Laura is still in the hospital, but might come home tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. It’s a little surprising that Laura is not chomping at the bit to leave the hospital. She’s got excellent care and is getting good sleep. She’s had the chance to experiment with pain medicine and found what seems to be working well. She claims to be eating more and better because at home she says it’s hard to get motivated to eat. She has had lots of visitors throughout the days. She doesn’t have to take a daily drive to her radiation treatments. She’s receiving daily occupational and physical therapy (OT & PT). And she’s got a “hospitalist” (like an attending physician) and case worker who are tracking her condition.
She and I talked with the hospitalist this afternoon and we learned that there’s no strong reason she has to stay in the hospital, but that the staff dealing with her are concerned about her safety at home and are hoping that she’ll be more capable to get around tomorrow or Friday since she will have had 5 or 6 rounds of radiation and multiple OT sessions, which are aimed at improving “ADL” — activities of daily living.
After she is discharged a visiting nurse will be coming to the house on a regular basis to check on her, do in-house OT and PT, and act as a “health aid”, if needed, which means helping Laura for a few hours doing normal daily activities like bathing. With Laura’s parents here right now, there are plenty of adults to help out, so the last part isn’t critical. But when her parents leave, we’ll need someone to come in to be with her just so I can get the kids to school, get groceries, etc. Her doctors don’t want her left alone.
The hospitalist will get the ball rolling tomorrow morning for her discharge, and if all the staff and Laura agree, then she’ll come home in the afternoon. But nobody is in a rush.
Still in hospital. No rush.
Wed, May 7th, 2008 10:05pm by dkulp
Tags: Uncategorized
4 responses so far ↓
1 Karuna // May 8, 2008 at 10:37 am
Hello David,
Thanks for the update, and I’m glad Laura is get great care.
I’m going to offer some advice here, something I don’t normally do unless asked. However, having had a great deal of experience with caregiving, both personally (as a caregiver of many including a husband who died) and from an advocacy role (as a chaplain, case manager and social worker) – I want to highly recommend that you allow, even insist on the visiting nurse (or home health aid) coming to your home on a regular basis, perhaps daily. You and your respective families and friends have been doing a phenomenal job caring for Laura and your girls, and it is important you all keep doing that. AND it is so very important to have help from folks who are not family, and whose job it is to attend to ADLs. This help does not diminish in any way the help and care you offer, or diminish the love you have. In fact, it allows your care and love to be supported in very important ways. It allows you to nurture your relationship as Laura’s husband (or parent, sibling, friend, etc) – not just her caregiver and advocate. It offers you the opportunity to connect with this experience from a richer place of being instead of doing. It also offers you time to take care of yourself and rest, so that your time, attention and caring is not compromised by fatigue. And it offers an invaluable example to your girls about caring for yourself and others.
I am not assuming that you don’t already know this, or that others have not already talked to you about this. I simply offer this from a place of love and caring, (from 3,000 miles away), with hope and prayers for all of you!
Many Blessings & Love,
Karuna
2 Suzy // May 8, 2008 at 11:28 am
David,
Thank you so much for keeping us posted. Give Laura a big hug from me and let her know I am thinking about her. Take care. Lily and Naomi are adorable. You are doing such a great job.
Love to you all,
Suzy
3 Eileen and Norm // May 8, 2008 at 1:50 pm
David,
You have a blessed and very smart friend in Karuna. God Bless her she is passing on good advice. You know I have been sitting back in the shadows, reading and praying. But I couldn’t help but say “Yeah” to Karuna’s advice. I too had to make that same decision for my mother to make sure she was safe in her own home. It is a very hard decision to make, but it is one that you will find will be so right on many levels.
God Bless you all. You are in our prayers.
Gramma Eileen
4 Tom Duesterhaus // May 10, 2008 at 9:18 am
David, thanks for the update.
I’m praying for all of you guys.
Love,
Tom