Day 216 - Wednesday 30th November

Shaving Legs day today. Since kp has left hospital, we have got out of the routine we had whereby every Monday we would shave her legs and pits. She has been out 2+ weeks now, and we hadn't shaved her legs in that time and although her legs weren't quite as hairy as mine, they weren't far off.

So, today, we shaved legs and pits. I offered a free Brazilian whilst I was on my hands and knees but she wasn't the least bit interested.

Adele arrived about lunchtime to help us with the cleaning. I nipped out to the vet to pick up a prescription for Cleo who has arthritis. They wouldn't give the prescription on the day Cleo got re-examined because he "didn't have time to write it out". I had took with me a pre-printed prescription that just needed signing and he wouldn't even sign that. What a fart on. So I had to go back today. The vet effectively charged a fee for the prescription (which they are not supposed to do). I was there 10 minutes arguing my case, but he wouldn't have it. Clearly they want to provide the drugs as well as the veterinary service to make more money.

When I got back to the house, the telephone engineer was there to try and fix a fault we have with our phone line. As soon as he had gone, I wrote a letter of complaint to to the practice owner. Fingers crossed they see sense.

kp went for a snooze about 2pm whilst I was writing the letter. I joined her about 3pm and we both snoozed until 5.30pm. Lovely snooze !

Eileen (next door neighbour) rang to say she had baked some pies (Corned Beef) and did we want one for tea. I was straight round ! :-)

In preparing the veg, I came across a potato in the shape of a loveheart :-)



I showed kp.........who didn't seem too impressed.

She liked the pie though.



When i saw the potato shaped like a love heart, I did a bit of rearranging of veg to drop some hints to kp about nocturnal activities.




She wasn't impressed. Here's her "Get outta here look".........


The pie was lovely Eileen thanks !

:-)

Day 215 - Tuesday 29th November

First night with out Tamazepam and it didn't go too well. According to Karen, she hadn't slept at all. I have learned not to take this literally and normally it means she has had a bad night's sleep. She has said this a few times, and I have caught her snoring her little head off.

Her first question to me when i woke her up to give her her tablets was "Was I snoring ?".

When I said, "I don't think so", she then responded "I haven't slept a wink" :-)

I think it will take her body a while to get the Tamazepam out of her system. We are going to persevere.

HHL#2 arrived (HHL#1 is on her day off) to get kp ready to meet the world.

Whilst she was here, all hell broke lose. The postman arrived setting the dogs into "frenzy" mode. The HandyVan came with two what-seemed-like 80 year olds who had come to fix a KeySafe to our wall. The Keysafe allows the home help ladies to get in to the house without me being there. Jane Burns phoned to see how kp was and all of this occurred within seconds of each other. kp was oblivious to it all with HHL#2 drying her hair at the time.

Marie texted us during breakfast to let us know she was coming for the afternoon. kp had offered to take her for some beauty treatment. Pretty much as soon as Marie arrived, she was whisked out to the beauty salon. kp wanted some facial feature tinting, something waxing and something plucking. I can't remember which was which, but she came back fluttering her eyelashes and looking longingly at me (as a joke). She can be such a temptress ! :-)

The other day I was knitting on my scarf project (I have done about 1 inch of the scarf) and according to Tracy I was knitting too tight. Well, I didn't see the problem with this until moments later, when one of Marie's knitting needles splintered and shot itself all over our living room in many pieces.

I had called the "new needle" hotline (Marie) and she came up trumps today with new needles. METAL ONES !

Thanks Marie.

I am in the process of writing Days 2 to 12 of the blog which are very sparse. Marie and I sat down and collated our notes of the first 2 weeks and then it was time for her to leave on the bus to Middlesbrough.

Tonight is Lasagne and Chips. Last night was Lasagne, Salad and Garlic Bread.....GARLIC................BRREEAAADDD.................... (Peter Kay fans will know what I mean).

Day 214 - Monday 28th November

Mixed bag of a day today.

kp had said goodbye to the ladies last night and I dropped them off at the airport this morning.

After walking the dogs in the snow, I let the home help lady #1 (HHL#1) in to get kp up and we all had a nice breakfast cuppa in the lovely warm living room :-)

Then for a snooze. kp had barely been up an hour. We had a couple of hours.

After the snooze, I made us both a cup of tea. Tracey had left some of her fruity teas so I decided to have a cup of mango and cinnamon tea. Mango and Cinnamon tea is bright red in colour !

When both teas were ready, I took them both in to the front room, but was met halfway there by Karen walking in the other direction. Well I sh+t a brick !! The red tea went up in the air and I uttered a few expletives to karen's surprise.

Normally, it takes so much effort for kp to get out of a chair, she normally waits for me to get her up. So, I REALLY wasn't expecting to meet anyone in the hall. The red tea that I thought would have really stained the carpet was actually easy to get out.

Geraldine, our next door neighbour but one, popped round to see Karen. We had a lovely chat with her and she kindly brought some wine round :-)

After the tea and when Geraldine had gone home, we had a natter. kp is getting a bit concerned at the amount of sleeping she is doing and I am starting to think it may be a bit too much sleep as well. So after the snooze we had a chat about it and we are going to stop the tamazepam (sleeping tablet) to see how she fares.

