Hit The Road Jack!
In my post “Hospital Stay…Too Much Fun” I wrote about my mother going into the hospital for back surgery. She had a short stay in the actual hospital before being checked-out and moved to the Rehab Unit. To recap a bit – her surgery was Tuesday July 25th and her move to the Rehab Unit was on Thursday July 27th. She’s been in rehab a week and one day – that’s enough! Time to go home… well, home to my house that is. On Wednesday I was at home getting ready to go to the hospital (I go every day and stay most of the afternoon – no fun in the hospital all alone) when I got a call from my mother who was on the edge of crying, “They aren’t going to let me leave until August 7th! (Monday)” I asked her if they explained why they wanted to keep her another five days. She said they had not. I told her to wait until I got there and then we could talk to the lady (rehab outpatient counselor) and get the clear and logical reasons for the extended stay. She calmed down and hung up. I was a bit annoyed with the idea of five more days – I don’t mind visiting my mother in the hospital, and I do get a lot done while there. It’s getting poor little Sammy up and dressed and all ready to go be stuck in Scott’s office all day – that’s what is bothersome. I liked the idea of having the five-week summer vacation to hang out with the little guy and I haven’t seen him too often in the past ten days.
I finally got to the hospital and the outpatient counselor (who reports what was discussed in the meeting about who goes home when) walked in to my mother’s room right after I did. I said, “Now, why do you need to keep her until Monday the seventh?” She never did give me any good reason why. She looked a little flustered as she thumbed through my mother’s paperwork. She stopped for a second and looked at my mother and asked, “Do you not want to stay that long?” My mother told her that she did not and the lady said, “Oh, okay. Well, let me go see what I can do.” and she left. I thought it was odd that she never broke it down for me – like, “Well, your mother still needs to do this and improve on that before she can be released…” The lady then returned after about two minutes and said, “Okay, your release date is for Friday August fourth. How’s that sound?” My mother was really happy to hear that date! I was a little confused. How did they simply go from a meeting where a group discussed that she needed to stay until Monday, and then a two minute chat with another person changed it to Friday?! What am I missing? I must have looked confused because the lady finally said, “She still needs to complete a few more stages of PT (physical therapy) and OT (occuptional therapy) before we can release her.” Oh… still not a reason why they were wanting to keep her until Monday. Whatever – my mother seemed to be more than happy to be getting out Friday.
A few friendly faces enjoying rehab together!
Thursday was an event-filled day with 10:15 am OT baking and 3:15 PT trip to Wal*Mart. First, I arrived to the hospital just in time to catch my mother and her occupational therapist walking into the mini kitchen they have set up for the patients. The therapist showed my mother an option of cake, brownie and cookie mixes to choose from. After looking at each I coaxed her into picking the sugar cookies – they sounded yummy! The therapist and I watched as my mother got out what she needed – bowl, cup, stick of butter, egg and mixing spoon. A few things were too high and too low, so the OT had to help out with a few things. My mother pre-heated the oven and then put her stick of butter into the cup and popped it into the microwave to melt it. While the butter was melting she opened the package of cookie mix and dumped it into the bowl. The butter was ready and she added it to the mix along with the egg (she cracked and opened herself!). My mother mixed the cookie dough and then put some foil onto their ghetto cookie sheet (it was a pizza pan – but it worked). After plopping out a few cookies – using the mixing spoon and an ice cream scoop – the OT helped her put the cookies into the oven. Eleven minutes later we had warm sugar cookies! My mother cleaned up, washed the dishes and headed back to her room for a short rest until lunch.
Ohhh… sugar cookies!!!
The OT arrived at 3:15 for the excursion to Wal*Mart – yay. The three of us traveled, slowly, down to the first floor and then I had to fetch my car and bring it around to the front – the PT had to go fetch her car and bring it around to the front. Then we had to fetch my mother from the bench she was sitting and the big scary looking man she picked a conversation with. She got into my car and we were off! We arrived at the local Wal*Mart and as were walked, slowly, up to the doors my Aunt Marian came scooting out on those little motorized carts. She looked just as surprised to see us as we were to see her. My aunt was following another guy on a motorized cart out so that she could grab it for her daughter (my cousin) who needed a little extra help due to illness. As it turned out all the Wal*Mart motorized carts were all broken but two! Wouldn’t you know it! My mother really needed the motorized cart because she needed to learn how to get around in it and what she could get and what she wasn’t supposed to try and do…etc. The three basic rules NO : 1) Bending, 2) Lifting or 3) Twisting! My aunt and cousin totally understood and I think they ended up leaving instead of staying to shop – thanks! I had brought my shopping list and we made our rounds crossing off items as we went along. It was pretty clear that my mother will not be shopping alone any time soon – but at least she can go along with us (as long as there’s an available motorized cart).
Thursday was a busy day, but the end of all her OT and PT sessions in the rehab unit of the hospital. I had to jam right after the nurse topped off the day by pulling the staples out of her back – OUCH! It was a quick night and before my mother knew it I was back on Friday and all ready to bring her home! She had so much stuff accumulating after her ten day stay! She had boquets of flowers from friends and family. She had snacks that I brought up during the stay – whatever she requested, we got her. I started to load up and walk out for a trip to the car when my mother had the idea that we put her into a wheelchair and load her and the chair up for a trip down – then come back up and check out. That seemed like a pretty good idea, so we loaded everything up – three bouqets of flowers and three bags full of stuff! I left my cell phone and Iced Latte in her room as a sign that we would indeed be back. We started off down the hall and had to explain what we were doing about five times before the cleaning lady came running down the hall after us, “Is this your cell phone?” I explained to her that we weren’t gone yet, just taking stuff to the car – and then I realized! My coffee!!! Oh god did she throw my coffee away?!? This is truly a crime – I rushed back to my mother’s room and relaxed after seeing my good ol’ Starbuck’s sitting right where I left it. I put my cell phone back down next to it and took a sip – do what you want with my cell but god help you if you touch my latte!
Bye-Bye!
Almost an hour later we were walking out of the hospital for real – no going back in, no more OT or PT. No more middle of the night nurse visits… Awww, home-sweet-home! …well, my home is where my mother will be spending a few weeks until she is stronger and more capable of caring for herself. She is resting right now in Sammy’s room – we removed most of his stuff and put them into our room. Sammy will not stay out of her room and leave her alone to rest! This last time I went to chase him out, he was standing next to her with his little toy tool from his little toy tool box. I said, “Whatya doing little fella?” He replyed, very seriously, “I am fixing Grammy.”
