Last Saturday I left Duarte with Sile showing positive signs of improvement. Nonetheless, she was in pain most of the time, had not eaten anything at all for over three weeks, and was dozing (or trying to) much of the time. I was with her today for close to 5 hours and she was alert and chatty that entire time. We walked out to the lounge and talked there for 45 minutes, enjoying the fading light as the sun set over the San Gabriel Mountains. We watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics and chatted about the nurses (Sile is well versed in the entire staffing setup of the 6th floor at this point) and other patients we've seen. Sile ate a small bit of dinner, and I left her with her Kindle and ipad ready for perusal before bed. It's amazing progress for one week.
There is a long road ahead. It will take 6 months to a year for her new immune system to fully develop. Fatigue and digestive difficulty will certainly be a part of her life for some time, and there are numerous other potential pitfalls. But I cannot help but feel very encouraged.
I'll leave you with this unfortunately poor shot of Sile with her dinner. She only managed a few bites of the chicken stir fry ("It's actually not too bad", she said) but did polish off the entirety of the orange sherbet that accompanied it.
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