Later in the afternoon, kp went to check her emails and we went to confirm some flights for holidays next year. One of the websites for the flights was asking what level of assistance we needed to get on the plane.

"Do you need a wheelchair to the plane steps, but can then board the aircraft yourself via the steps ?"

"Do you need a wheelchair to the plane steps, and need assistance boarding the aircraft"

"Do you need your wheelchair to be hoisted into the aircraft ?"

The wording was a little more professional, but as I read these out to Karen, she started crying. I am welling up now thinking of her getting upset. The tears got worse and worse.

dp:- "What's wrong love ?"
kp:- "I don't know"

I left it for a bit and just hugged her as the tears got worse.

kp:- "I don't want to be in a wheelchair. And I can't take everything in !"

Basically, she is obviously realising more and more about her predicament, but I think what got to her more was the fact that she couldn't take in all the flight information. I was perhaps reading out the wheelchair options at my normal speed but obviously too fast for kp to comprehend. Even when I repeated them, it just wasn't sinking in. I felt so sorry for her.

She just isn't as fast as she used to be at times and this is very sad for her (and me) 'cos she knows how much more switched on she used to be.

I tried to distract her for the rest of the day but I know she is still not 100% in her head, far from it.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.........

We have lined up a nice meal with Mum and Dad (their treat) with Tommy and Eileen for Friday, and we have a busy Wed, Thurs and Fri day as well, so hopefully this week won't be as bad as today.

As always, fingers crossed !

Day 213 - Sunday 27th November - Addendum

Lovely day today. I walked the dogs in the freezing sleet this morning and by the time I had come back HHL#1 had got kp up, washed down and sitting having a cup of tea in the front room.

It was lovely to see her looking out at me as I walked the dogs past the window. She was lovely, warm and cosy and I was dripping and cold :-)

I treat the girls to a cooked breakfast this morning. Tracey (on a diet) had something that looked like cardboard. It didn't look quite as nice as our Bacon and Eggs :-)

After our late breakfast, kp went back to bed until teatime when it was my treat again - Roast Chicken and all the trimmings. It was lovely not have to wash up :-)

We have had a nice evening together and the weekend has gone all too fast. Tracey and Marge fly to Southampton early tomorrow morning. It was lovely having them, really lovely. It was a real bonus that they did loads of jobs while they were here also - thanks Ladies !!

Look forward to your January visit.

Day 213 - Sunday 27th November

Karen's New Tricks

I forgot to mention some achievements that kp has been dead chuffed about over the last couple of weeks.

About 2 weeks ago, she mentioned trick #1

She could wash her right hand with her left hand. She was keen to demonstrate it. I looked on. She was basically opening her left hand whilst rubbing her right hand around her left hand. It was a little sad to see, but the fact she is thinking about using it more (without prompting) is excellent.

Last night...........she announced that she could pull her right sleeve up her arm with her left hand. She basically used her left finger to hook the sleeve and 50% of the movement was her left hand holding the sleeve so it couldn't move, and the other 50% was kp moving her right arm in the direction so her sleeve would go up.

It's all things she couldn't do a few weeks ago.......I am very pleased she is so chuffed at her new achievements.

Day 212 - Saturday 26th November

kp up at 10am when HHL#1 arrived, back to sleep by 12pm after a breakfast cooked by the girls.

Didn't get back up until 4.30pm !

The ladies (Tracey and Marge) have been preparing meals for kp and I that are to be frozen and reanimated in the oven. They have also done loads of housework. Bloody stars the pair of them.

We all had a good night watching the usual Saturday Night entertainment !

That's it for today

Day 211 - Friday 25th November - Addendum

We had a lovely night tonight and didn't get to bed until about 11.30pm. Tracy and Madge had done a lovely dinner for Karen and I (Fillet Steak and Chips).

Tracy is a bit wary of the dogs and is a bit anxious about getting up to the loo in the middle of the night. So, Karen and I suggested she could borrow some of kp's commode like items.

Here is Tracey with bedpan, commode pot and female urinal. We like to keep out guests happy at the Pollard household ;-)

Day 211 - Friday 25th November

Early start today for me. I had to be at the airport for 8.25am to pick Tracey up so got up at 6.15am to walk the dogs.

Marie had stayed over so she got the house ready for visitors while kp slept in until HHL#1 arrived.

kp was still stiff this morning, but after an hour or so of being up, she was a bit looser.

I went for a 3 hour snooze while all the ladies caught up on the gossip. We had a nice afternoon with Marge, Freddy and Michelle when they eventually got here. (They got lost).

We watched kp's 18 min homecoming video and there weren't many dry eyes in the house.

kp has had a really good day so far, and very kindly, Tracey (who has been up since 5am) and Marge (Tracey's mam) are cooking tea !! :-)

Day 210 - Thursday 24th November

After a fairly energetic day yesterday, kp was worse for wear today. The steps at Lydia's had taken their toll on kp and she was much stiffer than usual and in quite a bit of discomfort.

