15 May 2007: How fast can we switch gears?
When I visited Mike at noon, he was concerned about the fact that his graft on his hip might have moved. I found his friend Tammy, who is the wound expert and she affirmed that the graft slipped, probably when he was moved from the operating room to his bed yesterday. The good news is that Tammie was able to realign the skin, rebandage and instruct Mike not to bend sharply or scoot... During that quality time with Tammie, he wanted to know why he couldn't leave the hospital. The barrier was the ride home and the fact that Dr. McDonald wanted him to stay in the hospital until Thursday.. Well. Tammie can be as persuasive as Mike and with a little arnm twisting, she relented.
I learned at 3:00pm today that Dr. McDonald wrote the discharge orders. Again the restriction was not to flex his left hip over 45 degrees. That meant a bed transport. I tried to arrange a transport with the Valley View Fire Department, and although they wanted to help, their page for a transport at 7:00pm didn't result in any takers. So-o-o, Mike and I started to plan how he could escape and "do no harm". Here's how it went:
The staff found a cart that took him from his bed to my car. The seat was reclined so he got in the car ever so carefully and rode home reclined. Then we got back to Valley View with not much of plan to get him up the stairs...he couldn't sit on the chair and ride, but he decided that he could use the rail and the elevator chair for support and hop up each step...Becky operated the button to move the chair and I followed Mike to support any loss of balance - sound familiar, Bonnie? This time however, the trip was uneventful,,,he made it to his bed by walker and found it much more comfortable already. The most discomfort he is having is related to the donor site--much as before. But, he is medicated (just a little) and all tucked in for the night. He is still listening to his ipod that Ruthie hand delivered last night--quite a surprise and he really is enjoying it. I just hooked it up to a computer speaker and he can now listen without those little buds in his ears.
Next on the agenda is the return to Metro on Thursday at 3:00pm for a dressing change and the word on how well the grafts are doing.
Till then.... Marsha
I learned at 3:00pm today that Dr. McDonald wrote the discharge orders. Again the restriction was not to flex his left hip over 45 degrees. That meant a bed transport. I tried to arrange a transport with the Valley View Fire Department, and although they wanted to help, their page for a transport at 7:00pm didn't result in any takers. So-o-o, Mike and I started to plan how he could escape and "do no harm". Here's how it went:
The staff found a cart that took him from his bed to my car. The seat was reclined so he got in the car ever so carefully and rode home reclined. Then we got back to Valley View with not much of plan to get him up the stairs...he couldn't sit on the chair and ride, but he decided that he could use the rail and the elevator chair for support and hop up each step...Becky operated the button to move the chair and I followed Mike to support any loss of balance - sound familiar, Bonnie? This time however, the trip was uneventful,,,he made it to his bed by walker and found it much more comfortable already. The most discomfort he is having is related to the donor site--much as before. But, he is medicated (just a little) and all tucked in for the night. He is still listening to his ipod that Ruthie hand delivered last night--quite a surprise and he really is enjoying it. I just hooked it up to a computer speaker and he can now listen without those little buds in his ears.
Next on the agenda is the return to Metro on Thursday at 3:00pm for a dressing change and the word on how well the grafts are doing.
Till then.... Marsha
