Dad had his first appointment outside of rehab yesterday morning. BOY was that an adventure.
Mom came to my house at 7:00 to make it to the hospital at 7:30. I was outside witnessing my “unauthorized swimmer” … so showed the little froggy to her and we were on our way. I was even a good mommy and made the kids some eggs and toast as well – bonus for them – however not enough bread for me, so I just made something for them. I thought I would grab a bowl of cereal, however never did. We were a few minutes early so I opted to go to Mc D’s for a biscuit sandwich. It was HUGE. They usually have normal size biscuits, this one seemed extra fluffy! Oh, well – it was VERY filling.
Off to the rehab hospital to find dad sitting at the nurses station. As he’s a fall risk, if he’s out of his bed, he’s supposed to be at the station to make sure that if he falls, someone will be there to avoid the fall – help him if he slips or something. I’m not sure. Anyway, they had him up and going at 5:30 for this appointment… had him bathed and shaved and fed so he could leave. He ate ½ a grilled cheese sandwich and most of an ensure juice… getting better, getting better!
7:45 the transport lady came up and was getting him situated to get on the van, so mom and I went to the car and pulled in behind the van…. And waited… and waited… and waited. I think it took them a while to get the next gentleman ready to roll. Anyway – we got on our way and headed over to his appointment. I think we got there at 8:30 or 9:00am. One lesson learned bring a urinal – they don’t have those at Dr’s offices (or anything similar) Good thing is that there are “preparations” made in place for this issue if it occurs.
Anyway – sit in the Dr’s office, fill out paperwork, muddle through drugs, amounts, things like that that really – we have no clue when he’s in there what the heck they give him. So, I tell the nurse point blank – they sent paperwork over, I wonder if it’s in there. Yep, low and behold it’s in there – more meds than we even knew about! There was a page and a half listed. Is it really that much? Not really, but I guess it has the “just in case” and the “as needed meds as well… and included the “motility” drug he’s on. It’s not Zophran, it’s something else that isn’t necessarily for nausea, but getting the gut moving. Another discovery from this place is that narcotic type drugs will slow the whole GI track down and wouldn’t you know it, the day he was really nauseated and didn’t d a lot of PT due to it was when he had his pain pills 3 times – one at 9am, two during PT and one that night. AND he’s not getting sleeping meds at night, he’s getting pain pills. He could hardly sleep last night with the anticipation of this “field trip”. More concerns on how it would all go… where he would go… what would happen.
What else we discovered on this trip is that getting around in a wheel chair that is not your own, and not maintained properly is really a pain in the butt. I’m thinking the one he’s using is super old and the left foot rest of the dang chair hung out about 7” father than the freaking chair. So, the only way to get in through doors was take the chair, rub the left foot rest along the door to shove it in where it should be. Goodness. ** more to come on this freaking foot rest** BUT I got him in, into the room and woven through the TIGHT configuration of chairs that really didn’t seem so tight until trying to maneuver them with a chair. Eye opening.
We got into the meeting with the doc and she’s thinking that most of this is the pain pills, wanted to do an upper GI test with barium swallow to see what they could see as some of the issues with things getting “stuck” has been there since before the stroke and could be exacerbated by said stroke. Really, it was left up to Dad at that point and he turned it down. He can always have it done at a later time. Right now the nausea is seeming to ease up with the motility drug and if we can get him off the pain pills, the rest could resolve and we’ll be in like Flynn (where does that saying come from?)!