HHL#1 arrived and got kp up and dressed. She stayed for a cup of tea before kp and I started on her homework. She has been given various exercises to do to keep her left shoulder relaxed.

We sat her in a comfy chair and then thought..........

"Right, what were the exercises we had to do........."

For a couple of minutes neither of us had a clue what she should be doing, although kp could remember the "pressure point" massage that I was supposed to do.

Anyway, they came back after a while.

One of the things we were supposed to do was to try and desensitive kp's left hand by letting it experience different textures.

The reason behind this is Karen can't do one of the exercises because it involves her holding her aluminium walking stick in her left hand and it is painfully cold to Karen, so much so, she felt it was burning her with cold and couldn't hold it.

So, I went on a trip around the house and came back with
Sandpaper
Hammer (cold metal end)
A set of rawplugs
20 long (cold) nails
Some fake fur
Draught Excluder foam

You'd think I was going to do a Blue Peter, and turn it into some Hellraiser puppet or something.

One by one, I presented each item to kp's right hand (first) so she knows what it should feel like, and then to her left hand.

She hated the hammer (same burning sensation as the stick) and the rawplugs.
She didn't mind the rest and loved the fake fur.

This over, we started on the walking stick exercise with a little solution (that both kp and I hadn't thought of) suggested by the Physio.......


(Note the tea towel under her left hand)

The idea of this exercise is kp tries to lift the stick with her right and left hands/arms equally. Invariably, the right arm leads the way. She needs to be told constantly to straighten her left elbow, but it is definately improving a little bit on previous days/weeks.

Lots more exercises of different types and then I did the "relief of the pressure points" thing that she really likes. It hurts her, but the after effect is really appreciated.

Homework over, we went into town to pick Marie up and get some shopping for the weekend ahead. Marie is staying tonight, Tracy and Margaret are coming to stay for the weekend.

So, we should have some good nights ahead.


I took a photo of kp doing her "lift the stick" in the air

Day 209 - Wednesday 23rd November

Physio today at 9.30am at Chester-le-Street hospital. This means an early rise for both kp and I. I was out with the dogs at 6.30am, and kp had to get up at 7.30am when homehelp lady #1 (HHL1) arrived. Time doesn't start until 9am in kp's book and even then that's early, so 7.30am is EARLY (in capitals).

I braved the room before the home help lady. After 30 seconds, I was brave enough to put the light on and was greeted with this..........



Let's take a vote...........Do you think she wanted to get out of bed ?

Well, she had to and that was that. I let HHL1 do the honours!

Physio today was good and concentrated on kp's arm. The lady physio did some strength tests on her arm and then proceeded to see how much dexterity she has for practical jobs.

She asked kp to put some cones on top of each other.........





kp needed help with this. Her left elbow tends to stick out more than it should, apparently because her muscles (in her left arm) have moved to a different position due to disuse.

She then tried kp on the sticks. Basically kp had to move a stick from one hole to another. She needed help with this also.....



It was clear kp's shoulder was too stiff to achieve any of these tasks so she set away trying to find kp's pressure points and exerting pressure on them to ease the stiffness. It seemed to work a treat. I saw kp's shoulder go from really stiff (and raised higher than her right), to quite relaxed.

She showed me how to find these pressure points and how to release them a bit. So, that's my homework for the week (once a day).

Finally, she got kp to try and grab some tiddlywinks between her thumb and finger. kp can do this if she gives the tiddlywink to her left hand from her right hand, but she tends to grip the tiddlywink lower down her forefinger than she normally would, but practice makes perfect.



Karen was given homework for the week and we have a visit next week by the Occupational Therapist (OT) to see how kp does at day to day tasks like ironing etc...

Physio is Friday next week (LATER IN THE DAY I AM PLEASED TO REPORT).

Physio over, we went to Lydia's for some breakfast and to meet up with her Nan and boyfriend. That's Lydia's boyfriend and not her Nan's. Her Nan is well past it (private joke).

Lydia has 2 of the most beautiful cat's (Blynn and Persia). Peria is a black persian cat with ginger coloured eyes, and Blynn is another brand of cat (I forget), but is beautiful. I couldn't take a photo of Persia 'cos he was too fidgety, but here's Blynn....



We enjoyed a cracking breakfast and kp braved Lyd's bannister-less stairs to the loo, with me in front of her and Deborah behind her. She was a bit wary to say the least. Coming down, she was very scared, but again one in front and one behind and the odd "nearly fell", she made it.

Straight home for a snooze. HHL#1 returned to do 90 mins of housework which was great.

That's pretty much today.

Day 208 - Tuesday 22nd November

kp dropped a bit of a bombshell tonight.

kp:- David, I have something to tell you

Of course, my mind goes into overdrive. She is having an affair. She doesn't love me. She is in love with her lesbian Lover Ronnie and she is moving down south etc etc............

kp:- I am having problems swallowing and have been since about a week before I left hospital.

?!!!!!!!?!?!?!??!!

