and yet some different anti-sickness drugs. She has an E. Coli infection in her water works and unfortunately it has spread to her blood stream. But the increased anti-biotics should sort that apparently. They didn't seem unduly alarmed.

Blog Discussion
After the morning was nearly over, I was asked to see the Matron and Sister about something. I knew instantly it was about the blog. It was like being called to the Headmaster's office (only kidding C & A). They were concerned about a previous blog entry involving a lady who was crying out a lot and that they would appreciate being told of any problems with kp's care so they could address them rather than just read about them in the blog.

They were exceedingly nice (like Mr Kipling's cakes) and I totally understood where they were coming from. At the same time, I expressed the importance of keeping the blog accurate so that when kp reads it, she recalls the situations in question. I offered to tone down the relevant blog entry relating to the lady (that has now been edited down). With regards letting them know of any problems, I explained that as far as we were concerned, there were no outstanding issues and I would, of course, let them know any problems with kp's care before recording them in the blog. This is something we have done from the start and I reassured them we would continue to do so. Both C & A have the best interests of Karen and the ward at heart and I will support them in this regard whilst at the same time recording events.

Day 39 - Monday 6th June - Part Two

Good News, Bad Evening
The good news came from Marie over the phone. Karen can read !

The physio had done Karen a timetable of physio for the next week, indicating what she must do at different times of the day. When I arrived for the evening shift, Karen was keen to show off her reading skills. With the aid of Marie holding up the magnifying sheet, Karen read out the physio plan.

kp:- 8am - David must pamper Karen with a bedbath and a massage.
dp:- I don't think it says that love does it ?!

Nice try ! Smiles all round.

She did read it out correctly after that.

8am - Bedbath + Arm/Leg Exercises
10am - Passive Movement Machine (20mins each leg)
12pm - Get into chair for lunch
1pm - Get out of chair
3pm - Go to Pub. I have forgot the rest.

It's just what Karen needs and has been asking for - Goals.

The physio is very switched on and is very good for Karen.

I have just remembered something from earlier today. When Karen was moved into the chair (quite a feat, involving lots of bodies), she is moved into it by lying her flat on the bed, sliding her over, and then the chair (in bed position) moves into a chair position. When she was moved into the chair position and sitting upright, she saw herself in the wall mirror for the first time, and the biggest of smiles appeared on her face. It was lovely to see.

This evening wasn't a good evening however.

kp was sat upright for dinner, but it seems for the past few days, movements like this make her sick, and sure enough, she was. I am getting a dab hand at plucking a sick bowl from nowhere and whisking it in front of her. Unfortunately, tonight, I was that quick I nearly dislocated her jaw as my aim was a bit off. Sorry kp.

The evening continued in much the same way :-(

After the sickness, all Karen could eat was a bite of a breadbun with lurpak on. But it didn't sit well on her, and she had the most agonising of stomach pains. She was in a lot of discomfort. She felt like she needed a bowel movement, but couldn't. She was lining me up for an overnight stay as she felt that unwell.

She got a little bit upset and wanted a hug. I obliged.

She is in a bit of a vicious circle at the moment. She can't eat, because she feels nauseous all the time (despite the new anti-sickness drugs). She can't have a bowel movement because she hasn't eaten enough. When she does try to move her bowels, she gets exhausted because she hasn't eaten enough. We need to break the sickness problem and I think everything will fall into line. New sickness drug tomorrow - fingers crossed. It's a strong sea-sickness type pill which should alleviate the sickness when she gets moved.

Eventually we found a comfy position and she got an hour's kip. Then the evening tablets came round (6 of them, but 8 to take because the bigger ones are broken up to make them easier to swallow). She got to tablet 4 and promptly threw up again.

She couldn't face any more tablets after that.

She eventually had a bowel movement and was exhausted and gagging for sleep. The nurses changed her nighty (which was stained from the weeping wounds where her staples were) and she looked very settled and comfy.

We'll know tomorrow if she had a good night's sleep.

Hope so !

dp

PS - Thanks for all the flowers everyone has sent. She received a wonderfully exotic bouquet today from Sue Brady (ex work boss) which cheered her up.