Day 119 - Thursday 25th August

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to kp.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Click on the picture to see it in more detail

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

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

Alakazam !

The job's a good 'un. It's a done deal.

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

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


Click on the picture to see it in more detail