She went on to say........

kp:- It seems to be getting worse. Like tonight, I have had to close my eyes to get each mouthful down.
dp:- Why didn't you tell me earlier ?

I was quite annoyed. I don't like her keeping things from me.

kp:- I think, because if I tell you, it becomes real, and I was hoping it would get better not worse.

As soon as she had told me this, I remembered a choking fit she had had whilst the homehelp lady (#1) was here. I didn't have to resort to the Heimlick maneuvre, but I did have to nearly slap her into tomorrow from the back to stop her choking.

We are going to contact the consultant from the hospital tomorrow to see what he says.

That aside..........

Usual Snoozy Day. Lovely snooze in the afternoon.

Thanks for all the recipes

That's it.

Day 207 - Monday 21st November

We both had an awful night's sleep, probably due to excessive snoozing the day before.

Uneventful day really.

Home help lady #1 came round to get kp up. Pretty much as soon as she left, kp and I went back to bed for a snooze until Marie came.

Marie did loads of jobs round the house, she also brought with her some knitting needles and wool for me. I had been pestering her that I wanted to get back into knitting and today she came up trumps. She taught me the pattern for a scarf. It took me ages to crack casting on, even longer to suss the difference between knitting and purling, but I feel I have just about got it. Unfortunately, I can't turn corners. I can get to the end of a row of the scarf, but can't seem to start the next row, so it'll have to wait 'til she comes up next time.

kp has started to comment about the variety of food I am presenting her with each night. I think she is getting sick of "something + chips". It's not as if I don't vary the "something" part of the equation.

She's threatening me with having to cook veg and do different kinds of potato like mash. Yikes ! All depends if I have time love ! I may be half way across knitting a row !

She's gassing as I write this.

No doubt we will be going to bed soon - oooooooooooooo, it's an exciting life we lead ! Knit one, purl one.

Day 206 - Sunday 20 November

Last night, kp was out like a light and I couldn't help looking at her in bed and thinking "I am so glad you are here, love". I kept stroking her face. I was up 2 hours just feeling happy. We discussed it in the morning, and kp said she remembered me doing it :-)

Unventful Day.

Big snoozes in the afternoon, nice sits outside in the lovely cool sunshine and a nice tea.

Day 205 - Saturday 19th November

Uneventful Day.

Marie, Glenn and I were all up at 8am. As I usually do, I get kp up when I get up to get her to go to the loo and then she falls straight back to sleep. Today was no different, but she did add that she was really tired.

Marie asked me, after a cup of tea, if she should get Karen up now (8.15am). I suggested that that wasn't such a good idea.

The homehelp lady didn't get here until 10.45am and got kp up.

We had a nice breakfast with Marie and Glenn, they left, and kp and I went back to sleep from 1pm until 6.30pm, getting up just in time for "Strictly Come Dancing".

Usual Saturday night. Loved it.

Bedtime.

Day 204 - Friday 18th November - Addendum

Marie and Glenn arrived at 6.45pm and we went for a meal out with Tommy and Eileen (ace neighbours). Thoroughly enjoyable.

kp without her wheelchair as well !

Day 204 - Friday 18th November

Karen wasn't 100% this morning, physically or mentally. She had big aches and pains and needed to take additional pain meds (codeine and diclofenac) on top of Fentanyl and Gabapentin. I don't think her body is used to all the moving around she is doing now.

After the home help lady had been and got kp up, kp wanted to start looking forward to holidays for next year and she set about checking flights. She also wanted to check her email. She couldn't do either of these things this morning.

I think she had problems reading the emails and seeing the website, but more of the problem was she didn't have the mental stamina (that's the best way I can word it) to take things in. I think the last few days has been so much for her. Compared to her time in hospital, she is doing SO MUCH mentally and physically and I think it's taking its toll a bit.

The stroke has left her less able to concentrate generally.

But, together we got through what she wanted to achieve. We then went for a snooze, but just as we were dozing off, our local Doctor popped in for a visit, which was nice. We had an appointment with him next week anyway, but managed to cram it into his visit. He left us with prescriptions for about 10 different types of drugs (over prescription slips). One big prescription. It would cost about 60 quid to get at the chemist had we not just bought one of the annual prescription cards.

kp is back snoozing again now. I suspect there won't be anything to report between now and sleep time, but if there is, I will do an "addendum"

Day 203 - Thursday 17th November

Unventful Day

Home help arrived and got kp up at 10am.

She came back at 1pm to do our ironing (Allelujah, praise be !). Just before home help returned, Marie arrived for an afternoon with kp. Together they sorted out wardrobes and drawers, and orders for the Avon Lady.

I nipped in to Langley Park to do a few errands, came back for a 2 hour snooze.

Power cut occurred at 3.30pm, didn't come back on until 7.45pm. kp was cuddled up in front of the gas fire to keep warm.

That's it.

Day 202 - Wednesday 16th November

kp got a bit of a shock this morning. She was expecting to get up at 9am (which is very early for kp) to be at Physio for 10.30am. Instead the lady arrived at 7.30am just as I was getting ready to walk the dogs.