So, appointment now ‘over’ with no real outcome, but with some more knowledge and suspicions that the pain meds are causing some issues with nausea. Good enough for now. He’s eating… he’s improving… as long as it keeps improving, we’ll keep moving forward. So, we offer to have him go outside to sit in the warmth … it had warmed up nicely, but with the Coumadin he’s not to be in the sun, so we put his blanket over his legs and parked him with legs in the sun to warm and body in the shade. Worked out well and he warmed up nicely and enjoyed the fresh air. He did comment that if he could stand up, he would pee in the bushes… I told him I would do it, I’d lock his knee and help him do it. He passed. Can’t understand why… hahaha – would have been a sight, eh? Ha! Well, the transport issues are something else with rehab hospitals. I think it took a full HOUR for him to get his ride to come get him, however, the sunshine did him good and we took the opportunity to trim his nails while outside and not having to worry about where they all flicked J Do what you can, right? So manicure in the fresh outdoors! Talked with Linda too – so it was a win/win all around!
After transport got there, I was wheeling him down to the van, headed down the little ramp and that stinkin’ left foot rest came OFF… dragging poor dads foot, tipping us forward just a hair… scared both of us, but neither freaked out. I held it there while the nurse tried to reassemble… I finally had to tell her to just lift his leg so I could get to the bottom as it was hard to hold him on the slope! Thank goodness he had a seat belt on just in case!! Whew, close call, my wheelchair drivers license has been suspended until further notice!
Back to rehab – by the way it’s now 12pm… talked with Richard, his case manager. The date is still set to the 25th and Mom is going to be tested on what she can and can’t do to assist with him movements as she’s NOT strong. I’m scared that she won’t be able to do what needs to be done… but we also have a week and a few days of rehab before he goes home, so pray his stamina improves and we graduate to a walker during the day… so we can be assured that with minimal assistance he can get up and to the bathroom, car, etc..
That’s another thing… they give you lessons on how to do these things, but there is no practical “training” of “how to get in a car” … there are stairs, but there is no CAR in there.. I guess you just practice with a chair and when it comes to a car, you figure it out? I don’t know. There is no shower, no shower stall, no shower chair – well, there may be, I haven’t seen them, however. You would think you would have a dummy car set up with a seat to try to get into without bonking the crap out of your head, a shower to get in and out of… practical things. Things that will make our break you when you get home. I wonder if they even teach them how to get up after a fall if that happens… how to recover if the worst happens… you get to the chair and miss… now what? Do you know how to roll just right to get to XYZ position to get to a kneel, then a stand? Hum… makes me wonder.
Ok… back the adventure. Dad was pretty set on just going to bed, but they told him it would take an hour to get him his food. I knew dang good and well if he went to bed he would rather sleep at that point rather than eat… so I asked if we went with him, would he go to the dining room. Yep.. so mom and I went to the dining room and got his lunch with him (we didn’t eat)… and sat and chatted while he ate. He ate an small bowl of beans - my thoughts were – yes, protein!! I did tell him every time they rolled him he was to toot a little J He ate about a ¼ portion of meat, a little of his roll dipped in the gravy from his potatoes and ½ a bowl of pears. Doesn’t sound like much, but for him, it’s a HUGE improvement! He did opt out of PT for the rest of the day as he was exhausted from doing the whole transport appointment thing… and with that, we rolled on back to the room, stopped at the nursing station to ask for an assist on transfer to the bed and a change in clothing. I fully expected it to take while, but low and behold they were coming in right after us to get him settled.
By that time it was 1pm. WOW – one appointment now equates to a full day. They’re in for a BIG changeup in lifestyle.
So next week, mom goes in for family training one day (Tuesday) and I go in later in the week for the same thing – and we can both be there for that one. AND next Tuesday we do a true evaluation if mom is able to do the heavy lifting/helping that will be necessary to let him come directly home. What happens if he can’t come directly home, you ask? Nursing home with therapy there… that is a dreaded one. The thing that will let mom have him come on home will be him to assist more and her to be able to help enough to not strain either one of them. The options are home rehab where someone comes to the house to help dad every week day for his therapy - less “toys” to work with and less of their tools available. Less pressure for dad to get up and attempt to dress and do the things necessary to leave the house too…. So it’s good to have it out of the house…. But can they do this? Can they manage? Scary prospects. I’m “on call” for a while. I’m working on seeing when we bring Robert out… and really just holding our breaths right now…
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