Dan was in food heaven this afternoon. We went to a local cafeteria and he had fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, harvard beets, and coconut cream pie. At his request I've made a dozen bibs out of hand towels with draw strings for him to wear around his neck. He calls them his drool towels. Today there were harvard beets everywhere. lol He has found his appetite again. From past experience and current patterns I know that I'll have to start telling him no to so much food. He could eat nachos and ice cream at every meal. Cafeterias are very comfortable for him, for both of us actually. They cater to older people and there are always a lot of canes, walkers, wheelchairs.

He is doing so much better. In May I didn't think he'd ever come home again and now he'll be home a week from tomorrow. He has such a strong will to live and is such a fighter. It will be a little different this time than it was the first time. He's a little stronger than he was the first time he came home. He's also a little weaker than he was when he got sick in January. This time I know what to expect. This time I also know that I'm not Superwoman. I've taken off my rose colored glasses and admitted to myself that this is our life, our new normal.

The one big difference this time is the colostomy bag. I changed it two times in March before he left the hospital and emptied it about two times also. My big concern is that it will leak or fall off. There's constant problems with it at the ECF. I've complained to the Unit Manager dozens of times about educating their nursing staff on the proper way to put on, empty, and take off the bags. Last week I complained to the Director of Nursing. Two to three times a week there's a plastic bag with stinky, nasty clothes waiting for me to take home. Nasty as it sounds, it will be better than having to transfer him to the toilet every 15 minutes.

He'll be coming home with a G-tube even though he's started eating again. Prior to January he was taken to the hospital 3 or 4 times for dehydration because he never drinks fluids. So, he'll be coming home with two things stuck in his belly. Makes it just a little difficult to get the gait belt in the right place. Not impossible just tricky.

This will be our new adventure.