I entered the bedroom with the care lady :-

dp:- Morning Love (fear in my voice). X is here.
kp:- Do I have to get up now ?
dp:- It would be a good idea love.(gently lullaby voice)

I faffed around for 2 minutes getting the dogs ready and checked in before I left the house. kp was still in bed with the care lady standing over her in the dark. I put the light on to speed things up and promptly left to take the dogs.

We stopped off at the tip to get rid of half of the rubbish from the homecoming on the way to Physio.

Chester-le-Street hospital seems very new and clean and our lady physio seemed very nice.

She did an assessment of kp today, seeing how strong each leg/arm was, but she started off asking Karen what did she want to be able to do.

Of course, I had to say the old "ironing" joke again. Noone ever laughs, but I can't help myself.

She wants to be able to walk the dogs, make a cup of tea and be able to use her left arm more.

The lady explained that the walk may be a more long term goal given the strength of the dogs and the length of the walk, but it was certainly something to aim for.

She then tested her balance. It started off easy and progressively got harder.........

Standing up for 2 mins (Fine, no problems)
Standing up for 2 mins with feet together (She made it but with a lot more concentration required and the odd "nearly lost it")
Putting one feet on a step, bringing it down and then repeating with the other (8x) (Not a graceful movement, more a "do it quick before I fall over affair", but she did it)
Putting one foot directly in front of the other foot and holding for a while and then repeating the other way round (couldn't do this without cheating), but got some marks for initiative
Bending down to pick something off the floor (SO CLOSE, but so far. She got about as far as you see in this photo, but then the last bit was a grab. She tried this about 3x and didn't manage it)

The finale and the hardest thing was for her to stand on one leg for a while and then try it with the other leg. (She couldn't do this at all, but boy did she try !)

Physio over, we went to see kp's workmates. They were on a "training day", which means they don't take blood, but instead sit around a table gossipping all day. I mean "reading SOP's and talking about work". ;-)

They were very pleased to see kp and there was the odd tear from some staff and I think even kp had 1 or 2 at one moment.



We stayed for about 45 minutes while kp caught up on all the work gossip. She really enjoyed seeing her workmates again.

Then shopping in Sainsburys before home for a hot chicken lunch and then bed for 2pm.

Snooze followed. I got up at 5.30pm and kp is still asleep. She gets tired so easily, but I suppose it is to be expected.

That's it for today.

I'll end with a couple of photos from the last day or so.

Here is kp snoozing whilst waiting for her eye appointment (last Friday)...........



Here is kp with part of Ethan's birthday present on (Sunday)............

Day 201 - Tuesday 15th November

kp's pain had died down by this morning, she was just stiff. When she first gets up from a stationary position (like in bed), she walks really slow until she gets the rhythm. I have noticed that subconsciously I am starting to push her with my fingers to try and get her to go faster. It's something I'll have to unlearn. Don't get me wrong, it's not a dangerous push. More an encouraging nudge.

A different carer lady today. I am pleased to report that she doesn't have the nack for doing kp's hair that the other lady had. I can't begin to describe the style she did with her hair, but kp couldn't be bothered today.

Adele arrived to help us with the cleaning. The house hadn't recovered from the homecoming party. Pretty much as soon as Adele had done our bedroom, kp and I went to sleep for 3 hours. Lovely sleep. We emerged to a lovely clean house. Thanks Adele.

The social worker came this afternoon to discuss in more detail kp's situation and the help that she can be offered. We know the way forward a bit more now and she has lined us up with about 4 visits from different people to help with different things.

We then said goodbye to Adele, had tea with "24" and kp then retired (at 9pm) for the evening.

Physio tomorrow at 10.30am and Lydia tipped us off that kp's work team are working in Chester-le-Street and she has said she may call in on them on the way home from physio.

Day 200 - Monday 14th November

Day 200 - wahey !!!

Blimey, It doesn't feel like 200 days since the accident. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun ?!

;-)

Karen was in a lot of pain today when she woke up, undoubtedly due to the ascent/descent of Mount Everest (Marie's steps) yesterday. And she did it twice !

I sat her up in bed. She was still half asleep. I threw her tablets into her mouth (which she didn't really appreciate). She normally holds the water, while I place the tablets on her tongue, but I get bored easily so throwing them in was a bit more of a challenge today. The Queen was not amused. I think I got to the 3rd tablet before I was left in no uncertain terms that I should resort to placing them again.

Tablets in, I got her back into bed for more sleep while I walked the dogs.

Today was the first day with "home help". Just one visit today and the purpose of this morning visit was to get kp up. It felt very strange not getting kp up after walking the dogs. It's the natural thing for me to do, but instead I just left her asleep and started peeling veg for the evening's Roast.

The home help lady was very nice. In time, she will be able to let herself in as we are having a secure box put outside with the key in , but for today I let her in.

She was scared sh+tless when she heard the dog barking in the Utility Room. When she found out it was a German Shepherd and there were 3 of them, I think we became her least favourite visit of the day.

She got kp up, showered her, even styled her hair, annoyingly, better than I do.

