Dad’s Coming Home!
My dad is being released from the hospital today!
It’s wonderful, wonderful news!! Mom is going to the patient recovery class today to learn more about how to take care of him at home, and then she’s bringing him home this afternoon. It’s going to be a long, challenging road for him. He cannot drive for six weeks, for example. He’s not supposed to work for several weeks; his job is just to recuperate and heal.
On Monday they decided no pacemaker would be necessary and they removed the "external" pacemaker (and it’s four-inch wires sticking into his heart). He’s doing well, although he’s having some asthma problems. The cardiac doctors don’t want him to take his Advair (inhaled steroid) because they say there is a remote chance of it interfering with his healing. So for the last eight days he has been without his asthma maintenance drug. But, he is allowed to take it when he gets home—go figure. He is feeling pretty well, though, and very eager to come home. It’s extremely sucky to be in the hospital—I know.
This whole time, especially while visiting him in the CSICU, I had awful flashbacks of my own ICU experience almost two years ago. The sounds, the smell, the look of the room, the equipment—everything—brought on waves of nausea and fear. I cried after every time I visited him, even as he was getting better and slowly unhooking from all the devices and monitors and tubes. I know it wasn’t about me, but my PTSD (for lack of a better explanation) reared its ugly, frightened head every time I set foot in his room. It was a very weird experience that I hope never to repeat, just as I hope never to find myself in a CSICU again. Those hospitals do miraculous work, but it’s not easy to be there.
November 5, 2008 at 3:57 pm
yay yay yay! *does happy dance*
November 5, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Very good news! Hospitals do indeed suck. The nursing staff laughed at us when my stepfather was discharged a couple of weeks ago. He was dressed, packed and ready to go about 15 minutes after the doctor told him he could be discharged. Even though we still had to wait for another two hours for all the orders to be written and prescriptions brought up.
I hope his recovery continues to go smoothly!
November 5, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Fantastic news about your dad!
November 5, 2008 at 4:58 pm
That’s amazing news, I’m so happy for you all, sweetheart.
November 5, 2008 at 6:53 pm
That’s wonderful news.
November 5, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Congratulations on your father coming home from the hospital. *hugs*