Friday, May 27
Linda was more lucid today than she has been. She texted this morning, then I called her back. She asked me to bring some things when I come to visit, including 6 oz. of hot coffee in her special coffee travel mug and a box of the frozen Stouffer’s mac-n-cheese.
She had had visits from the PT and the OT and was sort of pumped up when I got to her room. She had been sitting up in a chair for a few hours, and she took a couple of steps with the walker.
When I went to leave the parking garage, there was a “Parking Violation” under my windshield wiper. It claimed I was taking up 2 parking spaces (which I wasn’t, but one wheel was slightly over the inside line of the space I was in) and that I was parked in a space that required a parking permit (which certainly wasn’t true, as there was NO indication on Level 1 as to who could park there). This really disturbed me, even though I figured it was some dumb yahoo who just wanted to be mean on the day before a long holiday weekend. My first instinct was to call the phone number on the ticket, then I figured I probably would not get anyone who could be of help until Tuesday. So I just put the ticket in my backpack and tried very hard to ignore it.
Saturday, May 28
Today I parked on the upside of Level 5, trying very hard to stay within the lines of my parking space.
She has been given discharge orders and is supposed to go to a rehab facility, but being as it’s a holiday weekend, there was no way to get authorization to do that.
She felt well enough to sit up in a recliner chair, so since it was a holiday weekend and we couldn’t do anything else, we watched a Harry Potter marathon all weekend!
Sunday, May 29
I parked on Level 5 again today.
The nurses are still trying to get authorization for a rehab facility, but no luck. They finally determined Linda could go home if she has oxygen at home. So she asked about an oxygen concentrator. And then got authorization to order oxygen to be delivered to our house.
Monday, May 30
Linda came home today! She still has pneumonia and requires oxygen, and we have oxygen tanks in our bedroom. She still has a long way to go to be completely well, but we are hopeful it will happen.
Well, we are home. The Apria truck delivered the oxygen concentrator and a portable oxygen unit with 3 extra oxygen tanks. However, Linda was not able to get up the steps into the house and she had to call the Fire Dept. They got her in AND hooked her up to the oxygen machine inside the house. Then they got a call for a car fire so they had to rush out. But they did what Linda needed, so she’s in bed now, drinking a Barq’s® Root Beer.
I had to drive back to Walgreens to pick up medications that she needs TONIGHT. I told the pharmacy technician I was there to pick up a prescription for Linda Wright, and he said it would be 15 minutes. While I was waiting, their “system went down,” so I had to wait another 20-30 minutes before the order was ready.
Tuesday, May 31
First full day at home. Linda said she slept well, at least until 5 a.m. when she needed to use the bedpan. After that, she slept until 1:30 p.m., at which time I made breakfast for her and Emily. Later, she chose to walk to the bathroom with crutches, so I followed her with the 50-ft. tubing to make sure it didn’t get tangled.
She told me she’s making an Excel spreadsheet on her computer to keep track of her fluid intake, which she is limited to 42 ounces. Around 4 o’clock, she had a mandarin gel, which counts for 4 oz. of fluids. Since she had “breakfast” so late, she didn’t have supper until after 8 o’clock.
