Take for example a "routine day." Routine is a relative term. Often she'll wake up early, say 5am, and camp out on the living room couch, fall into a deep sleep until 8:00 and be very alert for awhile. One constant is that if she overexerts herself, she needs a long rest before she can rally again. Generally, later in the afternoon she's more alert and engaging. We have dinner early and go for a five or ten minute walk if Peg's up for it. And our family ritual before bed is watching "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." That's a "normal" day.
She's thin as a rail, but of course smart as hell and focused like a laser beam on keeping track on her caloric intake. She manages to take in over 2,100 calories a day in that long climb to get back to her normal weight.
This morning before Zoe woke up we took a walk around the park that's two blocks away from our house. She had to rest at a picnic table halfway around, and the walk pretty much knocked her down until early afternoon.
She thoroughly enjoys visits from friends. It's hard for her to focus on reading (or even listening to music or watching TV) for more than a few minutes, but having a good friend drop by for conversation, a hand massage or being read to is an experience she engages in on a whole other level. Kind of a crap shoot as to how long the visit lasts-- when she's poohed, she's really and thoroughly depleted and hopes you understand when she says, "I really need to stop now and rest."
Her attitude is good, and her weight has stabilized. We're going to start shifting her from emergency-nutrition processed food--the high-calorie "steak dinner in a can" stuff--to more balanced smoothies less loaded with high fructose corn syrup and the other nasty crap she's put up with to keep her weight from going into freefall.
If anyone has held back on calling Peg because you don't want to be intrusive... please call. I'm self-employed so I'm usually here to shag calls, and if she's not in a good place to talk, I'll let you know. But she really appreciates connecting with y'all. 916-965-1950. Just be prepared for a short visit, although if she has the energy, she can chat for a bit.
