Thursday

Marty seemed quite relaxed today. For a short period of time, he was sitting up, as in a chair. His bed can raise and lower his upper body and it can also, among other things, lower his lower legs so his shins are perpendicular to the floor. For physio, Marty sat on the edge of his bed and conducted leg and arm exercises. At one time he held Dad's hands for balance and then sat up straight -- this in order to help build core strength.

A nutritionist tried to assess Marty's weight and muscle mass. Marty's bed can weigh him but at this time it isn't calibrated accurately. Tomorrow, the hope is that Marty will stand up, away from the bed for a period of time. While the main objective of Marty standing is one from a physiotherapy perspective, this also gives opportunity to re-calibrate the weigh-scale in the bed. Once there is an accurate weight for Marty, then the nutritionist can determine whether to increase or decrease Marty's calorie intake.

The hematologist-oncologist came by to discuss future chemo treatment plans for the near future. As we know more details, we will post them.

Recently it's come to our attention that Marty has double vision at times. This can be bothersome to Marty. A short-term way to deal with this is to enforce single vision by providing a patch for Marty to wear over an eye.

At limited times, Marty is able to communicate by writing short sentences and mouthing words. For us, written communication is more accurate (when legible) as our gifts of lip-reading are still developing :). Marty is very patient. We sometimes ask him to repeat words or phrases, repeatedly, and Marty does just that. Patience is a wonderful virtue and Marty has been blessed with it in abundance. 

"The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights." 

 Habakkuk 3:19

Mike