The Georges in Peru

"It is well-marked, so you can't get lost!"  announced the race director of the 11-km trail run right before we started the race.  I joked to the guy standing beside me, "I'll just follow the guys ahead of me!"  This was a good strategy until shortly after running past a bunch of angry dogs at km 8, the 5 or 6 guys I could see ahead of me just stopped running as we reached the end of a ridge.  Not a good sign.  One pointed to the ridge a valley away from us where a string of runners was heading down the correct mountain!  So we scrambled down the mountain to a dry creek bed that we followed until it connected to the right trail.  I estimate our little detour added about 5-10 minutes to our times.  I've been eyeing this race for a week or two and decided I would see how Amy was doing this morning and go if she seemed stable, which she was.  She's had a pretty uneventful day, sleeping comfortably most of the day.  I've been eating enough for both of us, though I'd gladly give her all of my food and fast instead.  She's down to 40.8 kg (90 lbs.) today.

Okay, not smoking, but Amy did drink a lot more liquids today and ate 2 bites of icecream.  She had company today (two women came and sat and chatted with Sarah in Amy's room), which I think makes her happy.  She seemed to smile at different things that they said.  Last night I slept next to her.  Her arm is so weak that I'm no longer at risk of getting hit by a wayward arm during the night.  I slept pretty well until 3 or 4 am, but then her irregular breathing kept me awake.  I think I'll go back to my mattress on the floor tonight.  When we took her to the bathroom tonight (she can still go to the bathroom on the toilet if we carry her and sit her on it) she passed out and got so pale that we had to quickly take her back to lie down in bed to get the circulation back to her head.  Both of the girls helped me.  I hope they weren't too traumatized by it.

Amy has always loved baths and it is about the only thing garanteed to bring a smile to her face.  I suspect having lost so much weight she always feels cold, so a warm bath is nice.   Also, the weightlessness is good for getting the pressure off of bedsores.  Getting to the tub is hard for her however.  I think she is pretty stiff from lying in bed all day and picking her up to put her in the bath is like trying to stand up after bending over for too long.

That is the question I have everytime I look at Amy, whether I am sitting beside her or coming back into our room.  Most of the time I have to wait quite a while for the answer to my question since she takes big pauses in her breathing.  Today she's been pretty out of it, but did manage to eat two tiny spoonfuls of icecream and drink a fair amount of water (300ml).  She seems a bit more agitated so I ground up some of her pain pills and dumped the powder in her mouth and chased it down with some water.  How does one grind a tablet if one doesn't have a mortar and pestle?  I used our garlic press.

During Amy's bath I was massaging her feet and she cried out, "Ow that hurts!" quite clearly.  Her right heel was red and tender and looking like a bedsore is trying form.  Seemed odd to us, since she can still move her right leg a little bit and it had a cushy sock on and there is so little weight on her heel.  But we put her on her left side and she is sleeping very calmly.  Her heart rate is under 100 for the first time in a week (which I attribute to all the fluid she took yesterday).  So, mostly a good day at the moment.