This is to update family and friends as to Bev's medical situation. I will also summarize earlier news.

Two concerns with Bev have been arising in the last few months. Just as we left for Europe on June 19, two decubitus ulcers started to appear, one in the sacral area to the right of the base of the spine, and one on the left bunion. On the Queen Mary 2 at the start, I had the medical facility people look at them, and they prescribed antibiotics, as did doctors in Prague. We then traveled for three weeks. On the return QM2 sailing on July 22, before we sailed from Southampton we went back to the medical facility, where they put Bev in the hospital ward, on antibiotics, for the entire six days of the return trip. On arrival on July 28, she was taken directly to Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan on 10th Avenue and 58th Street. It was ironic that from her window on the ninth floor, you could still see the QM2 at the dock a few blocks away at 12th and 52nd. She stayed there 16 days, where the wounds were debrided and tended. I was told the foot one was coming along, but the sacral one may take up to six weeks of healing, with corresponding nursing care. Plastic surgery would also be a possibility for that one. I had a nursing attendant for her from 8 AM to 8 PM most of the time she was at Roosevelt. A week ago today, August 13, she was moved to a nursing home.

However, a second and really more ominous situation has been arising. There has been a general, and rapid, decline in her abilities. She has been losing mobility, and could no longer stand when I needed to dress her (to say nothing of our in-place dancing). Worse still, her eating ability has been declining. Towards the end of the last week in Europe I started cutting out meats because of the difficulty of chewing and swallowing, but otherwise, even while on the ship, she was eating regular meals. In Roosevelt they started putting her on what is called a "mechanical soft" diet, where the food is pea-size. Then it was determined she needed a pureed diet, which was continued in the nursing home. Then it was downgraded to a "blenderized" diet. Her doctor called me this afternoon, curiously, as I had just started to write this, to say she is in danger of aspirating food, and he's now putting her on "nothing by mouth" status. She will be going on a PEG shortly, which is a surgically inserted stomach feeding tube. It is not one of those through the nose. She has continued to lose weight, and looks good at times, yet is very frail, even gaunt. It can only be conjecture what will be happening in the near future.

While Bev was still at Roosevelt, the family was running around checking out nursing homes. Sister Chris had found an advisory service online which rated them. We found a AAA place, the former Clearview Nursing Home, now the Queens Center for Rehab, in the Whitestone section of Queens. It's at the end of a tree-lined cul-de-sac, seems to be very good, and has a lovely garden where I had Bev sitting the other day.

The location in Queens is reachable by family from both directions, from Manhattan for me and from Long Island. Some family lives nearby. It's 17.5 miles for me from home, and is about a 30-40 minute drive. I've been going every day. This coming Wednesday is our 42nd anniversary.