Sunday, March 25

It's been several weeks since Jackie has been at home and she is working hard at getting healthier. She has lost most of her appetite and Fred stays on top of her to make sure she gets enough nutrition. She is making progress at moving around by herself. Most of her activity is around going from the bed, to the recliner in her bedroom, to the living room chair or the bathroom. She has gotten to the the place where she can make the transitions on her own. Though it is still exhausting for her. The nice weather has allowed her to sit in the sun a couple of days which has been nice since she is always cold.

Physical and operational therapy comes to the house a couple of times a week and she has been working hard with them. A nurse also comes by to check her wound on her back from the surgery. The back surgery seems to have relieved a lot of the pain as it was supposed to. But there were several tears in the dura that the surgeon tried to patch Which seem to have not worked. There is still a lot of spinal fluid leaking and the biggest concern right now is that the tear(s)in her dura (the covering over your spine that holds in the spinal fluid) isn't repairing on its own which would require another back surgery. She is very anxious about the idea of having to go through another back surgery so we are praying it will start healing faster on its own. She will learn soon how they feel it's progressing.

She goes to have the feeding tube from the hospital removed this week and is excited to have it gone. Her kidney function is looking good, which is such a relief. We are still planning on participating in the national kidney foundation walk taking place the morning of May 20 at the Detroit Zoo, which is the Sunday after mother's day and Jackie's birthday. A wheel chair for Jackie if she's up to it, but we are hoping everyone will consider walking with us (they ask for a $20 donation for each walker.) Email me or my mom and we can get you signed up on our team or you can make a donation on our page.