Happy Wednesday!

A quick rundown of what happened on Tuesday that made her and everybody at home proud:


What may seem small to most of us who do it on a daily basis without thinking, but for Susan who hasn’t been able to do it for over a month, it became a great accomplishment. She made her own lunch. That’s right! She walked right into the kitchen, warmed up leftover Chinese food, and prepped a bowl of what she calls orangutan food consisting of raw vegetables and fruits. If you really think about what all is involved in making lunch, you’ll realize all the effort that it requires. Walking is involved. Lifting and arranging the food from the refrigerator, opening containers, spooning them into plates and bowls, and popping them in the microwave oven can be a challenge when only one arm functions normally, and your legs are not always certain of one step to the next. Plus, you have to walk your achievements to the table to truly earn your prize. And Susan did that.

Hooray!
Here we have Susan just about to sit down and enjoy the spoils of her victory.


Today’s Update:


Susan had to visit two doctors today: Dr. Shree and Dr. Nguyen. Typical visit, you think? I don’t think so, and I’ll tell you why. Susan, unlike her previous visits since she left the hospital, did not enter either doctors’ offices in a wheelchair. She walked the distance from the car. She visited each office with only a walker to assist her.

Susan and Kay WALKING to the elevators to meet with her doctors.

Susan walks from one office and ventures to the second one. Where's the wheelchair! Oh, wait...that's right. Susan doesn't need it anymore.

Susan is shown here signing in. What makes this picture signifcant is that Susan is standing at the receptionist window filling out the check-in form when in the past she had to reach up from her wheelchair to reach for the clipboard. Not anymore.

This is what Dr. Shree had to say:

He said that all her numbers are normal. In fact he’s adding 500 fluid ounces to her fluid intake, adding to her 1000. What does this mean? She can drink more liquids. What she was doing was eating ice chips and only very small sips of herbal tea, Gatorade, and water. Now she can have significantly more. The good thing is that she won’t be so thirsty all the time.

He’s also cutting back on her antibiotics. She only needs to have one per day instead of the regimental two. Which is great, since the dosages she’s been taking makes her feel yucky. If her sodium levels are normal again next week as they were today, then he will take her off the antibiotics altogether.

Here's Dr. Shree (I know I'm seriously misspelling his name; but geez, have you seen the length and spelling of his real name??? Cut me some slack, Doc)

Now, as far as Dr. Nguyen is concerned, this is what he had to say:

He said her blood count is where he guessed they’d be. Good, bad? Neither, actually. He had hoped it would be higher, but the numbers continue to climb, and they are higher than what they were from last count. Nonetheless, he was very pleased that she able to walk to his office.

He’s scheduled her to return next Wednesday for another blood test. If they’re good then she can have her third chemo. I believe they will be. Keep the prayers coming.

After the examination Dr. Nguyen paraded Susan to the “party room” so that everybody there could see her walking and standing for her office visit instead of using a wheelchair.

The last thing he requested was the address to Susan's blog. So, if any of you guys want to say anything to him, I'm sure he'll be reading this. A Shout out to Dr. Nguyen! Woo-Woo! Great job, Doctor. Thank you for saving my wife's life.

Okay, now for a smaller bit of news. This afternoon, the new couch with the recliner ends arrived this afternoon, even though they gave us a window between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. they managed to make the delivery right after lunch.

As soon as the movers installed the pieces, Susan sat on it. It didn’t take her long before she fell asleep on it. She loved it. I felt very pleased that it was everything I hoped it would be for her. One, it’s comfortable. Two, she can lift herself out of it easily – much easier than the previous couch. And three, she has a little more independence to get out of the couch, go to the kitchen, bathroom, wherever she wants to go without asking for that much assistance.

Here we are, just before the coma occurred.

Thank you everybody for your prayers.

Ray