It was weird. As kp later pointed out, this is the first time since the accident that I hadn't done it.

Shortly after she left, Marie arrived. Marie had come to sort out the flowers. kp received SOOOOOOOOOOO many bouquets of flowers on "Homecoming Day", and they needed some Marie Magic to keep them looking spot on. Thank you soooooooo much for everyone who brought or sent flowers. kp absolutely loved them.

Marie did her stuff. kp sat in the wheelchair with a pair of scissors in her right hand and Marie would occasionally present some stems to kp for her to snip away. kp enjoyed it.

The end result was impressive :-)

kp in her flower shop


Marie and kp


Marie left just before 6pm at which point the roast was ready. We both enjoyed it, although I burnt my arm on the oven and it knacked.

kp was tired after the roast and had an early night. 7pm.

It was lovely to have kp home for the first Monday. It feels like a bit of normality again and I don't feel as pressed for time, like I always did when going to the hospital each day.

Day 199 - Sunday 13th November

JB and Ronnie were up at 7.30am to get Ronnie to Durham station by 8.45am.

Me and kp slept in until about 8.45am and 10am respectively.

When kp got up she was still tired and wanted to go back to bed, but we had Ethan's birthday party to go to (our 8 year old great nephew).

We had a nice time at Marie's watching the homecoming dvd. Michelle was in tears, kp and I were ok second time round.

kp needed the loo while at Marie's and had to climb about 14 steep steps. She only just made it. And as for coming down, well, she could NOT have done it on her own. I was, as good as, lifting her down each step.

She was knackered.

I was very quiet the whole afternoon. I could sense my tiredness coming over me again :-(

As soon as we got home, kp hit the sack for a couple of hours while I made tea and went on my computer.

That's it for today. Not much to report. Expect shorter blogs in the future. If there isn't much to report, I won't be writing babble for the sake of it.

I sense kp's mood is about to change for the worse. There are only so many distractions I can provide. As soon as she has a day where there is nothing going on, I sense she may think "Well, what do I do now ?"

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it !

Day 198 - Saturday 12th November

kp and I went to sleep on Friday night about 10pm, leaving the Ronnie and JB watching a film. We were both tired.

I got up at 9am and walked the dogs and then went back to sleep with kp about 11am.

kp got up at .........wait for it............. 2pm in the afternoon !!! She was knackered.

Jane cooked us her speciality (Bacon and Egg Baps) and we had a nice afternoon with Ronnie and Jane before the usual Saturday night entertainment.

The entertainment for the evening for the ladies was me. I was very nowty ! If someone breathed in the wrong direction, or interrupted a singer on X Factor or the results of the judges in Strictly Come Dancing, I gave them "what for". Noone could do anything right.

I was positively looking at things to get angry at. Much to the girl's amusement. I wasn't amused at the time.

A little bit of self analysis and some hints from the ladies (although they weren't ladies last night) led me to conclude that I was tired. So I went to bed at 9pm. Ronnie put kp to bed at 12am.

Homecoming Day Blog Entry Done

CLICK HERE to go to it

Here are a couple of additions I forgot to put in.........

kp wrote a poem for the staff's card...........

There's been some laughs,
there's been some tears,
a New Era dawns,
let's open the beers.

I'm homeward bound now
you'll be pleased to hear
It's all thanks to YOU
I'm giving you a big cheer

You are a great bunch of people
That's why I am writing this letter
from the cleaners to the consultants
I couldn't have asked for better.

You all are your own characters
I'll not forget this ward
You kept me entertained
I didn't get bored

The treatment has been great
From adhesive allevyns to intrasite gel
You've cared for me,
Looked after me so well

I have gone out of here
2 stones light
I am not saying
the food is .......

From the time I arrived on the Ward
where I was one big suture
It's my time now to say
A very big thanks,
Goodbye and
Good luck for the future.


And also, I remembered a funny incident from the Homecoming day. kp was probably 2 glasses of champagne worse for wear, I was probably a little worse. kp needed the loo. Someone must have been since kp's last visit since the commode had been taken off the loo and put to one side not that either of us noticed this consciously.

kp and I entered the loo, I got kp ready for the loo, and then she normally uses the arm of the commode to lower herself down.

Well, she just dropped like a lead weight on the (lower) toilet seat at the same time I sat on the commode seat.

She started laughing.........

kp:- The commode's not here
dp:- I know, I've sat on it.

Well we laughed our heads off. Funny at the time.

Day 197 - Friday 11th November

First of all, I still haven't had time to do yesterday's blog. I have been busy editing video footage taken by Ronnie, and hope to have it complete later tonight or more realistically tomorrow at some point. Yesterday's blog entry will be WELL WORTH THE WAIT. It will include a 5 minute and 20 minute video clip of the day both of which have had me in tears when I was doing them.

There will also be loads of photos for those that have slow internet connections and can't download the video clip.

ok, back to today.

