Limitations

Krista began having flashes of GVHD trouble last night. The rash was slightly redder this morning and it looked more consistently spread across the back of her hands -- though the change was pretty subtle. We called the doctor to see if that qualified as "getting worse". I guess it didn't really. He said that we could keep on using the hydrocortizone cream and we'll just continue to keep an eye on it.

It was day almost without scheduled appointments. The one exception was for the physical therapist who came to the hospitality house. The therapist had Krista walk down the long hall and back and do all her exercises. Krista did all this going full-steam ahead. Afterward she was sore, and the soreness lasted all day.

She was still really motivated to go, though, and urged me to take her out and eat dinner at a Chinese restaurant. There's lots of Thai and Japanese restaurants in Westwood, but no real Chinese places. We found a P.F. Chang's not far from here, so I said if she could get in my Tacoma I'd take her there. Since the transplant, she hasn't been in a car so I was expecting it to be difficult. To my surprise she got in without any trouble.

We stopped at Jeanne's house on the way. She has been so kind to us, and it is so nice of her to help us out again with our laundry. Krista and Jeanne had never met. It was a great opportunity to introduce them before we go back home. Jeanne's house has some high steps to get to the door. Krista wasn't able to climb the first step, so Jeanne came down and they got to meet in the driveway. Thanks Jeanne for everything!

At the restaurant, Krista felt really hungry and ordered soup and two small appetizers before hitting a roadblock deciding on the main course. She ate the soup and had a bite of dumpling and suddenly realized that she was stuffed. Three weeks of not eating has really shrunk her stomach, but her mind hasn't yet figured it out. We changed the dinner into a dimsum outing and skipped the main course.

It's starting to dawn on Krista that she's not as capable as she thinks she should be. That can be a frustrating position, but I think she's going to try to focus on making small improvements from now on. The big pushes just make for really achy muscles. I think it's a good idea, sort of following a theme from the parable of the talents:

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'"
(Matthew 25:21)

[Ah... I forgot to mention that Alyssa took the other kids to the doctor and they all tested positive for strep! She said it was quite a lineup, one after another. They're all on antibiotics and should be ok by the time we get back, but boy did she get more than she bargained for this week!]