What a week!
Penny was supposed to start radiation Thursday afternoon, but the swelling on her head had changed size since they'd done the markers, so they couldn't start. Since the swelling changes every day, they're going to use a bigger mapping mask, and they did the re-marking for that on Friday. She'll finally be able to start radiation and chemo on Tuesday (since tomorrow's Memorial Day).
Also on Friday, one of Penny's friends from CSUB, Rose, came and brought one of her friends, Jeffery, who is also in Social Work. Having them here was lovely, and options were discussed with Terry as far as daily care goes. No decisions have been made yet. We're going to have a couple of companies come out as soon as we can on Tuesday for a free evaluation so we can get some bids.
Around the same time, Penny's physical therapist (Jessica) came. She talked with Penny and Terry about transfers (to and from bed, to and from car, etc.), and giving training to both Penny and whoever's helping her so that neither gets hurt. Training involves doing transfers a certain way in a certain order to maximize safety. Since Penny's re-marking appt. was at 1:30, Jessica helped with the car transfer and gave us a lot of very helpful tips. (Who knew that boardwalks and curbs could be so useful??) Jessica is AMAZING, and we are so grateful for her help.
Jessica will be returning Tuesday morning, and Jeffery will be returning Wednesday morning.
Penny loves having visitors, even though she gets tired very easily. Since we arrived last Sunday evening, Penny has been lucid about 95% of the time. Today, she's been a lot less lucid, which makes things more difficult.
I'm asked regularly whether I think Penny is going downhill. It always surprises me how difficult that is to answer, because it's not a straight "yes" or "no." She is physically very strong. She has good muscle tone in her limbs and can do a lot. However, she has a lot of fear. She is very, very afraid of falling, and that is her biggest adversary in her physical abilities. It's difficult for us to tell, sometimes, whether her fear comes from the falls she's already had (none of which have been bad, physically), or whether it's coming from the brain injury itself. Rose is in Social Work, and mentioned that she could do a test on Penny to help determine an answer, but that it most likely switches between the two regularly. We also know that how we answer that question will change once she actually starts treatment.
We continue to do what we can, and are grateful for the support and love of family, friends, colleagues, co-workers, and dogs (and cats, too, I suppose).
Thanks for the flowers, cards and food. They are all appreciated, more than you know.
Cristina