Maureen is doing better, a little better than expected and a little sooner. The steroids are decreasing the swelling in her brain to the extent she can now carry on short, lucid conversations. Although she sleeps about 20 a day, (sometimes more), she is able to communicate much better and has brief periods of real clarity. Thankfully she is not experiencing any nausea and seems generally healthy.
Maureen has virtually no use of her left arm and hand, and very limited use of her left leg and foot. She is bed bound except for our traveling to Gresham for her daily radiation treatments and sometimes sitting outside for a few minutes in the evening. She must have someone with her 24-7 as Maureen cannot get out of bed, go to the toilet, eat, take meds, or stand, without help. We do not know what the long run holds, for now all we know is that the full brain radiation ends in two weeks, after that there is to be an eight week hold before new brain scans are done and new procedures are decided upon.
The radiation makes Maureen tired, very tired, but she is not unhappy and manages a smile when asked. Her longest conversation in weeks was with Lynda just last night. That alone was a great blessing and of course being united with Lynda, Alan, and their three boys is wonderful! Incidentally, they are all coming out October 27th through the 31st. So there really are good things happening amongst life's trials.
A young man named Sam Ely called yesterday. Well, I suppose he's not so young now, he’s about 41 or 42, but the last time we spoke with him he was not yet out of his teens. I was his Bishop long ago and he was something of a special project for us. His younger sister has kept in touch occasionally, but Sam went into the military after high school and lived out of country for many years. He was hailed a hero during the Gulf War. He was the first helicopter pilot to ever take prisoners of war...it made international news and the TV played his video footage again and again. Well anyway, Sam heard of Maureen's condition when he and his wife attended a family reunion in Puyallup, Washington. (He and his family live in Atlanta where he is now a pilot for Delta) Sam is taking a day off from their reunion and driving down Thursday with his wife to see Maureen for as long as she can handle the visit, (probably about a half hour), then they are turning around and driving back. So.... it seems they’re going to drive at least seven hours round trip just to see Maureen for a few minutes. Very touching.
There are many such stories of late. Maureen has inspired a lot of us over time.