Sunday, November 16, 2008

Sunday morning:

While fires rage across So Cal, the air supply system at St Jude's seems to be dealing with the smoke, and as of Saturday night Marianna was not affected by the air quality. She continues in good spirits, and is doing better at sitting up and eating clear, light foods like Jello. She still has a few benchmarks to hit to show she is strong enough to be released, so it will be a few days yet. We will post as soon as she is ready for home. In the meantime she hopes to be transferred to the Transitional Care Center (TCC) at St Jude's, where the rooms are little more "homey". Marianna was very impressed with the unit when Stan was there and would like to spend her recovery there. If she is moved we will post here with her new room number.

We continue to get conflicting information, what Richard and Cynthia heard the doctor say and what Marianna heard the doctor say are totally different messages, so we will not pursue any reports of her long-term prognosis until we have had the chance to talk to an oncologist. To say her surgeon lacks communication skills is an understatement. Nice guy, certainly seems a brilliant surgeon, but coomunication between Marianna, the surgeon, and family is difficult, which becomes frustrating for the rest of us. For now she is as comfortable as the hospital can make her, and far better than any of us expected her to be. Our sweet lady is a fighter, and the sunny disposition is helpful. All is well for now, although she does still tire easily.