Saturday, October 14th -

Apologies for the late post. Marty flew home today, and Tom and Tommy were left holding the bag, so to speak! Upon arriving at the hospital this morning, Margaret was alert and in the middle of physical therapy. Today, she sat on the edge of the hospital bed and did "feet exercises." It was amazing to her that she was having to retrain her feet how to respond. However, as usual for Margaret, she did this seemingly minor, yet realistically difficult exercise with a broad smile on her face! Therapy ended, and lunch arrived. She was served more solid foods in the form of beef stew, green peas, and a roll. She ate most all of her lunch. All was well until Vanderbilt upset Georgia . . . ! (At least Mississippi State finally prevailed in their football game . . . )!

Margaret's oxygen saturation level was at 97% today - still shooting for 100%, though. Her blood pressure was good, and the doctor was very encouraging with his prognosis today. He said that she looked and sounded amazing. He ordered another chest x-ray, and it came back negative. In other words, Margaret is continuing to improve. There was, however, no talk about her discharge date today. We continue to hope and pray that it will be this coming Monday or Tuesday.

Regarding Tom, Elsie, the health care worker from MS, decided that she was uncomfortable navigating the stairs in the house with him. She has subsequently been removed from his case. Although, this is extremely disappointing, we pray that his new caregiver, Ava, will be received warmly. She is originally from Germany and was intrigued that Tom had spent 2 years over seas there. It has been fun listening to them speaking German - Ava fluent and dad trying to remember!!

Your prayers and concerns for our family continue to be coveted. Please keep them coming. The post tomorrow will come much earlier - hopefully!! God bless you all!