Five Long Weeks

For a hospital stay that was expected to be no longer than four days, it turned in to quite an ordeal. I felt like a yo-yo going back to AAMC twice after I was discharged. I ended up having three separate stays, from January 17 to 25, January 26 to February 5, and February 8 to 11. The first time I was only home for about 20 hours, but the second time it was more like 72 hours. However, I dehydrated because I was unable to care for myself while I was home alone during the day. I was so weak from being in the hospital for so long I couldn't walk around to get myself anything to eat or drink.

Uncle Wes drove me to dialysis and had to catch me before I collapsed when I got out of his truck. My legs just totally gave out. I was also dehydrated, having lost over 6 lbs from Wednesday evening to Friday afternoon. That caused major dizziness and I'm pretty sure I lost consciousness at least once, but I landed on my bed, so it just felt like I was sleeping. I'm not even sure how long I was "out."

But upon arriving at dialysis, everyone noticed that I wasn't "my usual chipper self," as my social worker put it. She asked if there was something she could do and I told her that I didn't feel that I was capable of taking care of myself at home or maintaining my calcium level on my own yet, and needed help. She said that arranging help to come to the house would take too long and asked me if I wanted the truth of the situation. I told her I definitely need to do something, because Uncle Wes wouldn't be around to drive me to dialysis on Monday, so I needed to hear it from her. She said the best thing was to go back to the hospital, get stabilized, and then go to a rehabilitation facility. She said I had to specifically ask to go to rehab and then it could be arranged.

I told her that while I wasn't happy about going back to the hospital I knew I needed to do SOMETHING, and if this is my only/best option I'd do it. So the dialysis nurses called 911 to have me transported back to AAMC and I got there at 6:30pm.

I spent a total of four days in the hospital the third time and was discharged on Monday the eleventh. Uncle Wes picked me up, took me to the house so I could get clothes that were fit to be seen in public (all I had at AAMC were PJ's), and drove me Heritage Harbour Rehabilitation Center. Upstairs in the building is the nursing home (long-term residents) and downstairs is the rehabilitation center (short-term residents). Since I arrived late, it was very quiet. I was disappointed to see that all the rooms were double-occupancy and that I'd have a room mate. Miss R was very nice, but she kept the tv on all night and blared it. I went to the nurse's station and asked if I could move to a different room since it was empty. I explained why and walked the unit supervisor down to let her hear the television that was playing in my room.

I had almost two whole days of peace and quiet in my new room and then Miss M was moved in on Wednesday while I was at dialysis. She was a very sweet lady, but she had a very nasty cough, so I asked for a new room on Thursday night. I told the staff that I wasn't even allowed to be around my family when they're sick, so there was no way it was good for me to share a room with someone who was ill.

So for the second time, I changed rooms. Miss F was very nice, didn't blare her tv, and didn't have a cough. Her husband spent the day with her every day and was also very nice. They liked to watch game shows and do crosswords, and I found myself blurting out the answers to Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, and any crossword puzzle clues I knew.

I spent some time wandering around and found a beauty parlor in the back hall. They had a lady who came in two days a week to cut residents' hair, so I walked up to the Activities office to get an appointment. Miss Brenda gave me a very nice cut, getting my hair off the back of my neck. I got lots of compliments on it. I guess I can call my haircut my Valentine's Day present to myself, because that's all I did besides therapy and dialysis. Fun, huh?

It wasn't all fun and games in HHRC, though! I had over two hours a day of physical and occupational therapy each day. The occupational therapists worked with me on my arm stregnth and range of motion, since I lost about 30 degrees in each arm. The physical therapists worked on my balance and leg stregnth. Because my knees hurt so bad for so long, I'd begun walking more with my hips rather than my knees, so I wouldn't have to bend them. I had to re-learn to pick my feet up when I walked rather than shuffling or waddling along. I had no idea how truly weak I was until I started exercises in the gym and had to use half-pound weights because the one-pound weights were too heavy!

Therapy was fun, though. I never knew all the games that were used for physical therapy! I got to play Scrabble with Mr N one day, dominoes with Miss K another, volleyball using a balloon with a group of people around a large raised mat (tests balance) a few different times, and bouncing a ball with other therapists or patients.

I didn't get alot of stitching done while I was in HHRC because my day was so full. Breakfast came at 8:30am. Then I had to get up and get dressed for therapy which started around 9:00 or 9:30am. I'd get back to my room in time for lunch, take a couple hours' nap, wake up and watch some tv, eat dinner, and fall asleep. On dialysis days, there was a van that picked me up at 1:45pm. I'd rush back from therapy, take a quick nap, eat, and get ready to go.

My treatments ended too late for the van to pick me up, so Uncle Wes would drive me back to HHRC, but we'd stop for dinner first. Friday night, he suprised me and brought Kasey with him! We dropped by the house to pick up her shot records and went back to the facility. The nurse looked at the shot records and said everything was fine, so I took Kasey around to see the other patients I knew. People in other rooms saw us walking down the hall and would ask us to come in. Kasey basked in the attention and behaved marvelously.

I asked Uncle Wes if he could drop her off to me Saturday with her brush and comb, so I could groom her to continue my therapy while the therapists were gone for the weekend. I was suprised on Saturday morning when a physical therapist came to my room to get me. I told her that my uncle was going to be bringing my dog to me because I didn't think there was therapy on the weekends. She said that was great, that she'd use Kasey as part of my therapy, like I'd planned. So Saturday, my occupational therapy was grooming Kasey. I took her blanket and grooming tools to the gym and brushed and combed her, clipped her nails, and trimmed the hair on her feet. Physical therapy was taking a walk outside around the building. Following therapy, I went around both halls on the lower level and took Kasey to visit even more residents. It was so rewarding to see peoples' faces lighting up when they saw her. One resident, Miss K, said I was glowing; I probably was!

