Day 224 - Thursday 8th December

First of all, a funny couple of incidents from yesterday.

During the OT visit, kp had learned a few moves to assist her in trying to get clothes on herself. When she was putting her nighty on, she insisted I didn't say a word while she put her nighty top on.

So, she started putting her nighty on, but I could see straight away that she had got it positioned back to front, before even trying to get it on...........

dp:- Can I just...........
kp:- Don't say ANYTHING, just watch
dp:- but...........
kp:- You can say things afterwards.
dp:- k........

So, i watched..............

It was a bit like watching an escapology act in reverse. She did manage to get both arms in and the thing pulled down which was definately a new trick.

kp:- Now, you can speak
dp:- It's back to front.

We both had a good laugh.

So, she started again.

This time we made sure it was the right way round. Normally, I put the weak arm in first (as it is harder to get in afterwards), but kp did it the other way. I didn't say anything, thinking she knew a trick the OT had told her about.

Well, she did her escapology thing, and did a nice maneuvre which VERY nearly got her left arm in the armhole of the nighty. Karen obviously thought she HAD got it in, and carried on. A few seconds later..............

kp:- There !

She had her nighty on 90% perfectly, except her left arm was inside the nighty with her hand hanging out of the bottom of the nighty (not through the arm hole at all).

I couldn't help but laugh, and as I did so, I showed her where her left arm/hand was. She was in stitches.

Things like this could be so sad, but we have really learned to laugh about them. It works for us.

Last night was awful for both of us. Karen had slept so much during the day, she couldn't sleep. I am a bit under the weather still (achy/painy/chesty coughy/nose drippy), and so was very unsettled. We tossed and turned for ages. According to Karen, as soon as I got settled and fell asleep, I was snoring, and she would wake me up. When kp fell asleep, I would be tossing and turning and would wake her up.

I just remember a night of being woken up by Karen every hour (for snoring). So, by 6am, we had had enough and I went to sleep in a different room, leaving her a phone in case she had problems. I was gone until 10am when HHL#1 came. SO was kp !

Today, we had a visit from a lady who has installed a Mobile Warden System. Basically, kp wears a pendant round her neck and if she falls (and I am not here), she pushes the pendant and she can speak to the Warden who will come round. One of our worries, is when I eventually go back to work, and kp falls without a phone on her, she will be well and truly buggered, so this way, she can push the button. It costs 4GBP a week, but is money well spent for the peace of mind in our opinion.

Once the warden lady left, I took kp to the doctors. She has been having quite a bit of pain during the night and wanted more pain medication. He has upped the Fentanyl dosage to 100mg. She was originally on 100mg. We'll see how that goes.