Home At Last!

It was a much longer day than we expected, but Don and I are both finally relaxing at HOME!!

His discharge was originally scheduled for 1:15 this afternoon. We were told about 11:00 that it would be delayed because an emergency happened down the hall that took both doctors on duty a couple of hours to resolve.

After Don’s OT and PT sessions, he decided to skip the Rehab unit’s lunch and go to the hospital’s cafeteria instead. On the way we saw Dr. Goodman, and had a nice chat in the hall. Don told him we were just waiting for the discharge order from him, but we knew there was a lot of paperwork involved so we’d be patient.

After lunch we just chilled for awhile and waited for nurse Brett to come review all the meds, prescriptions, what to take, what not to take, precautions and other paperwork. Social worker Lagreta got Don a new two-wheel walker, covered by Medicare. It turns out that the person from her office on duty yesterday didn’t have the full story when she said we could only have one similar device within 5 years, and we should save the Medicare coverage in case Don needed a wheelchair, much more expensive than a walker. Lagreta said if he needs a wheelchair it will be a new incident and Medicare will cover it.

The 4-wheel ‘rollator’ walker I ordered from Amazon, that was supposed to arrive on Tuesday, didn’t. It may be that the FedEx truck was stuck in the haboob (big dust storm) in Phoenix yesterday. Anyway, the end result is that we now have the rollator (still in the box, waiting until I have the energy to assemble it) for outdoor use, and the two-wheel walker for inside. Don’s already making good use of it for getting around the motorhome. I’m really happy now that we have both devices.

We didn’t get out of the hospital until around 4 pm, and then had to stop at WalMart to drop off a ton of prescriptions and pick up a couple of other things. Then we found a Walgreen’s that carries the protein shakes and picked up a few to tide him over until we can get a shipment from Amazon at a much lower price.

It was after 5 when we got home. I had planned a special dinner, pork chops with carmelized onions, steamed spinach, and salad. I was a little tired when I started cooking but I didn’t want to back out of the plan, then I was really tired after cleaning up the kitchen. But we both enjoyed the meal!

Can you tell Don’s happy to be home?

Later we reviewed his meds and think we figured out what he was supposed to take before bedtime. I told him he’s going to have to find a younger wife because I’m beat after this long, busy day. But nothing will be better than waking up together tomorrow and NOT having to drive to the hospital. He starts his outpatient dialysis at Fresenius on 6th Ave. tomorrow, so we’ll have another new experience.