8:15

Dearest Family,

I will try not to make this too emotional, but it will be difficult, so please excuse me in advance. I arrived at the hospital at about 8:30 and left at 6. Throughout the day I watched Mom unable to move to make herself comfortable in the bed. She could lift her feet a bit and her arms,but without the strength to pull or push herself up all she could do was turn the upper half of her body and not her hips. Then I would help her move only to have her end up on her back again because it hurt her too much to lay on her side. She is on morphine for the pain, which does not take it away completely. When she tries to move, it stirs up the pain. She spent most of the day in and out of sleep. Waking when someone came in or the phone rang, which was just about every 15 minutes or so. She has difficulty on the phone as she can't hold it very well and her voice is weak.

Infectious disease doctor came in about 9 or 9:30. He asked a few questions, such as had she traveled recently and has she been around any kids, if so were any of them sick or had they been sick with fever and red cheeks. They still did not have the test results from the Etown ER. As he left he said they would eventually figure it out and mom replied "Hope you do before I am gone." Her doctor came in half hour or so later. Back x-ray showed an old compression fracture as well as a bit of degeneration but otherwise was great. No Lupus type diseases, no rheumatoid arthritis, no inflamations, all tests that had come back were normal. Lyme test was still not back. He said he was going to test for Parvo, Epstein Barre and (something else I can't remember what)on Inf. Dis. doctor recommendation. Lab technician came in shortly after to draw blood for those tests.

They brought in her lunch at about 12:30 and I cut up her chicken fried steak and coaxed her to eat about half of it as well as a few tiny bites of mashed potatoes and a bit of ice cream. She was unable to put the food on the fork, and had extreme difficulty lifting fork to get food in her mouth. She finally said she was done. I got her to sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes and later she sat in a chair for a bit. After that she slept for about 4 hours with interrruptions.

They put leg things on her to help prevent blood clots and the physical therapist came by about 5 for some therapy. She was mostly trying to determine what mom can do and got her sitting on edge of bed again but not walking. She said it is difficult to do therapy without knowing what the problem is as it varies with different diseases. For example some times it is okay to tire them or fatigue the muscles but with some diseases it would make it worse. I clarified a few issues for her and explained that the muscle weakness had only started last week. She thought it had been going on for 2 months.

It was a long difficult day to watch Mom who has always been so physically active and rarely sick, so helpless and suffering so much. Several times she said she just wants to die. That is so not Mom. It is hard to know where the symptoms end and the drug effects begin. She is not monitored for heart or breathing other than when they come in to take blood pressure, temperature and other vital signs, so in that aspect she is not right now facing anything life threatening, but only because we don't know what is the problem that could change at any time.

I plan to go back on Thursady as Jim works again that day.