I got a call today at 3 from The hospital telling me that Mary was going to be discharged to the assisted care facility at 4:30.  Luckily Sandra was off today and got Mary packed up.  When I arrived, there were only a couple of things left to be taken out.

Upon arriving at the assisted care facility, we found that Sandra had moved Mary in and everything was ready for her. Hopefully Mary will be able to work out for longer periods of time and regain much of her strength, coordination and stamina.  Unfortunately today and tomorrow will be spent getting organized and getting Mary's medicines.  I really don't expect the real workouts to begin until Friday and then unfortunately there will be two days  (the weekend) of minimal workout.
 

When I did exercises with her, she seemed stronger than yesterday, but she was upset because she did not do as much for the therapist. She can hold herself upright once she is standing, but it is still a chore to life her posterior the first 10".

She is becoming impatient as she is not progressing as fast as she would like. Also frustrating is the air mattress that they have for her.  She sinks into the center and therefore has trouble turning on her side or getting her feet off the bed in preparation for standing.
 

Lunch came and Mary ate all of her pork loin and half of her potatoes.  She is drinking her water and juices without encouragement.  She then slept for a while and was alert for the rest of the afternoon.  We watched a Cantiflas movie (I fell asleep at the end of the movie) and Mrs. Brown (about queen Victoria's possible affair).  Dinner came and Mary ate her fish sticks and mandarin oranges, but not the "frozen peas and carrots (who can blame her).

It's been two months since Mary's operation and she has come a long way even though she doesn't realize it.  (she thinks she should be doing things that she was doing in December.)  It was just last Friday that she stood for the first time with a fair amount of assistance,  Now it is still a problem lifting off of the air mattress, but getting off the commode or the wheelchair is very easy for her and I don't have to do much work.  Even in the air mattress, she can move herself to a sitting position ready to stand.  She can shuffle her feet enough to move a foot distance to the right.  Moving to the left still causes some problems.  Tomorrow I want to see how long she can stand.  Right now when she feels the bed or wheelchair behind her she allows her knees to buckle and sits down.  I've been trying to make her sit slowly.

It occurred to me yesterday that Maybe Mary's pain could be handled better by an acupuncturist. I need to find the number of Mary's acupuncturist and see if she will make a house call. I talked to Monica about this idea and she said that one of her good friends (living in Florida) said that the problem seemed to be a classic case of the Liver Chi Blockage and one session should clear it up.  I would pay almost anything to solve Mary's pain problem without using the narcotics she is on.
 

Tuesday Mari's older sister and her husband are flying in from Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  They will stay until Saturday.  Sandy will pick them up from the airport and they will have my truck available to drive if the wish to drive. I know that having her older sister there and being able to converse with her will lift Mary's spirits and I hope we see even faster progress.
 

About four, her acupuncturist called and spoke to me and to Mary about coming tomorrow and bringing her needles. I hope all works out well and that acupuncture is the solution to the pain.  If it is , I (and you) should be 100% convinced of its place in medicine.  I already think the oriental medicine has not been given a fair evaluation by the AMA (or the establishment) in this country.  I think western medicine has some of the answers, but not all of them. She will have seen Mary by the time that I arrive, but the true test will come at 5:30 or 6 when Mary gets her most severe pains.  I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out.

Tomorrow Mary's older sister, Martha, will arrive.  I am looking forward to this for raising Mary's spirits. I think they are now fairly high.  This will only help raise them higher.  Mary may get a reprieve from the local cooking while they are here as Robert (Martha's husband) and I will probably go out to buy dinner for the us and we will probably get something for Mary as well.
 

When I arrived at three, I asked what was being done and was told that the physician wanted them to send Mary to the surgeons office.  The surgeon's answering ran a pretty good defense and kept us from talking to him. When we finally talked to a nurse, they refused to hear that the infection might be related to the surgery.  Manor Care finally called an ambulance and they came to take Mary to the ER. We quickly stripped Mary's room of everything belonging to her as we didn't know when we would be back.

Once in ER, I went up stairs to find her regular hospital doctor.  At five instead of going home, he came to see Mary.  He determined in consultation with the ER doctor that the infection should be incised and that antibiotics should be administered.  We finally got out of there at 8:30 and got Mary's room put back together and started home at 9:30.  Mary's sister and brother-in-law were a great help in both moves.

I almost forgot to mention that the acupuncturist came and Mary felt that the first session helped, but at 7 she still needed a pain killer.  I guess we'll have to see what the second visit will do.  I don't think I know anything more and as I am beat and it's past 11, I'm going to quit.  I've already written more than I thought I would.
 

Mary told that her therapy was not as rigorous today as yesterday.  She thought it might be because of the pneumonia.  I will check into that tomorrow.
 

The doctor from the hospital stopped by on his way home and checked her infection.  It had seemed to have healed over and showed no inflammation.  He said preliminary results of the culture showed nothing and that it could have been incidental accumulation of liquid under the (radiation) wound.  He noticed that Mary was shaking a little bit and suggested that her blood work be checked.  I found that the blood work was over a week old and they have ordered a test for tomorrow.

Mary did not eat her dinner as well as she had eaten her lunch and breakfast.  I wonder if the Colombian empanada and Puerto Rican chicken soup  she had consumed prior to dinner had anything to do with it?
 

During the afternoon, the doctor came and checked her out.  She changed a couple of the Medications, but felt that Mary was doing fine. Tomorrow Mary's sister is leaving.  It has been good therapy for Mary having her here and good therapy seeing how well Mary is doing.

Next week I should get a better idea of how Mary is doing in the morning as I will be there all day (I will be on spring break).
 

The results of the culture of the material on Mary's back was negative.  That would imply that it was not anything to be concerned about.  Her blood test was also normal with the calcium a little low.  Yesterday Mary had her second acupuncture session and has not asked for a pain killer since.  She has been receiving the regular pain killers, but has not needed the supplemental fast acting pain killer.  She is scheduled for a third session on Monday.

Mary's sister and husband left at 11:30 and all were sad to part, but I think Martha left with a sense of Mary's well being and that Mary is making a very rapid recovery. 

The remainder of the day was fairly uneventful, although as Mary was preparing for bed, she wanted to put her hair up in curlers.  Monica handed her the curlers and she did the job very quickly and efficiently all by herself.
 

Easter Sunday was spent quietly with little festivities.  Mary did some exercises and then we read the Sunday paper together. We watched some  movies on television and did some more exercises and toured the facility in the wheelchair. Mary is moving quite easily from bed to wheelchair and even walked a few steps to the wheelchair holding only onto my hands.  I am looking forward to seeing all that she can accomplish. I want to make sure she is getting instruction of what she can and cannot do after the type of back surgery she had.
 

After lunch we visited the oncologist. He examined Mary and had a blood test done to evaluate the level of the Multiple Myeloma.  He also ordered x rays to rule out further invasion and then detailed the regimen of drugs that she will be taking over the next two months.  I had to sign papers relating to the hazards of Thalidomide and stipulate that Mary would not become pregnant while taking them (this is overkill.)

We returned to Mary's room and did some more exercises, read the newspaper and watched some television.  The only excitement planned for tomorrow is the x-rays.