You can reach Sue at (314) 452-3685 or (314) 726-2032. You can write to her c/o Rose Holt, 905 Barnard College Lane, St. Louis, MO 63130

It’s Rose, reporting from Sue’s hospital room. Sue is much, much better today. She had some problems overnight–nightmares, confusion, and upset. We had a woman, Irena, sit with her overnight just in case she needed something and a nurse was not available. When I came in this morning, Sue thought Irena was a hospital employee and was irate about her behavior. She told me, "That woman did nothing all night; she just sat reading. You should mark the page so you can see she does nothing but read!" We explained that Irena was NOT a hospital employee and that her job WAS to read all night. That satisfied Sue, and she has been better ever since.

One neurologist, a lovely young woman, came in to examine Sue a while ago.. She noted how much better Sue is–something quite obvious to Sue and me. She told us that every single test Sue has had has come up negative, that Sue’s illness is extremely puzzling. She didn’t feel qualified to speculate since so many fine, fine neurologists have said they don’t know. However, she was going off to do research and would talk over any findings with Dr. O’Brien, Sue’s chief neurologist.

Stephanie called early this morning to check on Sue. In our conversation Stef mentioned Mad Cow Disease as a possible cause for all Sue’s symptoms. We asked the neurologist about it while she was here. She said Sue’s symptoms were atypical for Mad Cow Disease, but it might be an intriguing idea. She will take up the topic with Dr. O’Brien and suggested we do also.

Father Bill came in for a nice visit. He is a lovely, caring man. Four weeks ago when Sue was a patient here, Sue, Shirley, Loretta, and I went to his Sunday Mass. He gave a homily about his prayerful, pious grandmother. Afterwards, we chatted with him, and Sue asked about his other grandmother. Father Bill told us she was the very opposite type–fun-loving and full of live. Sue told him, "Next time I’m here, I want to hear a homily about her." That interaction caused Father Bill to remember us, so yesterday he told us about that grandmother.

Interesting how many people do remember Sue from four weeks ago–the EEG technician, the people in MRI, and, of course, O’Brien and a couple of resident docs.

Last night around 6:00 pm Drs O’Brien and Costas came in to examine Sue and confer. They have decided to treat her with a five-day intravenous infusion of immuno-globulin. That will begin today and means she will be here for five more days. The earliest she will be released, it appears, is Monday.

Kim called this morning to give us a report on Den. He is improving, and all plans are go for moving him to St. Mary’s Rehab in Clayton on Saturday. There is much to take care off–getting him an internist, a gastroenterologist, a neurologist, and, of course, all the travel arrangements for the move.

This is Sue’s dictation for the Blog:

"I talked with Kim this morning. She told me people at the hospital told her Den can be released to fly back if he is able to make the journey with only one other person. Aaron will be the one person. Kim will be waiting for Aaron and Den at the St. Louis aiport on Saturday to take Den to the SSM Physical Rehab facility.. I won’t get to St. Louis now until Monday. Den will need a couple days of rest after this ordeal, so check with Kim to see if he is up to having visitors. Kim’s number is (636) 207-9404.

I feel ‘goosy’ and helpless today. Rose tells me the ‘goosy’ is a huge hangover from lots of meds. The helpless is about not being able to do what Den needs and not being able to do a lot even for myself.

Chris and Shelly are here, and Scott is standing by. We are still planning a big Thanksgiving Gathering. We just don’t know where. Sabrina, that angel, has invited us to her house. She and Margaret have decided simply to buy the biggest turkey they can find since they don’t know whether they will host 20 or more than 30!"

We’ll update again after we see the Big Medicine Men.