Andrea update from Mom *good news!*

Woo hoo!!! Andrea made a milestone today! Chuck and I ran to
Vancouver today to take his dad to a doctor's appointment, visit Jim
in the hospital after his very successful knee replacement and did
some business for Chuck's dad. Chuck had driven to Mike and
Marilyn's on Wednesday, we stayed the night there then drove up to
Vancouver this a.m. When we got back to Mike and Marilyn's late this
afternoon, Andrea told us that she had stood for the first time
today--three times, only about 15 seconds each time, but Mike said
she was holding about 90% of her own weight (Mike was holding her
under one arm and the physical therapist was holding her under the
other). Andrea seemed to think that her goal of walking by summer is
very realistic now. When she was told that standing was the goal for
her PT visit today, Andrea was very upset and felt like she couldn't
do it. We had assured her that if Josette (the PT) believed Andrea
could do it, she could, but Andrea wasn't convinced. It's obvious
that this is a real confidence builder for her! The speech therapist
this week told her that she needs to start eating meals and said
there were very few restrictions on what she could have (those
restrictions are hard or difficult to chew foods, e.g. nuts, apples,
meats that aren't tender, etc.) We're still struggling with
tapering the tube feedings off so she's hungry, yet making sure she
gets adequate nutrition (she still eats only very small amounts).
We'll have to keep working on that. She still has some rash on her
back and left leg, but, for the most part it is getting better, too
(a patch on her leg is being a bit slow to respond, but it is looking
better, also). Her speech is still hard to understand at times and
we're trying to wean her off of a muscle relaxant that the speech
therapist says can really affect speaking ability, but we don't want
her to start getting muscle spasms again, so we are being very cautious.
Marilyn went with Andrea last Friday for her Cytoxan treatment.
They arranged for it to be done in McMinnville and Yamhill County has
a van available for transport of people with disabilities. They were
able to put her in her wheel chair and just left her in it for her
treatment and the trip home. She did very well--and the whole
process was only 5-6 hours instead of the long day and overnight when
it was done at OHSU. And a bonus? The trip cost them $1 each way!
They didn't charge Marilyn because they said she was a helper for
Andrea! They really benefited from this spending of our tax money.
Mike went to the doctor on Tuesday and they did quite a few lab
tests and a couple of chest x-rays trying to find out why he is
getting such a fever in the afternoons. The doctor also put him on
another medication for his colitis since he can't take the new one if
there is any possibility he has an infection. He felt pretty good on
Wednesday, but tonight his temperature had spiked again--104° F! So
he still has something going on and feels pretty miserable with it.
He goes back to the doctor next week, so hopefully they're going to
figure this out.
Until next week---
Jan