Trying to Move

April 14
Not much company for the last 2 days. Probably a good thing as Marilyn has been utterly exhausted and would like so much to recuperate some strength. Early this morning the specialist (DR Price) who is being consulted regarding Marilyn's colonoscopy dropped by and made a rather uncalled for comment of "I'm not sure what good this test will do here” This was quite upsetting to Marilyn because of all she will have to go through in order just to have the test. I called our family Dr. right away at his emergency number being it was the Good Friday holiday and he came up to the hospital for a long consultation with the 2 of us. Because nothing was written down concerning the comment he said that in the profession it was thought of as a "gratuitous comment" or in other words non solicited free advice and that he probably thought that the test would come out normal but Marilyn needed to be able to rule out all the possible sources of this cancer if they were going to be successful in finding where it is coming from. He also gave Marilyn some help and good advise as to how she should go about gaining strength and mobility. With the Doctors help and David, Tracey and myself, we tried a few movements enabling Marilyn to partially sit up and bring her legs to the side of the bed. I think it encouraged Marilyn quite a lot that Dr. Joyce took some time out of his holiday to make a special trip up to the hospital and consult with us. When he left she said "Now that I have gone this far I might as well make the pain worthwhile" and continued to show us that she could indeed move her legs on her own power. We were thrilled to see such a positive attitude and determination from her. When I told the nurse she said that we would find another time later in the day after she stayed after her evening pain injection and worked with Marilyn, helping her to sit up totally on the side of the bed. Marilyn asked to immediately lie back down after she initially sat up but with the kind encouragement from the 2 nurses assisting she agreed to stay sitting for about 5 minutes. When we let her lay back down she still had enough energy to help a little with finding a comfortable position for the night. A "monkey bar" has now been installed above her head so she can use her arms to help lift herself up somewhat. Each step - no matter how small - is a step towards recovery. Now we must wait and pray for the next day’s trials and triumphs.