The heart, under-nourished, beat feebly, there was constant slight albuminuria with evidences of congested kidneys, and she could only rest in a semi-erect position.
The heart condition, with its renal results, proved the most rebellious part of the trouble.

A firm and intelligent nurse soon overcame the difficulties and delays about food, and my final refusal to discuss them disposed for the time of some of the fanciful theories about digestion and so on.

Her meals were ordered in every detail, and she was told that they were prescribed and to be taken like medicine, and, fed by the nurse, she began to take more nourishment.

Massage relieved some of the labor of the heart, and gradually the semi-erect posture was exchanged inch by inch for a semi-recumbent one.

Not to prolong the relation of details, it was found needful to keep this lady in bed for five months before the heart seemed to recover sufficiently to allow her to get up.
Even then, although improved in color, flesh, and blood condition, she had to attain an erect station almost as slowly as she had had to reach recumbency.