Day 2 - 14 (April 28th - May 11th)

Day 2 to 14 have been one hell of a roller coaster. We didn't keep a diary at the time, but I will be conferring with friends and relatives to draw up better descriptions for these days.

For now days 2 to 14 are sketchy, and bare facts. They will be filled out in more detail when time permits. They will make for very interesting reading for Karen. This web log (blog) will be used to post daily events. Comments are welcome, and will be read out to Karen.

Thanks to everyone who has been texting support. Karen has had all the texts read out. No doubt I will read them out again as each day brings more lucidity.

Day 1 - April 27th 2005 - Part Four

At some point on the second day, a nurse came to see us and asked us what faith Karen was.

Well, she is Catholic but not a church-goer.

The nurse suggested that if she was Catholic, you may want to consider giving Karen a blessing. (The Last Rites is what she meant of course).

This confirmed my worst fears.

She was going to die. I had awful thoughts at that time, awful !

We then, as a family, had a discussion. I am a firm believer in there not being any gods (I am a "humanist") and I knew kp was a believer just in case there were. Some of the sisters are strong Catholics. So, I was of the opinion that kp probably wouldn't have wanted "The Last Rites". Yvonne and Marie thought she should have them. Michelle agreed with me and felt kp would say "Don't bother with that"

This isn't the time to have a family disagreement.

"There is nothing lost by having them" were my thoughts. And if it made Marie and Yvonne feel better, then kp would have liked that.

Michelle and I weren't there for The Last Rites, but Marie and Yvonne I think really appreciated it.

Day 1 - April 27th 2005 - Part Three

This blog includes facts from the night of the 27th which includes details from the early hours of the 28th.

Nervousness was abundant on the first night. Michelle was doing her foot-tapping routine. I was very quiet. The first event I recall on the evening was Frank McCaulay (the consultant) coming to see us. He explained the direness of Karen's situation. He holds no punches and tells it like it is. Things I remember him saying include :-

"We nearly lost Karen on the table because of the massive amount of blood she lost"

I asked for him to be as blunt as possible and told him I am the kind of person who appreciates frankness (no pun intended) and could he give us odds.

"With the pelvic issues alone, she has a 50/50 chance of walking out of the hospital alive. But she also has contused lungs, one side of her heart isn't working correctly, she has lost feeling in one side of her body, she is at risk from fat embelli (marrowbone from the broken bones clotting in key places) etc..."

It was dire. And he went on to say :-

"You need to be getting ready for the worst news"

At some point later in the evening things got worse. Frank was due off shift at 10pm and stayed on until 4pm the following day to sort Karen out. He is our hero !!! At about 3am in the morning, she underwent another operation to try and stem further bloodloss. Noone knew where the blood was coming from. They suspected the pevlis, but she also had a damaged liver, lungs and heart. Frank did the op with orthopedic colleagues and karen (to our great relief) came out of theatre with a meccano set in her pelvis protruding about 3-4 inches above her skin. This kept the pelvis temporarily pushed together stemming blood loss. Had this not stemmed the blood flow, Karen would have died (according to Frank) and he and colleagues let us know before the op that they were not sure where the blood was coming from. In the last op, they had stuffed loads of wadding in Karen's abdomen to absorb the blood and they had left her unstitched so as not to put pressure on her lungs. This hadn't stopped the bleeding. The X-Fix (Meccano Set) appeared to have worked.

Rejoicing all round. We were pleased to be left with a 50/50 chance (at best) of kp pulling through. I think we all were expecting the worst before the op.

End of Day One

Day 1 - April 27th 2005 - Part Two

The doctor said if I wanted to see kp before she went down to theatre I needed to come now. She was going to theatre to stem the blood loss she was experiencing because of the pelvis. I approached gingerly psyching myself up for a kp I couldn't recognise.

But it was the Karen I love with a bad gash on the top of her head and lots of blood in her hair. Everything else was covered up.

Me: "Hiya love - how u doing?"
kp: "I am in agony" (said in kp's normal voice as if she wasn't in agony, very weird)
Me: "You're going down to theatre and they are going to sort you out"
kp: "Make sure there is someone with you"
dp: "Yes I will don't worry. I am fine."

We told each other how much we loved each other. I did my normal kissing routing and finished by ensuring I said "Love you" at the end. I always try and say "I love you" as the last thing I say to her before we part even if its just going to the shops or work.