Kasey seemed to have a sixth sense about what each individual needed her to do. Mr N was a above-the-knee amputee and was laying in bed. Kasey jumped up on his bed and sat beside him so he could pet her. She would sidle right up beside wheelchairs so the occupant could reach her. The only thing that seemed to faze her was the oxygen concentrators. She didn't like the hissing sound they made and would back away from them. I got compliment after compliment on her behaviour. She even slept beside my bed, thanks to the calming essential oil Cherie Parry sent, while I took a nap and never moved!

Uncle Wes had to pick her up before dinner because dogs aren't allowed to be there while food is being served. We got around that at lunch by going to the gym, but that wasn't an option for dinner. I knew she had to leave, but that didn't stop me from crying as I watched her walk down the hallway with Wessy.

Saturday was such a glowing success, I decided I wanted her to come back Sunday. I didn't have OT on Sunday, but we went for a very long walk around the grounds. I also did some balancing exercises and worked on the stairs in the gym a few times.

When I got back to my room I was exhausted! I fell asleep for a few hours. When I woke up, Kasey was under my room mate's son's arm. I called her and he said "Don't worry, we're dog people! She's fine!" She would walk between Miss F's husband and son, getting all the petting she could. Then she came back over on my side of the room, jumped up on the bed, and fell asleep (once again thanks to Cherie's wonderful calming oil!). I sat and stitched while she napped. I made pretty good progress on My Very Bestest Friend.

Monday was back to the usual because Uncle Wes had to work so he couldn't drop Kasey off to me. I was suprised at therapy when my PT asked me if I thought I was ready to go home. She said I'd met all my therapy goals and she felt that I was a candidate for outpatient PT. She explained that the facility usually likes to have a week's notice of a discharge, so everything can be arranged on the outside, but I could go home Friday. I asked if it could be Thursday and got a weird look from her. She said, "What's one day?" I said, "It's my birthday!" to which she answered, "Well, that's a good enough reason for me! Thursday it is!" That afternoon, I went to dialysis and Uncle Wes picked me up. We went to Applebee's for dinner and he drove me back to HH. Kasey wasn't with him that time because it was raining.

Mom came down Tuesday afternoon and we went to Annapolis Mall. I got a motorized scooter to ride around on, because the mall is over a half-mile long and we were going from one end to the other. I bought a pair of Crocs and some charms to put on them. We went to New York & Co (my favorite clothing store) and I got two more pairs of Manhattan Chinos and two v-necked shirts to go with them. The pants were on sale, so I couldn't pass them up!

We went to Borders Books because I wanted to see what cross stitch magazines they had, but I didn't find any that I wanted to buy. Then I picked up a word-find book to keep me occupied at HH and dialysis. Mom suprised me with a gift card for Borders, so we went upstairs in search of the Pet section. I got sidetracked by the coffee bar while Mom used the ladies' room. I bought myself a chai tea latte and got Mom a hot tea.

On the way to the Pet section, I found an exercise ball with a band, which duplicated alot of the exercises I'd been doing in therapy. It was on sale, so I picked one up. It even came with a DVD and a book! In the Pet section, I found a training book that was appropriate for some of the issues Kasey has. I'll let you know how that goes! LOL I also got Led Astray by Sandra Brown on CD. I've read (or listened to) several of her books and really enjoy them.

We ate dinner at Johnny Rockets because Mom and I love listening to 50's and 60's music. They have the little table-top jukeboxes and each song is only five cents. The waitress gave us three nickels to play songs, and I found a fourth on top of our jukebox. We ate our burgers and headed back to the car. On the way, Mom stopped at the Lindt store and I went in Williams-Sonoma to get some gourmet flake sea salt. We dropped off my scooter and met Uncle Wes at HH. He dropped off my truck so I could drive myself home Thursday and Mom took him home.

Since Uncle Wes doesn't work on Wednesdays, he dropped Kasey off to me for the morning. She arrived at 9:00am in order to do my therapy with me. We worked in the gym with everyone there. I was really suprised how well she listened with a room-full of people. There were at least 12 patients and 7 therapists, so it was quite crowded. She would lay down beside my chair whenever I sat and she sat beside the treadmill while I used it. I didn't do my entire 2 hours since it was my last day, but we went back to my room so I could rest. Uncle Wes picked her up at noon because he had things to do, and I had to get ready to go to dialysis once lunch was over. Miss F went home before I left for dialysis, so I would have the room all to myself when I got back.

It was snowing when Uncle Wes picked me up from dialysis, so I asked him to take me directly to HH so he wouldn't be out in the bad weather. I told him I had enough leftovers in the fridge to eat for dinner. By the time it was all said and done, we only had about an inch of snow.

Following breakfast on Thursday, MY BIRTHDAY, I started packing up my things and taking them out to the car. The nurse came in to give me my discharge papers and told me I could go. I asked about the central line in my neck and told her it had to be removed before I left. An IV nurse had to be called, so they told me it would be the afternoon before she'd be able to get there. That was fine with me, because I just sat and watched a DVD on my laptop while I waited. Once that was out, I was on my way!

I left HH at 3:55pm and was home in about ten minutes. Kasey ran around, grabbed a toy, and rolled on it on her couch. Chet came up to me and immediately started "talking" to me. I think he was trying to tell me he didn't get fed the night before, but I know better! It was just so nice to be home! I sat and watched some of the shows on my DVR, but my eyes started closing. By 7:50, I was in bed fast asleep!

So that's my five long weeks: 24 days in AAMC and 10 in Heritage Harbour.