Good Day

Sorry I missed posting yesterday - some days seem to be too full to allow for it. I do my best not to skip days, but sometimes it is unavoidable.

Diana continues to do well and progress despite many challenges. Yesterday she sat up in her chair for about 4 hours, which was perhaps a little too much as she was completely worn out afterward, but was an accomplishment that we were both happy with.

Yesterday was a bit of a hard day in general, but we found out a number of useful/important things:
1. We need to be doing more for pain control. Since Mom is now able to take medications by mouth, they are trying some oral pain meds in addition to her pain med patch. They are also keeping a closer eye on her pain in general. It has been better for the past two days, and even when the pain gets to a higher level, she seems to be tolerating it somewhat better.
2. She is anemic. This was a big "ah ha" for us, because she has been so extremely weak and exhausted - although, she certainly has other good reasons for both of these things. However, she got 2 units of blood yesterday, and seems to be feeling somewhat better already. We told her that we always knew she had vampire tendencies, and clearly all she needed was a little snack of blood. : )
3. Sleep is magic! She has slept fairly well for the last 2 nights, and it makes such a difference in her energy and alertness. Unfortunately, this is one of the most challenging parts of being in the hospital - most patients get very little sleep.
4. Food is a good thing. She still doesn't have much appetite, but we are now treating food like one of her medicines, and she tries to take as much as she can, even when she really doesn't want to.

Paul and I were both surprised and impressed by the improvement and change in her energy level and alertness from yesterday to today. She stood and walked several steps to her chair this morning, had some breakfast, did Occupational Therapy, stood and walked back to bed - all before 10am! And she was still able to talk to us in an animated way when we arrived, and wasn't completely exhausted.

Her doctor has advanced her to a regular diet today, so she is looking forward to lunch with some "normal" food. But, we are also encouraged to bring her any sort of food that might sound good to her, so we're trying to think of treats that might tempt her. As she is still on the liquid nutrition that she gets through her IV site, she is getting an adequate amount of calories - but we'd like her to get off of that as soon as possible. Once that is gone, she won't actually have any medications via IV anymore, and will just retain her PICC line for IV pain meds when she needs them.

So, though its still early, its been a good day. We are so encouraged by her progress, and the challenges still ahead seem manageable, at least for now. Mom and I both agree though that this "one day at a time" stuff is hard.

Mom is such a fighter. All of her doctors, nurses and therapists are impressed with her attitude and determination - and the only complaint any of her nurses have had about her is that she is too polite and won't tell them when she's hurting. We were joking yesterday that Mom should run for Queen of 8 East at St. Vincent's - she would surely win. : )