The Home Stretch....
Posted Sep 14, 2010 12:47am
11:15 on Monday night...(an amazing feat for me to actually KNOW this information)...and I am two thirds of the way through yet another Strong Alterra coffee, in hopes I can push on long enough to get Phil tucked in bed and sleeping before crashing myself. The plan is to wake up early, load all our stuff in the van, shower up, talk to the discharge planner, the VNA, Orthopedics, have Phil's bandage changed, get him dressed, get his meds, and get him home!
Today was an iffy day...one nurse just wanted us to be discharged in the worst way - to an annoying degree. Phil did not feel ready. I did not feel quite ready. Oh, I wanted to go home alright, but there were still a few last hurdles to get over...little things like pants. How do I put on his pants? The old way won't work. We need to invent a new way. Either way, it kind of had to happen today, because I was not going to take him home in a sheet! My sister was kind enough to head over to a sporting goods store and get a pair of pants that snap up the sides. They work great! We decided that Phil needed to get up and in his chair a couple times today, drive around a bit, do the in and out of bed routine a few times. We had quite a bit of resistance in the morning. He just wanted to sleep. Physical Therapy came in and did some range of motion with him, and we let him rest before getting him up. He was too tired to drive his own chair, so we pushed him around the floor in it. He literally counted the seconds until we put him back into bed. I watched him and wondered if he was really ready to go home tomorrow.
Then in the early evening, we decided to get him up again just after his pain meds. Up in the chair, he resisted until we got him out in the hall and going toward the elevator. He drove himself this time, and informed us that he was going to drive slow from now on. (We will remind him of this later!). We wanted to find a place where he could go over a few bumps so he would have a comfortable ride home in our bumpy van. We rode down 10 floors to the lobby. Right when you get off the elevators, there is a really big, inlaid salt water fish tank. He was fascinated with that, and suddenly I was spending time with a little boy/young man that I have not seen in a week! We visited the gift shop, where he politely asked to see this toy truck and that one, and spent some time picking out a bag of candy and a pen that has 6 colors to draw pictures with. (So, yes, all of you who have requested drawings from Phil can expect them soon, in color!...he was very stoked to start drawing!) From there we went out into The Healing Garden. This is a wonderful little garden right off the cafe, where there are flowers, and statues, benches and speakers disguised as rocks softly playing some relaxing Zen music. It has a sidewalk around it, so he drove through, going over all the cracks and not even commenting on the bumps. Beautiful place. He got a little chilly in the evening air, and we went in and back to our room. We ended on a positive note, and got him back to bed.
The nurse came in and helped us turn him on his side for a while. He developed some insane sensitivity to clear tape, and we had to treat a few killer blisters that have developed on his hands, legs, butt, neck. He tolerated it well, and I hope he falls asleep soon....
Mark and I spent some time discussing this whole thing, and have decided that yes, our time here is done. We are all very anxious to get home now, and even Phil just said as I started to write the, "I think I will be okay on the way home tomorrow," and I was treated to the recently rare smile that is uniquely Phil.
Wish us luck! We will report back tomorrow when we are home!!!!
Today was an iffy day...one nurse just wanted us to be discharged in the worst way - to an annoying degree. Phil did not feel ready. I did not feel quite ready. Oh, I wanted to go home alright, but there were still a few last hurdles to get over...little things like pants. How do I put on his pants? The old way won't work. We need to invent a new way. Either way, it kind of had to happen today, because I was not going to take him home in a sheet! My sister was kind enough to head over to a sporting goods store and get a pair of pants that snap up the sides. They work great! We decided that Phil needed to get up and in his chair a couple times today, drive around a bit, do the in and out of bed routine a few times. We had quite a bit of resistance in the morning. He just wanted to sleep. Physical Therapy came in and did some range of motion with him, and we let him rest before getting him up. He was too tired to drive his own chair, so we pushed him around the floor in it. He literally counted the seconds until we put him back into bed. I watched him and wondered if he was really ready to go home tomorrow.
Then in the early evening, we decided to get him up again just after his pain meds. Up in the chair, he resisted until we got him out in the hall and going toward the elevator. He drove himself this time, and informed us that he was going to drive slow from now on. (We will remind him of this later!). We wanted to find a place where he could go over a few bumps so he would have a comfortable ride home in our bumpy van. We rode down 10 floors to the lobby. Right when you get off the elevators, there is a really big, inlaid salt water fish tank. He was fascinated with that, and suddenly I was spending time with a little boy/young man that I have not seen in a week! We visited the gift shop, where he politely asked to see this toy truck and that one, and spent some time picking out a bag of candy and a pen that has 6 colors to draw pictures with. (So, yes, all of you who have requested drawings from Phil can expect them soon, in color!...he was very stoked to start drawing!) From there we went out into The Healing Garden. This is a wonderful little garden right off the cafe, where there are flowers, and statues, benches and speakers disguised as rocks softly playing some relaxing Zen music. It has a sidewalk around it, so he drove through, going over all the cracks and not even commenting on the bumps. Beautiful place. He got a little chilly in the evening air, and we went in and back to our room. We ended on a positive note, and got him back to bed.
The nurse came in and helped us turn him on his side for a while. He developed some insane sensitivity to clear tape, and we had to treat a few killer blisters that have developed on his hands, legs, butt, neck. He tolerated it well, and I hope he falls asleep soon....
Mark and I spent some time discussing this whole thing, and have decided that yes, our time here is done. We are all very anxious to get home now, and even Phil just said as I started to write the, "I think I will be okay on the way home tomorrow," and I was treated to the recently rare smile that is uniquely Phil.
Wish us luck! We will report back tomorrow when we are home!!!!
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