April 12, 2015

As of the end of last week, Marjie has completed 20 radiation treatments, and has 13 to go.  It is great to be on the downhill side of this.  She continues to feel pretty good overall, but isn't too pleased with the hair loss.  However, Scott thinks she looks cute in her bandannas and scarfs.

Therapy continues at U of U Sugarhouse outpatient therapy.  We are very pleased that the left arm made additional progress this week, and Marjie can now lift her arm up about a foot, and roll the left hand over from left to right, and back again.  We now have a Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulator (NMES) to use at home.  This unit provides electrical stimulation designed to strengthen and encourage muscles in Marjie's left arm, hand, and shoulder.  An alternate use may be to get Scott out of bed in the morning-yet to be tested for effectiveness.  In addition to the NMES, Marjie is having a massage this week at the Huntsman Hospital in hopes that this will stimulate some sensations on Marjie's left side.  We may try acupuncture too.  While Scott has been a life-time skeptic of this type of thing, it can't hurt, right?

On Saturday morning, the weather was beautiful in Murray.  Marjie, Scott, Matthew, Becky and Caleb strolled along the Jordan river.  This was great walking practice plus we saw lots of ducks and Caleb had a great time at a river-side playground.  In the afternoon, Caleb went kite flying.  We all had a tremendous time, and Becky may have enjoyed flying a kite even more than her little boy.

On Sunday, Twin Falls friends Carrie, Delores, and Griselda came to visit.  We went out to lunch and had a wonderful time-lots of good stories and laughs.  They also left us with a delicious lasagna dinner for Sunday evening.  Lastly, they surprised us with the news that a fun run/ benefit for Marjie is in the planning stages.  We feel so loved and are so incredibly humbled by all of the good thoughts, support, and prayers we continue to receive.

We close this week's entry with two pictures from this Saturday.