Mom and Her Kiwano

No, I'm not talking dirty! And I'm not talking about Mom's lovely hospital kimono. Kiwano (African Cucumber, Horned Melon, Jelly Melon) is a strange, spiky orange fruit that we saw in the grocery store. Curious, we bought one but Mom ended up in the hospital before we had a chance to try it so I took it to her today. Bizarre! It's described as tasting like a combination of cucumber, banana, and lemon. The green stuff is like jelly and little cream coloured seeds are encased inside the little pockets of jelly. You spit the seeds out like you would with a watermelon. They're not bitter or toxic - just tasteless. I had to look up how to eat one. If you want to know, here are step by step instructions.

Mom is doing good. She's still hanging out in Emergency at RUH but I expect they'll have her a proper room soon. Today the neurologist appeared to be annoyed that Mom hadn't been moved yet and I think she was going to see if she could light a fire under someone. When parked in Emergency, you're not formally admitted so your meals are just these generic, boxed things ... not very good and no consideration of your particular dietary needs. Mom, for instance, has been working really hard on her diet to reduce her cholesterol. The food they're giving her is not at all in keeping with that. I've been taking her fruit, salads, healthy snacks ... with quinoa and chia seeds ... so she has more nutritious choices.

Mom had another CT Scan today. They used coloured dye in this one to better look at the veins in her head and neck, as I understand it. She's also to get at MRI tomorrow, if they can get her in, the intention being to get a better vew of her heart. The main thing is that she's otherwise feeling good and that we have good faith in her neurologist and her team who seem determined to figure out what's going on with her. She hasn't had any "spells" since arriving at the hospital though a couple of times she's felt like one might be coming on only to have the symptoms fade away.

Lynn is walking up a storm and was given her first real food today. YEAH! She's eager to go home but she has a few little milestones to pass, so to speak, before they'll let her go. She's very determined so I expect she'll get out before the weekend.