Update from Bob Shalowitz

Maureen has been in rehab since last Wed. She is at Potomac Manor Care in Potomac, Md. The reason for rehab is that she is very weak from being on the respirator. She also has speech problems from having an endotracheal tube for 6 days, as well as some short term memory challenges that should improve with time. She is working very hard on therapy 3-4 hours a day and also on her own. She is very motivated to get stronger, but it is very difficult. She walks with a walker and the goal is to walk at least 200 feet without a walker. Eating is not a problem, as the food at this facility is surprisingly good. The staff is, in general, extremely nice. I think the therapists like working with her because she is one of their youngest patients and the chance of actually accomplishing something with her is higher than alot of their other patients(just my opinion). Her chest still hurts alot, but she has been able to cut down from 2 pain pills at a time to one. One good thing is that her chest xray on monday did not show any reaccumulation of fluid-something we were worried about. We are going to see our pulmonologist, Dr Weiner, this friday. She is very open to receiving phone calls, and if she is too tired, she will tell you, but as you know, she loves to talk. One thing that helps tremendously is short visits from as many people as possible. I feel that keeps her morale up alot more than just me sitting there. I would really appreciate if lots of people could just stop by for a half hour or hour or so. She is supposed to be moving to a really nice suite this week which will be nice for visitors. Her cell is 330-606-5202. You can call her in her room on the hard line too-Potomac Manor Care-just get the phone number on google and ask for room 171 although she will be moving possibly tomorrow. Again, thanks for all the support from all our friends and relatives. Thanks especially to Dr. Mark Jaroch, our general surgeon and personal friend, who has been very supportive to me with medical advice and telling me what questions to ask. Also to all of Maureen's brothers and sisters who have been visiting like crazy and have been so supportive. Also to our lifelong friends the Freeds. Also to my sister and brother Debbie and Ed--Debbie runs a large eldercare company so she has had to connections to help us with some of the things we are not used to dealing with. And of course to our daughter Sara, who has held this all together more than anyone else--her organizational skills continue to amaze me--and throughout this ordeal, whenever I am starting to "lose it", she always says just the right thing.
We are excited because John and Brenndan are coming from California today for a few days.

Keep putting your comments on--Maureen likes to read them. I think you have to use "anonymous" as your name and then put your name in the body of the message, or sometimes it doesn't stay on.

Thanks again for all the support.

Bob S.