After such a FANTASTIC day yesterday, things simply couldn't be as good today, there was no way. I had gone to bed last night at approx 9pm. I had wrote a little blog entry explaining the delay in writing the update, and had fallen asleep at the computer after writing it. So, I had an early night ! I was so so tired. kp didn't come to bed until 1am ish. Ronnie put her nighty on, and got her into bed. Thanks Ronnie.

I had to get up at 7.30am to walk the dogs and be back in time to get kp ready to go to her eye appointment at the RVI in Newcastle. The dogs were filthy and needed a good clean down after the walk, which left very little time to get kp ready. I spent more time getting 3 German Shepherds clean and dry than I did washing kp down. She can't have a bath or shower at the moment as the bath gadget (that has been delivered) hasn't been installed and apparently, I am not supposed to touch it. So, it's a stand-up bath, which is not as nice for kp by a long shot.

At the Eye hospital, kp had lots of tests done. The first was a very thorough peripheral vision test. kp has good peripheral vision (Normal) in her left eye, and abysmal peripheral vision in her right. She can only see things directly in front of her. kp was compensating for this in the test. kp had to look straight ahead and a light appears from some angle (left to right, up or down). She has to buzz when she sees it. kp couldn't see it at all with her right, until the lady made the light much bigger. Even then, she could only see the light when it was directly ahead. kp compensated for this by looking around with her right eye for the white light spot. The lady had to keep telling kp to look ahead and NOT look for the light. I lost count of the times she asked her to keep looking ahead. The lady kept her cool throughout :-)

After this, she had her eye pressure tested and then went to see the Eye Doctor. Lovely, switched-on lady.

She told Karen the good and bad news.

Eye Doctor :- Your left eye is excellent. But your right eye has suffered optic nerve damage. Glasses won't help your right eye, and the damage is permanent and irreversible.

Now, to me, this wasn't news. We already knew this, or so I thought.

The Eye Doctor wasn't convinced kp would benefit 100% from glasses to help her reading and watching tv. She went on to explain that kp's problem with reading may be partly down to her slower brain function and not just to poorer eyesight. She suggested trying those glasses you see at the chemist to see if they help reading.

Well, I didn't think anything of it, but when we got to the car, kp was very upset. She didn't stop crying until we got home.

Although she admitted that deep down she knew the right eye was damaged, she was expecting to hear (today) "what" could be done to help her reading and tv watching more bearable. Instead, she was told that nothing could help the right eye.

It was very sad.

kp:- I know I am slow at taking things in, and this is probably just a case of me having not realised that my eyes aren't going to get any better, but it still makes me upset. What have i done to deserve this ?

Heartbreaking to hear. Not much I could say.

When we got back to the house, the distractions soon took her mind off the upset. The distraction came in a Jane Burn's cooked breakfast. It was lovely.

Late Breakfast (1.30 pm) over, the home help supervisor and the social worked came to see kp. They were very helpful and detailed that they were going to get someone in 4 times a day (30 mins each visit) to help get kp up, to bed, prepare meals etc... They'll even do ironing if you ask nicely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!

To start off, they are going to come on Monday for just one visit, so we can build it up. They felt 4 visits a day straight away would be a bit of a shock. IT WOULD !

Whilst they were here, Ronnie and Jane went to sleep in their bedrooms. As soon as they left, kp and I joined them (not in the same beds though ;-)

We all slept until about 6pm, and are about to have a chinese.

That's it for today.

Should have the homecoming blog done tomorrow.

Day 196 - Thursday 10th November - Coming Home Day

This is the big homecoming blog entry. It was written on Saturday afternoon, but has been inserted in the correct order.

This is a long blog entry and packing a lunch and a thermos for a break halfway through would be advisable.

It started for kp the night before when she said goodbye to a member of the night staff who had gotten very close to kp. There were lots of tears. She had an "ok" night's sleep. I thought she would have been up all night.

"Coming Home" Day was a very long day for me also. At 1.15am, I was picking Ronnie up from the Durham train station. At 7.30am, I was walking the dogs. At 9.55am I was outside Costco waiting for the doors to open to nip in and get some last minute buffet items that Tesco had missed off the list, and the all-important "Thanks for Everything" cake for the Ward 22 staff.



Mind you, if Tesco had delivered everything, I don't think I would have got it in the fridge :-


I still managed to get to the hospital for 10.30am, which I was pleased at.

We had a little chat before bathtime....

dp:- So, do you think you will get emotional when you leave hospital love ?
kp:- I know they have said everyone does, but I think I'll be alright.

We had the quickest bath ever today before Physio which was at 11am. The main man asked kp what she wanted to do today..........

kp:- Well, I have seen lots of stroke patients playing Dominoes in this room. Perhaps we could have a game of Dominoes ?

She was joking.

Instead of Dominoes, he worked on her left arm and shoulders which were a bit stiff.

To finish off, she did the long walk back to her room. At this point, it was time for her to say goodbye to the main man, a chap who has done SO much for Karen and as Karen said to me later

kp:- I don't think I would have come so far if it wasn't for X.

The main man congratulated kp on how well she had done and gave her a hug. At this point, kp became very emotional.



