Room 139 (I think)

My memory isn't very good right now but I think Mom's new room is 139. She's got her quilts hanging and a new refrigerator that Jen bought her, stocked full of her favorite foods. She's feeling good. She ate white fish last night with Dad to celebrate their anniversary. She asked for oatmeal this morning and says she's getting her appetite back. "I'm craving food again," mom says.

Medically speaking, Mom looked great. She was able to talk without wheezing or stopping to catch her breath. Her voice is strong and she has good color. She's still in a hospital gown but she's getting closer to wanting to wear clothes again. She explained that the radiologist said the clothes might change their setup and that the gown was preferred. So it looks like Mom will continue to wear the hospital gown a little while longer.

The nurses weren't able to get a blood pressure reading because they can't figure out how to read it off the calf. "The hospital has the automatic system but they don't here," Mom explains.

As we suspected, she's on a first name basis with several of the staff members. She was explaining that the night nurse drives from Fredericktown each day to come to work. "An hour and a half," Mom says. "Once you understand the nurses and all they go through, you have a new understanding of how hard they have it," she adds. I think about how hard my chair is that I'm sitting in and suddenly feel better.

Mom had a shower today. She said it felt great. She's looking forward to the menu this week and eating small doses of meat, until her body gets used to the food again. She's been on the Budwig diet for the last 8 months.

On the agenda for tonight? "I'll be watching So You Think You Can Dance and talking with grandaughter Emilie about it," Mom says happily. Emilie is a bigtime dancer and loves to chat with Grandma about the contestants.