DAY - 121

Well, today marks one week since Jan's emergency room visit last Thursday. She still has a baseball size bruise on the back of her head, but has not experienced any aftereffects of the accident. She does not recall that day at all, and in many ways, that may be a good thing. She is still experiencing low back pain which can range from a bothersome ache, to a sharp and extremely painful episode. Today we met with a nurse practitioner who deals with Pain Management. She advised that we increase the dosage of Oxycodone. The problem with these narcotic drugs is that they make Jan very drowsy. While it does subside the pain, it doesn't really help efforts to regain the strength and stamina that she still needs to improve on. So, one day at a time, one problem at a time. Right now we will work on getting her some relief from the back pain, then we'll work on building up those muscles that have been weakened so much by the steroid treatments. We are scheduled to meet with another member of the Pain Management Team on Monday and consideration will be given at that time on whether or not to administer steroid injections directly into the painful area of the back in hopes of reducing inflammation and pain.