Awful week generally with some good bits.

Monday and Rachel (OT) came over and kp made a loaf of bread (with her left hand). It looked and smelled great. No comment on the taste.

Tuesday and kp (and I) attended a medico-legal appointment in the centre of Newcastle for the ongoing legal case. The consultant wanted to see me first and then kp (on her own). He saw me for about 3/4 hour, and then kp for about two. kp’s sleep is still to pot, and after 2 hours of tests she was done in. The tests weren’t complete, so he is going to have to reschedule for another date to complete the tests.

Wednesday and we both went for our counselling sessions. I enjoyed mine much more this week, probably feeling more relaxed with the psychologist, but I still remain sceptical, but certainly talking, being heard and thinking about things from a different angle are all helping me.

kp’s went well too. One of the things that the medico-legal neuro-consultant had said previously to me (and Karen) was that it is too much for a person with a head injury to be expected to go the whole day without any rest, which is what she was trying to do to correct her poor sleeping patterns. He suggested breaking the day into 3 chunks (morning, afternoon and evening) and in each of the chunks ensuring that there is some physical and some mental activity AND some rest. This “felt” right to me and kp. We mentioned this to kp’s psychologist Jane and she agreed that the other well-practiced method wasn’t reaping benefits for kp and to scrap it as kp was getting too down over it.

Another of the things that Jane had suggested is that kp ensures she has a DAY OFF each week. This is a day without ANY rehab and it is for kp to do what she wants with, ie visit family in Middlesbrough etc etc… This was music to our ears.

The medico-legal neuro-chap also had suggested kp attend a sleep clinic so I expect something will come of that in the future.

We went for a Subway sandwich for lunch before kp went to her physio session (taxi) and I returned to work. Steve (physio) had kp doing exercises at the gym, one of which was the bike.

kp has been on the bike before, but it always left her in too much pain with her needing to take morphine tablets to keep on top of it.

This time was the same if not worse and this was the start of a hellish end to the week for Karen. Not all of the following is related to the Bike exercises, but the week just went downhill from this point onwards.

The following day Syd (Case Manager) came for a couple of hours for a catch-up. kp’s pain was on the increase and she was popping the morphine tablets.

We had been trying separate beds for a couple of nights to see if it improves kp’s sleep and it did a little probably because she could watch tv in bed (or read) without disturbing me and it was easier to just fall asleep.

Thursday night, kp didn’t feel just right and was scared to sleep on her own (very unlike kp). She had had a headache / migraine since the bike exercises.

The following day (friday) and we had a 10am medical appointment in Newcastle.  kp was all showered and ready to go and just as I got the car out, she decided that she didn’t feel upto going. I cancelled the appointment and all the taxis which were going to take her back home, so I could go into work. Bonus for the lads at work, ‘cos they weren’t expecting me until 12pm

She went to bed for the rest of the day needing a dark room. She had some of the best sleep for ages (which was great !).

That night, I was due to go out with the lads from work for Nigel, John and my leaving doo. We had it all planned down to the taxis, Nigel staying at our house etc etc….

Work was REALLY busy. One of the lads was on holiday – things were going wrong with a few customers IT solutions and then at about 3.30pm I got a call from a customer whose credit card processing system had been hacked. 30 minutes later as I tried to juggle lots of IT balls, kp rang. She was in tears. She was vomiting and a few other issues were making the matter 10x worse. kp is a pro-vomiter. She could vomit for Britain and not even bat an eye-lid, so for kp to be upset, things must be really bad !

I had to go ! I phoned my boss and he took the “hacking” problem off my hands which was great and then I dashed home. kp was in a right state when I got home. She was very frigtened about everything that was happening. One of her concerns was that all of the sickness/migraine stuff was down to the problems that have been predicted (to her endocrine system) because of all the morphine she takes.

My gut was that she had caught some virus and the pain was leftover from the bike exercises. I put her to bed and gave her what I thought were the right meds to sort her out. Certainly, things were better in a dark room.

She remained frightened and didn’t want me to attend the leaving doo, which is very unlike kp. She normally just battles on. Of course, I wouldn’t have gone anyway with her in this state.

I cancelled my attendance at the night out.

The weekend that ensued was awful. kp remained rock bottom mentally and physically, not eating and very down. She was in the bedroom 90% of the weekend until 1pm Sunday. We tried anti-migraine tablets (Hemicraneal) which normally sort kp out. We tried Solpadeine (which I use and they guarantee a headache goes for me), but nothing worked, and kp’s worry escalated. I had suggested a few times that we get the Doctor out, but kp wasn’t having it. She has an understandable big fear of doctors/hospitals now. This morning, I had a brainwave. Let’s try aspirin. And SUCCESS ! They have improved the headache to what kp calls a “normal headache”.

The relief is tangible around the house. The house felt really low, but now we are talking about watching the Wimbledon Final. Wahey !! I hope and think we may have turned a corner !

She has also eaten (and kept stuff down) for the first time (for a few days). It may only be a bowl of cornflakes, but it’s a start and it’s inside kp, not down the loo !

So, pretty awful week (or it feels it).

On the work front (for me), it’s come to the time where appointments are getting in the way of work, so we have come to a suitable arrangement which suits both sides.  I am leaving the full-time employ of my company. They have been great with time off but it’s just getting a bit too much for them now, and although I am leaving full-time employment with them, I feel sure they will use me as a contractor and it also allows me to work for other companies on a contract basis, which suits our circumstances better.

So, bad week overall, but a happier week in sight.