Kenna Morton's Journal, 19 May 2020

How are you doing? Is your sister gaining strength and recoving?  

Hi— I’m doing ok, tired though. She is doing pretty darn good. Has made real progress since she has been here. When she was discharged she could barely walk and now we are walking the full distance around my culdesac. She is still on oxygen but doing better. May or may not be able to get off of it for a while but that’s ok for now. I put together a physical therapy and pulmonary program for her and she is doing great. Not many poor babies and attaboys when she produces results— which she has. I’m proud of her. This was her plan to be able to go back to living independently so she knew ahead of time that life was not going to be easy with me running the show but she will make it. Total change in diet— what she chooses to eat and whether she will continue making progress when she gets home is up to her, but she knows that the “be kind to yourself theory” will end up in death. Personal choice 

Thanks for the update! She is a very fortunate lady to have you. I've heard that sometimes lung damage can be really horrible after the virus. I hope she can get off oxygen, but at least she can have it now. If only you could infuse her with your strength of mind to eat and live in a healthy way... Then she could take it with her. Do you know how long she may stay with you?  

Melissatwa-it was HER goal to be ready to go in 2 weeks. I think that is not enough time but I agreed to help her attain that goal unless she came to the decision that she needed a little more time— I think a month would be more realistic but I will try to help her achieve unless she says differently 

Sadly she has had a lifetime of poor eating habits and food choices as well as an aversion to physical activity. She is paying a heavy price for those decisions. Surviving this does not equate to a decent quality of life, but that is beyond my influence or control. 

Such a good sis. Sounds like she is working hard to improve.. 

Wholefoodnut—she is striving to improve but what she and others in similar situations are facing is that just because you finally make the decision to be healthier in the 8th or 9th inning in the game of life, it may not erase all the cumulative damage done in the earlier part of the game. Sad but true. 

I pray you both have endurance as you work toward her getting better. I have three siblings who are overweight... Two which are morbidly obese. They have helped motivate me to make different choices regarding my health my whole life. I feel badly for them, but not "sorry" for them... To me those two seem a bit different.