Day 70 - Thursday 7th July - Part Two

kp had fallen asleep immediately on my departure and hadn't woke up until 5 minutes after my return. Poor Marie Again !!!

We have got to the bottom of why kp has had a bad couple of days. It is because someone had forgot to change kp's Fentanol Patch. This is the morphine-based patch that gives constant pain relief. Coincidentally yesterday, I had asked kp if they had changed it recently and she said they had, but I suspect for kp it is very hard to keep track of time and every 3 days is a hard period of time to keep track of. Anyway it has been changed now, and she seemed to feel the benefit later tonight. The Sister was very apologetic about it, but we made it clear we understand that mistakes will happen from time to time.

Mr Cross came tonight. He was very very nice and frank. Here are the facts as I can recall them :-

• kp will need another operation to the back pin site (the deep one) to clear out the gunk and check all is ok. It is a minor op and can be done at gateshead.
• kp won't be able to walk for another 6 weeks as the pelvis isn't sufficiently healed, but he has given the ok for her to be able to stand for a few seconds at a time.
• He said it is important to get kp playing more of an important role in moving from the bed to the chair. They are going to get a banana board (?!) and try to get her to move herself.
• We mentioned the problems with kp sitting up for more than an hour at a time. He told us how normal this was for pelvic op people and that the medium term fix was extra padding (pillows etc)
• He said as soon as kp has mastered the banana slide, she could go home. But then the sister came in and was a little more pragmatic and said although she COULD go home, it would be better for her to stay here so they can provide the rehabilitation that she needed. kp was ok with this.
• He got kp to lift her legs one by one and told the Sister that they need to be stronger and suggested exercise with sandbags on her feet to build strength.

That's all I can recall. He was great and we felt positive after he left.

Tommy and Eileen (our neighbours) visited again tonight. I was concerned this morning that kp wouldn't have the energy for visitors and even suggested postponing them given her state at the time, but kp wouldn't have any of it, and wanted the visit to go ahead. It was a good decision as she really enjoyed their company.

After that, we watched the telly for a bit, seeing the death toll of the London Transit bombings rise to 37, and then I heard snoring.

See you in the morning love.

dp
xxxxx