The tears didn't stop until we got off the ward. And between the main man and the car, there was everyone else to say goodbye to. We handed the cake over to the Ward Manager and thanked her for everything she had done (as we did to all the staff we saw).

It was quite emotional to watch as kp said goodbye to everyone. I took quite a few photos of kp with the staff, but am not posting these at the request of the staff.

kp wanted to walk out of the hospital, so I loaded up her wheelchair and she walked to the lift (stick in hand) :-



She was adamant she wanted to walk to the car, so I took the opportunity to take some more photos. Here is one of her walking out the hospital door...........



Here she is outside the hospital.............



kp carried on crying for 5 minutes in the car, but soon the conversation turned to how glad she was that she had made it etc....

kp:- I love you David.

Well, this came from nowhere and I wasn't expecting it.

dp:- Thanks love. I Love you too. I am so proud of you.

Marie, Ronnie and I had prepared the house for Karen. Marie had bought "Welcome Home" banners, Ronnie was on Helium Balloon duty, and I had done some big posters of "kp's time in hospital".

This poster was 7.5 feet by 3.5 feet :-


And this is a smaller collage (4ft by 3ft) :-


Here is the larger one in front of the TV with Louisa on the left :-



I rang the house 2 minutes before arrival so everyone could be outside to welcome her home (as arranged). Most of the family were there by 1pm and then various other parties arrived throughout the day.

Here is the family and some real and pretend friends (in-joke) ready for the Queen's arrival :-



Big thanks to Marie who took most of these photos, and to Ronnie who took the video footage (more later).

She's here, she's here.........


kp out of the car...........



Marge and kp


Marge, Abby and kp


Ronnie (Cameralady) + kp


Aunty Celia + kp


Aunty Celia, Kelly + kp


Louisa + kp


Pretend Friends Debs + Lydia + kp




Ronnie + kp


Ethan, Marie and kp


Linda Mac + kp


kp + family in kitchen


kp + family in kitchen


kp, my mum and dad and my godfather and godmother (John and Lorna Slinger)


Jane and John


The following photos were taken later in the evening and for a few of them the flash wasn't on, so they have had to be brightened later with subsequent loss of quality.

Julie (Work Colleague)


Jane Burns having everyone in stitches


Jane again


Ethan and Kp


Danielle, kp and Sue (sorry about the lines)


Ange


A crowd round kp


The day started with champagne. I had got 5 bottles of Moet in thinking that would be enough for a toast. It turned out that it was the drink of choice and I would have run out were it not for people knowing that it is kp's drink of choice and they brought bottles with them. So thanks for that !!

Karen and I had such a wonderful day on this day. It could NOT have been better. The atmosphere was unlike any party I have experienced before. Normally, I detest parties, but this was awesome ! Thanks to Marie who was an absolute powerhouse in the kitchen ensuring everyone was fed, thanks to Ronnie for the excellent video footage and thanks to everyone for coming and for the flowers that you brought or in some cases sent (because you couldn't be here). We appreciate ALL your support over the last 7 months !!!!

Here is a list of those who were here on the day (in no particular order) :-

From kp's family.......
kp
dp
Marie
Adele
Abbie
Ethan
Louisa
Michelle
Freddy
Marge
Celia
Kelly
Kelly's baby

Our friends.....
Ronnie
Jane B.
Tony B.
Alex
Sue
Danielle
Joan + hubby
Mandy
Margo
David
Michael
Sarah

From kp's work.......
Angela (also in the crash)
Kevin (also in the crash)
Debs
Lydia
Linda Mac
Julie
Tracey

From my side.........
My Mum and Dad
My Godfather and Godmother
My bezza Nigel
Caroline (ex work colleague)

I am sure there were more, but the day is a bit fuzzy due to Champagne having an alcoholic content.

I wrote a little bit of blog on the night, but fell asleep at the computer. I was in bed by 10pm. Ronnie put kp to bed at about 1am I think.

So, thanks Q.E. Ward 22 and Intensive Care and Ward 3 for ALL you did ! Thanks to everyone who texted kp with support, who wrote blog comments of support, who sent flowers, gifts etc etc... We are very grateful. A problem shared is a problem halved. Well, a problem shared in a blog is a lot less of a problem than carrying it on one's own. So, thanks to everyone !

The blog doesn't stop here. So many people associate "going home" (from hospital) as you are fine and well. kp is not, by any means, recovered. The recovery continues, the blog continues.

I'll end with the best bit............

I have edited together 2 films of the day (taken by Ronnie). For those short of time who want a taster of the homecoming day, there is a 5 minute video, for those who want the full day (18 min video), then there is a bigger download.

Click Here for the 5 minute video (It will take over an hour to download for dialup users, about 5-6 minutes for broadband users)

Click Here for the 18 minute video (It will take over 4 hours to download for dialup users, just under 20 minutes for broadband users)

For best viewing, download the clip first to your machine and then watch it, rather than watch it as it downloads it.

For those that would like it on dvd (at full quality), it is free of charge if you visit our house to see Karen :-)

Warning - You may need some tissues at hand for these clips. I did !