March 1, 2015

First, a HUGE THANK YOU to Katie and Gris for setting up this blog for us.

Second, a big thank you to all of our family and friends for their prayers, cards, phone calls and messages, gifts, and warm wishes. Your love and care for us has been overwhelming and much appreciated.  This blog is being used as hopefully a more timely method of communicating updates to all of our friends and family about Marjie's progress as we navigate through this challenging journey.

In early February, 2015, Marjie was diagnosed as having a brain tumor. After a preliminary visit  with doctors at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, surgery was scheduled.  The surgery occurred on February 13th. The surgeon was able to remove the majority, but not all of the tumor. Unfortunately, pathology results showed the mass to be an aggressive, malignant tumor.  Because of this, Marjie will need additional treatments including radiation and chemotherapy.  We will therefore be in Utah for an extended period.  We feel very thankful that Becky and her family are close by in Murray, Utah.

Due to the difficult location of the tumor, Marjie experienced significant side effects from the surgery.  
She suffered paralysis on her left side. We have moved from the Huntsman Cancer Hospital to the University of  Utah Rehabilitation Inpatient Unit. Scott is able to stay in the room with Marjie, which we are extremely thankful for.  A typical day for us is 45 minutes of cognitive therapy, two 45 minute sessions of occupational therapy (focusing primarily on the left hand, arm, and shoulder) and two 45 minute sessions of physical therapy (focusing primarily on the left leg and hip). In addition, Marjie asks for additional therapy when possible, and the physical therapists have been more than happy to work in extra sessions for her. We also are practicing what we learn in our room in the evenings. Marjie has been working extremely hard and is showing good progress. She has regained significant strength in her left leg, and balance has improved a lot in the last week. She is working hard to improve motor control with the goal of walking without assistance. We are very pleased and
impressed with all of the therapists we have worked with.

In addition to Marjie's progress in therapy, one of the highlights of the past week was several visits from the grandkids (plus Becky and Matthew, and daughter-in-law Joan and her mother, Julia).
We have decided that grandkids are the best therapy of all.  Thanks Claire, Lucas, and Caleb!

Comment from Marjie (despite objections from Scott):  Much of my progress is due to the efforts of my private nurse, Scott. He dresses me (he calls the sports bra "the beast" and just can't quite figure it out).  He helps me go to the restroom, shower, and with all of the things I used to take for granted. It is much more comfortable getting personal care from my husband than from a nurse I just met-no matter how caring they might be.

Future updates will be more in "bullet point" format providing information on progress.  We apologize that this one got a bit wordy-almost felt like a therapy session in itself.

We will close this first posting by sharing a recent photo of Marjie with the grandkids.