Afternoon Update – Dec. 11

Megan is still doing better each day. She has been improving in her transfers. She can transfer to and from the toilet with little to no assistance, same for getting onto the shower bench including the practice one they use with a tub, which will be more like home. Getting to and from the bed is just plain easy for her lately.

We’ll be doing more car transfers, but this is really making me glad she has been able to stay a little longer so she can get stronger and better with these things.

One issue she is still having is weight loss. Meg has always been relatively thin. At her last Dr appointment just two or three weeks before the heart attack she was almost exactly in the middle of her weight to height ratio. With the c.dif and not wanting to eat the hospital food she has lost over 20 pounds just since she arrived here. She had lost weight at Inova too. This is approaching a health concern.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to only do hospital trays for breakfast and lunch. We reasoned that eating in the food court or ordering out would give her more variety and she did start eating better, especially dinner. She really did start eating better, but still lost weight. I’m certain the c.dif was a huge factor there. In fact once her diarrhea resolved her blood pressure dropped pretty dramatically. It was running high and they increased the BP meds a couple of times with minimal effect. A couple of days after the diarrhea cleared up her BP dropped rather quickly. The nurses talked and thought that her gut was doing a better job of absorbing the meds now, so they are working where they weren’t before.

So I was hopeful that her weight would turn around too, but she still lost a little. Only a couple more pounds, but we are still concerned. The big issue is she doesn’t really enjoy breakfast. So we decided to stop ordering the hospital breakfast and get some muffins, donuts, and other calorie dense breakfast items. Definitely not good for me, but right now it’s the right thing for her. Her body needs all the calories she can get. She needs them to heal, for the work she puts in every day, and to gain back at least some weight.

Prayer Needs:

• Weight gain
• General recovery
• Foot pain/toes

Talitha cumi, time to eat all the food.