Post 04 Dad's Home!!!!

Status: Dad was much less congested this morning because Hospice put a patch on his neck to help dry it up! What an incredible difference. He ate so much more this morning and his breathing was much quieter! The hospital does not use these patches. He is still very very weak and sleeping alot, though yesterday he stayed awake for almost 4 hours! He has not gotten out of his bed for 2 days now.

So far Hospice 2, hospital 0.

Word of Warning: If you have someone in a similar situation, be sure to bug them at the hospital what their plans are! When we arrived yesterday morning the hospital discharged my father without even telling us and they were ready to ship him to the first available bed in a nursing home. Thank God we signed on with Hospice and they were able to make his status non movable and the hospital had to keep him there till we figured out what we wanted to do! So just be sure you know the time line with the hospital and get a plan in place or they will move your loved one out! These are all really hard decisions and it seemed the hospital just didn't care.

Got him home....

This morning on the way to the hospital I called the hospice nurse to let her know our decision to bring dad home. Wow, they are fast. By 3:00 that afternoon, I had a hospital bed, oxygen, bedside comode, bed tray, walker and everything else I needed. My dad was home by 4:30 and comfy in his new bed in the living room! He was soooo happy when we told him he was going home.

Toonsis our cat was waiting for him in his new bed and has been sleeping with him most of the time. My dad was really happy to see him and that he was sleeping with him. Doug and I played and sang about 8 songs for him and he really liked that. We kept asking him if he was tired yet and he kept saying "no, more music"! My sister Lynne and brother in law, Arnie helped with getting things set up and stayed to visit. Our Hospice nurse will be visiting tomarrow morning.

I am a bit nervous still, but I am sure things will settle in. I am going to sleep tonight on the couch in the living room, just because it is the first night he is home and if he does wake and get confuse I am in the same room.

Surprize Visiting Nurse:

Lynne decided to start calling on some private nurse agencies to help me out while I was at home getting ready for dad. The first one she called ended up being run by an old friend of mine,Kim, that I haven't talked to in over a year. I kept saying all week that I need to call her for advice ( she is a nurse and experienced with geriatric care) and fate would have it that she is now an administrator of the facility we were calling on!!!! Long story short, she came over tonight to visit and help if we needed anything. We are definitely going to use her facility and I feel so good knowing that Kim is involved. She is a wonderful friend and nurse.