I was so tired of being at the hospital. That I didn't care about fighting for more rehab time there. All I could think about was. No more 5:30AM blood draws and meds before shift change. No more waiting for the PT and OT and ST to show up. I don't care how hard it is going to be. I want to take William home. I had spend every minute that I was not at work at the hospital. That meant, I would leave work at 10 and get to the hospital with the 11PM shift. I would stay until 1Pm and get to work for 2 or 3PM. I spent every weekend there. That was our home. The cafeteria was my kitchen.

Finally, discharge day. Everybody, ST, MD, PT, OT, stops by and says goodbye. ST gives me lots of handouts, the nurses of course give handouts, the PT and OT do not give me handouts. ANyway, I went t the various medical depts and requested medical records and all pictures on CDS. The medical records were expensive. $65.00. Later I find out that this is for 10 pages. I get it after a few phone calls months later. What I receive in the mail is a joke. 3 pages of somebody's else's history and some pages that only have william and my name on it as guarantor. What a joke? The cardiologist gave me most of what he did not want. That was nice. So I got a copy of William's medical records. I haven't read it. Afterall, I was there.

We get home and I find that the wheelchair and hospital bed have been delivered. I was not at home. A friend received it for me. I have homehealth set up. This means a shower twice a week and nurses to come take finger sticks for INR. OT,PT<ST will come and evaluate. I do this for a week.

One evaluation and one treatment. I happen to know the PT person. She used to work for my podiatrist. She and I agree that outpatient is much better. She says that is she could get her husband to outpatient PT she would do that. Well, I can do that. I call up the hospital and set up outpatient. Next week evaluations are done for methodist hospital. I now do not have shower assistance or blood draws. This means even more outings for us. We go to therapy 3 days of the week and have blood draws once a week.

The shower thing is scary. It is probably dangerous,too. My son keeps reminding me to be very careful. He is in Chicago and tells me this over the phone. William is on coumadin and should not fall. He can bleed. Well, we manage somehow.

I had reduced hours at work, This meant that I was not working my weekends. (every other) . Now I am back up to full time. I have caretakers come in stay with william while I am at work. He doesn't like their cooking. They don't like to work with him regarding exercises. It takes time to get the right team of caretakers established. But, it is constantly changing. I thought about hiring on my own. But, what about a now show? I decide to use an angency. I will pay them extra. They take care of the no shows and sick calls and whatever else can happen.

WE get into a routine. I decide to throw in accupuncture. I have had too many people say to try it. So, another appointment to our mess. We are always on the go. Accupuncture last of 2 months. It does not seem to do much for William and he hates needles.

I have started hydrotherapy. I take William to the YMCA to walk. They have a chair lift. I can get him in the water. We start walking on the edge of the pool. 15-20 minutes a session. I discover their shower. It is easier to give William a shower there . My new shower! Now, I have a fight on my hands. Regular YMCA folks like that shower. It is private and big. I have to complain to management that we need a handicap sign on the door. WEll, it takes months of e-mails and talks with the director to get that done. Still, they have a temporary sign up. I still need to remind them that they were ordering a permanent handicap sign for that bathroom. The sign helps. I have not had to wait so long or often to use that shower.

more to come next time.

addendum: Yesterday I tried the bike and hand pedal at the YMCA. I made some straps and used lots of velcro on them. I managed to strap the left arm and left leg onto the respective machines. William did 5 minutes on each. I told him that we would work up to 30 minutes eventually.

Stroke is alot of work.