bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday to Monday-  MaryAnne and Donna came over to play Maj on Saturday. That really helped me mentally! Bob stayed for dinner. On Sunday, Bob brought the dogs over again. The weather was beautiful, with bright blue skies and temps in the 70’s, so we met up on the outside patio.

They thought it was interesting sniffing.

Monday and Tuesday we prepared for me to go to the Doctor’s office on Wednesday. One of the OT’s, Karen, took me outside, with Bob and I transferred from the wheelchair, using the walker, to the car. I did it perfectly, without any issues.

Wednesday was the day I was waiting for… I had PT at 7AM. Ugh! I requested to use one of their wheelchairs, as I knew I would have my feet down for a long period of time. The park’s wheelchair had foot rests but not leg rests. Every time I had the chance, I had my feet elevated to keep the swelling down. So the PT found one for me. At 8, I went to breakfast. Bob arrived at 8:30, and at 8:50, transport arrived. They required me to go in their wheelchair van, but Bob could go with me in the van. We took the short ride to CORE to see my Doc.

We arrived early, as my appt. was at 10:30. But we only waited about 10 minutes and they took us in. I saw the assistant who unwrapped my leg, then the Medical Student took out my six stitches. She did it very well without any pain! They added some steri- strips to one area. The Doc came in, and looked at my foot. I thought it was swollen ( it was) but they all said it was not too bad. Most folks are worse.

He made me weight bearing as tolerated ( full weight bearing). I had to get it in writing for Cobalt, which he did. Then I was off to the room to get the ‘boot’. It turned out that CORE is not contracted with my insurance provider for the durable medical equipment. They are for the Doc’s and Therapy. So no boot! EEEK, I was so ready to walk!!!

The boot tech gave Bob information on two places to get the boot. One was across the street from CORE, on Grand Ave, which was a hike. We had called for the Wheelchair Van, so Bob had to hurry. They would not give Bob a boot until Monday! They had to get the insurance permission. Bob hustled to get back before the van arrived in an hour and 10 minutes.

So when the van driver arrived, we went back to Cobalt. We went straight to lunch. From lunch,  I went straight to OT and Bob went to get me a boot at the second place. I gave the PT the paperwork, and they found me a boot ,for my 2:30 PT session. I had to walk up and down stairs well, which I easily did. Its down with the bad leg, up with the good leg. I progressed from a wheelchair, to a walker, to a cane in a few minutes. No pain! Yippee, freedom! Bob arrived with my boot, and we switched. We also changed wheelchairs.  That evening I walked into the cafeteria, using the cane, to cheers and high fives. People moved in and out of the hospital quickly, so we would do that when someone was getting ready to leave!

They would not let me leave on Wednesday afternoon. They did not say so, but as a CM I knew, that the hospital does not get paid for the day that the patient leaves. So they kept me until the next morning.

Thursday- Bob came to pick me up at 8:30. During my stay at the Rehab Hospital, I was seen daily by the Nurse Practitioner, Angel, and by the Rehab Doc, Dr. Bagley. So both had to write the discharge orders. It took the nurse until almost 11:30 to get the orders.( On Tues and Thurs they have care conference).  We finally left at 11:45 and Bob drove me home. I had to get up the motor home steps which are high and narrow, so Bob went in ahead to get the happy dogs corralled. I made it in okay and greeted my furry gals!  Bob ran to the Elks Lodge to pick up lunch.

We ate and then took a nap. We had a quiet evening.

Friday- it was a quiet day for us, as I was busy keeping my legs elevated. Koda had an issue with peeing on the new rug. This started right after we had taken her in for her allergies, before I went to surgery. She did not have a UTI,so Bob and I brainstormed and decided it was the medicine. Bob stopped the medicine, while I was still at Cobalt,  and it worked. She no longer was peeing in the rig. I asked Bob to please have the rug cleaned, so he called Exel and set it up for Monday morning.

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