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