Day Sixty Four

9:19 PM

Don said he slept OK last night. His room mate had some issues during the night and woke Don up for a little while. Don ate two trays for breakfast this morning. He was alert this morning. He took his "happy pill" a little earlier last night. So that may be why he wasn't as sleepy. Don's parents arrived about 9:30 and he had a visitor from one of our friends/retired co-workers. The CNA got Don up and dressed between 10:00 and 11:00. Before leaving his room we were told that a doctor would be coming by early afternoon to remove the pick line. Don's mother was teasing him about not being in the room when they removed it. He joked with her that she could stay in the room and he would leave. He then looked at me and said "Are you going to stay with me when they remove it?". I told him that I had been with him since the beginning and had been right there through every procedure that I was allowed to be present for so why would I bail out now. We went to the day room to wait for lunch. My parents came by and also a friend of Don's parents stopped by. Don ate a little bit of lunch. He didn't like what they served. During lunch the Social Worker came by to see us and to talk to me about home health care and Don's discharge date. It looks like, if everything goes as planned, Don will be discharged by his 50th birthday - next Friday (the 13th)! He was so excited! The home health people will come back again next week to let us know what our insurance will allow for care at home. We are still working on coming back to the center for therapy. I hope to know more about that tomorrow. Don's OT came to get him about 12:45 and took him to therapy. Just as Don started his weights, the Doctor came in that was going to remove the pick line from Don's arm. A few sutures were cut and then the doctor pulled out the line. I believe that line was about 3-4 feet long. They said the line went up his arm to his heart. Don was a little nervous about having it removed because he didn't remember having the other lines removed. It was over in just a few minutes and with no pain to Don. We went back to OT and another one of our friends/co-workers dropped by. In OT they placed Don on a bicycle that you peddle with your hands and feet. You can choose one or the other or both. Don had to peddle the bike with his hands for 1 mile. He also had e-stim while he was peddling. They moved Don to PT and they began to work on his leg exercises. After about an hour of leg exercises they had Don to stand to begin his walk. He went out the door of the rehab room and took a right and went up the back hall and around to the side of the nurse's station. He had to rest there which was about 75 feet. After resting for several minutes Don was off again. His PT said that they would go out the double doors and onto the carpet that led to the front lobby. The carpet gave some resistance but Don said it wasn't too bad. He walked up the hallway to front lobby and his PT said he would sit him on the couch. The distance Don walked was somewhere close to 180 - 200 feet. His PT was thrilled with Don's progress. They sat there for a while and did a few more leg exercises and then he asked Don if he wanted to go back to his gerichair. He said no that he would sit on the couch. He joked about being the first piece of real furniture that he had sat on in 9 weeks. We sat there for about an hour and Don's parents left a little after 4:00. Don decided he was ready to go back to bed. The CNAs got Don back on the side of the bed. Don took his shirt off and put the hospital gown on. I helped him get into bed and finished getting him undressed and ready for bed. Supper came about 5:30. Don really enjoyed his supper. He ate everything. Just as I cleared out his tray from his room, the folks that Don had helped the night of the accident came by. This time they brought their children. Don had a blast playing with the kids. Their oldest child used to call Don "Poppa". We are like adopted grandparents. Kristi came by after work and she had a great time with the kids too. The family stayed with us until about 8:00. I settled Don in for the night and Kristi and I left a little after 8:00. Don has a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 8:55 in Charlotte for his left hand. They told us two weeks ago that they would take out the screws on this visit. We will have to leave no later than 7:30. Please pray for this appointment.