Day 118 - Wednesday 24th August
kp was surprised when I walked in the door at 9am instead of 10am. Physio was at 11:15am today and she had forgot that we have an early start when physio is early so that we can get the bath done in time.
We chatted for a while and I read out blog comments from people for the last few days. Carole, she was dead chuffed you were still reading the blog. Veronica, she always enjoys hearing from you and laughed at your stories of Irene and the highlights !
kp had a few swabs taken before her bath. She is MRSA-clear now in her back of head wound and her buttock wound, which is good. She has two new wounds now. She has two head scars on either side of her head (behind and above the ears) where the bed in intensive care clamped her in position. The scabs of these have come off over the last few days and the wounds are quite moist so they have been swabbed as a precaution. I personally don't think they will find MRSA, but it's best to be sure.
Lovely bath, surprise surprise.
dp:- What would you do if you couldn't have a bath every day ?
kp:- I dunno. I'd survive though, but I'd miss it. Do you remember when you used to give me bedbaths ?
I did remember, but I wouldn't have a clue how to do them now. I know I had it down to a routine, but could I hell remember the routine ? It's funny. Karen's accident happened 118 days ago, just under 4 months ago, but it feels like years ago. One of the photos on Karen's wall is of her standing outside a London theatre having seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with the kids. I was looking at this photo today. She was standing normally, no fuss. I can't remember that Karen. That photo seems surreal, unreal, strange.
After the bath, physio was due. It mostly consisted of physical exercises with the main man. One of them involve kp lying on her side and lifting her weak leg (left) horizontally up in the air. She did it brilliantly. I try and do most of the exercises myself, and I couldn't do this one. It was very hard. But, I suppose women are better at spreading their legs than men (dp ducks !!!!!). No standing today, no transferring, not because of kp, but because it wasn't appropriate for this session and the main man had a bit of a bad back.
Karen couldn't have any lunch because of the Urogram, so we went for a snooze. Lovely ! :-)
At 1.40pm we woke up in time to get ready for the porter to collect kp. He came at 1.55pm with a wheelchair (instead of a bed). kp needs a hoist to get into a wheelchair, so there was a bit of a set to between the porter and Ward 22 staff because he should have brought a trolley bed. The porter disappeared muttering "well, she has missed her appointment then". There was talk of rescheduling for tomorrow. kp wasn't really bothered and was just keen to drink something as she had been nil by mouth since breakfast.
Suddenly another porter appeared with a trolley bed and we went to X-ray. At x-ray, they pumped this iodine contrast solution into kp, and took 5-minutely x-ray pictures of her. It was very interesting. I had to leave the room every 5 minutes while they zapped her, but I was dead chuffed I finished a "fiendish" Su Doku puzzle in one of my outings. It had been taxing me for ages. A couple of minutes after every 5 minute photo they brought through the picture. It is intriguing to see kp's insides. You can see the plate, the screws, the pins, the screwdriver (presumably left in by accident). Actually when I asked it turned out not to be a screwdriver, but some other contraption. kp is now the bionic woman. lol. Each 5-minute shot of kp's inside showed the dye going from the kidneys, down the ureter, and the final shots were of the bladder, but we never got to see them. We'll know the results in a day or so, but I am sure there is no problem in this area.
We got back to the room and got settled. Jane and Michelle arrived. Jane brought some lovely Lillies (spelling mum ?!) and her wicked sense of humour ! Michelle brought her bionic woman impersonation. It is very funny. Very very funny and involves lots of her saying Tsch Tsch Tsch Tsch (to herself). Probably have to see it to see how funny it is.
Soon after they arrived, kp's consultant arrived. He had been off for a few weeks. It was very good of him to come in given his personal circumstances at the moment. He had a lovely long chat to kp about her situation and her progress. During the session he kept referencing Karen's log. Both kp and I thought he was referring to some medical record on Karen that the nurses keep. It turned out he was referring to this blog. Blog is short for WeBLOG, so he was dead right, but because kp and I always refer to it as the blog, he threw us. I was chuffed to bits that he had been reading bits of it to keep up with kp's condition. The end result of the visit was that kp was going to reduce her painkiller to see if that reduces her sleepiness and other issues. She doesn't have a problem with this, given he said we can up it again if she gets pain again.