I rejoined Ian (the policeman) and he started handing me his business cards and explaining things a bit more, at which kp was being wheeled past us. The nurses asked if I wanted to kiss my wife again. I remember saying "No, she doesn't like being kissed" or words to that effect. Which is a known family in-joke. This would become very key later on :(

I was left alone for a while and immediately phoned Jane Burns (kp's best friend). Jane was shocked but dropped everything to come straight to the hospital. I then phoned Marie and her words were "You lie ! You're having me on". I can't remember who else I phoned apart from my Dad who said "Will you both still be coming to Devon this weekend ?". This angered me at the time and I said something like "No, but I'll let you know if Karen pulls through or not !". Within a few hours I understood that he was in shock just like I was.

Within an hour or two, family members (including Jane Burns) started arriving at the hospital and we all convened in "The Green Room", a small visitors area next to the Intensive Care Unit. Little did we know how much time we would be spending in that room. How much laughing we would be doing and how much crying.

Then began the longest night of our lives.

Day 1 - April 27th 2005 - Part One

5pm

What the hell is a police car doing driving at speed up our drive ? Thankfully the dogs were in the back yard so the policeman approached without fear. I opened the patio window and went out to greet him.

PC: "Mr Pollard"
Me: "Yes - is something the matter ?"
PC: "Can I come inside? I have some bad news for you."

I immediately thought of Karen. I had sent her a couple of texts on the afternoon and had no reply. Didn't think twice about it at the time, but now it had meaning.

He went on to explain that kp had been involved in a car accident and had suffered multiple injuries and he was here to get me to the hospital. My mind was running on overdrive.

Me: "How serious ?"

He showed me a fax detailing her injuries. Serious !

Still in fast forward mode, I got the dogs in, grabbed the mobile and sat in the policecar. I had left a window open and the dogs had no food. They could always eat each other.

I couldn't think about anything but kp.

I probed the policeman for as much information as I could, but he only knew what was on the fax. I asked him "What does critical mean ?". Dumb question, but hey. I was gearing myself up for the worst scenario. After 10 minutes in the policecar, I was talking about the latest Dr Who episode and the policemans shift patterns. Anything to take my mind off the worst fears.

Arriving at the hospital, he took me into A+E. Everyone in the waiting area looked at me. It felt as if I was handcuffed and in "bother". Then whisked through to the relatives area to meet up with the PC who attended the scene (Ian Clough, lovely bloke). He explained the crash a bit more. 3 cars were queuing. kp was in the back seat of the back car, when a van piled into the back of her car. 50mph was mentioned at some point by someone.

After explaining this, he took me into a private relatives room :(

Me: "This looks ominous"

I thought the worst had happened and they were going to tell me kp was gone. I was sh+tting myself.

PC: "No, its just to get you our of the public corridors"

Was that a line ? Or was it being truthful. I felt he was being truthful.

What felt like an eternity passed until a doctor appeared. I have no recollection at all of who came. I just jumped onto everything he/she said and let it sink in. The gist of it was :-

Karen had multiple injuries.

Shattered Pelvis
Dislocated Hip
Broken Phema (spelling may be off there)
Head Injuries
No feeling in her left side.
Broken arm.
Severe Bruising to her thighs
The rest I can't remember.

I asked how serious these were (dumb question in hindsight).

Life Threatening.

The Accident (as much as I know as of Sat 14th May 2005)

(Some of this information may be incorrect, but its all I know at the moment from various sources)

Karen was in the back seat of Kevin's Renault Laguna. Angela was in the front and Kevin was driving them both to the Blood Donor Session. They were on the A194(M) at some point and they were stationary. A Fiat Ventura was travelling along at speed (not speeding afaik) and hit the back of the Renault at 50mph. It took very little avoiding action apparently. The Renault hit an off-duty policeman's car which spun round, which then hit ANOTHER off-duty policeman's car. The policeman in the car in front sustained back and neck injuries.

Kevin was knocked unconscious and suffered broken ribs and collarbone.

Angela sustained a broken pelvis, some broken neck bones (and more that I am unaware of at present.

Karen took the brunt of the blow and suffered :-

Shattered Pelvis (worst injury)
Dislocated Hip
Broken Phema with the ball joint being broken off.
Contused Lungs
Liver Damage
Broken Arm
Head Injuries (Front and Back)
Heart Failure on one side
Awful Bruising on her legs (they are one huge bruise)
A wide area stroke leaving her with no feeling or motor function on the left side of her body.

There was some good news however. All her nails are intact. She had been growing them for the first time in ages. :)