That was about it for today. A good day overall.
We chatted for a while and I read out blog comments from people for the last few days. Carole, she was dead chuffed you were still reading the blog. Veronica, she always enjoys hearing from you and laughed at your stories of Irene and the highlights !
kp had a few swabs taken before her bath. She is MRSA-clear now in her back of head wound and her buttock wound, which is good. She has two new wounds now. She has two head scars on either side of her head (behind and above the ears) where the bed in intensive care clamped her in position. The scabs of these have come off over the last few days and the wounds are quite moist so they have been swabbed as a precaution. I personally don't think they will find MRSA, but it's best to be sure.
Lovely bath, surprise surprise.
dp:- What would you do if you couldn't have a bath every day ?
kp:- I dunno. I'd survive though, but I'd miss it. Do you remember when you used to give me bedbaths ?
I did remember, but I wouldn't have a clue how to do them now. I know I had it down to a routine, but could I hell remember the routine ? It's funny. Karen's accident happened 118 days ago, just under 4 months ago, but it feels like years ago. One of the photos on Karen's wall is of her standing outside a London theatre having seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with the kids. I was looking at this photo today. She was standing normally, no fuss. I can't remember that Karen. That photo seems surreal, unreal, strange.
After the bath, physio was due. It mostly consisted of physical exercises with the main man. One of them involve kp lying on her side and lifting her weak leg (left) horizontally up in the air. She did it brilliantly. I try and do most of the exercises myself, and I couldn't do this one. It was very hard. But, I suppose women are better at spreading their legs than men (dp ducks !!!!!). No standing today, no transferring, not because of kp, but because it wasn't appropriate for this session and the main man had a bit of a bad back.
Karen couldn't have any lunch because of the Urogram, so we went for a snooze. Lovely ! :-)
At 1.40pm we woke up in time to get ready for the porter to collect kp. He came at 1.55pm with a wheelchair (instead of a bed). kp needs a hoist to get into a wheelchair, so there was a bit of a set to between the porter and Ward 22 staff because he should have brought a trolley bed. The porter disappeared muttering "well, she has missed her appointment then". There was talk of rescheduling for tomorrow. kp wasn't really bothered and was just keen to drink something as she had been nil by mouth since breakfast.
Suddenly another porter appeared with a trolley bed and we went to X-ray. At x-ray, they pumped this iodine contrast solution into kp, and took 5-minutely x-ray pictures of her. It was very interesting. I had to leave the room every 5 minutes while they zapped her, but I was dead chuffed I finished a "fiendish" Su Doku puzzle in one of my outings. It had been taxing me for ages. A couple of minutes after every 5 minute photo they brought through the picture. It is intriguing to see kp's insides. You can see the plate, the screws, the pins, the screwdriver (presumably left in by accident). Actually when I asked it turned out not to be a screwdriver, but some other contraption. kp is now the bionic woman. lol. Each 5-minute shot of kp's inside showed the dye going from the kidneys, down the ureter, and the final shots were of the bladder, but we never got to see them. We'll know the results in a day or so, but I am sure there is no problem in this area.
We got back to the room and got settled. Jane and Michelle arrived. Jane brought some lovely Lillies (spelling mum ?!) and her wicked sense of humour ! Michelle brought her bionic woman impersonation. It is very funny. Very very funny and involves lots of her saying Tsch Tsch Tsch Tsch (to herself). Probably have to see it to see how funny it is.
Soon after they arrived, kp's consultant arrived. He had been off for a few weeks. It was very good of him to come in given his personal circumstances at the moment. He had a lovely long chat to kp about her situation and her progress. During the session he kept referencing Karen's log. Both kp and I thought he was referring to some medical record on Karen that the nurses keep. It turned out he was referring to this blog. Blog is short for WeBLOG, so he was dead right, but because kp and I always refer to it as the blog, he threw us. I was chuffed to bits that he had been reading bits of it to keep up with kp's condition. The end result of the visit was that kp was going to reduce her painkiller to see if that reduces her sleepiness and other issues. She doesn't have a problem with this, given he said we can up it again if she gets pain again.
That was about it for today. A good day overall.
posted by David Pollard at Wednesday, August 24, 2005
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