David is going home today!

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davidswife

davidswife

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Messages
179
Location
Mahwah, NJ
We are being sprung!!!!!:)

It was a longer stay (14 days) than we anticipated but it has given David more time to get a little stronger and hopefully make it a little easier on me now when we get home. His INR got to 1.99 yesterday (from 1.3 something the day before - a much bigger jump than we expected considering how it had been creeping up the previous two days) and we thought he might get out yesterday but the surgeon on call (not David's surgeon) said that it had to be over 2.0. Today it was 1.92 and I was afraid that they would keep him but they are letting him go and we just have to have the INR checked again on Tuesday. So we are just waiting for the doctors to finish rounds and write up the discharge orders which will probably be another couple of hours.

The OHS incision looks great, the pacemaker site is really bruised and is giving David some discomfort and he is very tired. He has not had a shower since before the surgery (they would not let him shower with the heparin which was just discontinued yesterday). I would like him to shower here before he leaves so we don't have to deal with that when we get home but he is tired and I think a little afraid. We will not try to shower tonight anyway because I know that I have read here that the day you go home that is all that you should do - just go home. It is not worth fighting with him about, though. I think he must feel that he has had very little control while he has been here and so I need to let him make these decisions, even if it may make it harder on me later on (then I can just tell him "I told you so!";)).

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers! Now I can really say that we have made it over the mountain!

Nadine
 
Congratulations on going home. Re: the shower, if he doesn't want to do it before you go home, ask the nurse if they can give you a little bottle of what they call perineal wash. They use it in the hospital all the time to help keep patients clean. With some of that in a pan of warm water, you can give him a bed bath when he gets home. It really cleans well and neutralizes things wonderfully. He will then feel fresh and clean.

It is no rinse stuff. You can wash his hair with it (not the in the sink washing, but with a washcloth).I used it all the time in the hospital to give Joe his bed bath. I bathed him every day in the hospital. I just love that stuff.

It is a liquid and comes in a spray bottle.
 
Congradulations. I know you both will feel so much better when you are in your own house. How far from the hospital is your house? and yes I'm sure it is important for Dave to have some control over something going on in his life right now. Looking forward to your first post from YOUR Home.
 
Wonderful news. Going home will be tiring so just stick to sponge baths if that is what he wants. Little steps.

It will be nice for you both to be in your own home together. Home is always less hectic than the hospital and a lot more private.

Please take care.
 
If you have a walk-in shower, you can put a plastic lawn chair inside and have him sit on the chair while taking a shower.
 
Adrienne said:
If you have a walk-in shower, you can put a plastic lawn chair inside and have him sit on the chair while taking a shower.
Click to expand...

There was a large shower stall in my hospital that had a bench seat and hand held shower attachment. A tech or family member could do the washing.

A shower can drain some energy but your feel SO GOOD afterwards.

Or try Nancy's suggestion.

The first 2 weeks are the 'roughest' so hopefully things will go smoothly at home. Recovery ALWAYS takes longer than we patients would like.

PATIENCE and PERSISTENCE wins the race.

The Good News is that everything seems to be working properly and that he IS going home. Hopefully he (and you) will soon forget the 'bumps in the road to recovery'.

Best Wishes!

'AL C'
 
Nadine, So glad David is doing well and he can go home. There's nothing like Home Sweet Home. I would'nt worry about the showering maybe try Nancy's suggestion. I took a shower there at the hospital because I felt yuk and wanted to see if I could do it with out feeling dizzing, but it was tiring. Just do want ever feels comfortable for David. Keep us updated and pray Davids recovery continues to improve everyday. :)
Crystal
 
YAY!!! I hope you are rested up and feeling much better now, yourself!

He will feel SO good to be home. There really is no other experience quite like it. Home is precious. You are precious. It was a pretty emotional time for me.

I would stave off visitors for awhile. Keep the germs at bay. Tell people doctor's orders -- no visitors for a week (except his own family, of course!). Unless, of course, David wants them. It's just pretty exhausting to see people until you get your wits about you some.

Hooray!!

Marguerite
 
A shower can drain some energy but your feel SO GOOD afterwards.

Al is right on both counts!

First thing I did when I got out the car (after supervising the dropping-off of prescriptions at the pharmacy) was to go and check my garden! I still remember how the first few showers felt, though, all sorts of sticky gunky stuff coming off, and just getting rid of that hospital smell was wonderful, too! and having clean hair - not neat, not styled but just CLEAN - made me feel like a million times better.

Congrats to both of you on getting "sprung" !
 
Nadine, that is wonderful news for you and David. Im sure he is ready, and probably a little nervous to go home also. You two are great, and im glad that he is doing so well. Now go home and relax a little.
 
David took a shower - yeah!

David took a shower - yeah!

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. The nurse (she was wonderful - David had her for the last two days and loved her!) convinced him to take a shower. We both helped and he did great and felt so much better.:) He was then able to get right into his sweat pants and his own tawdry shirt (with glasses of beer on it!). We just went through all the discharge orders and now we're waiting for the wheelchair. Hopefully the 1.5 hour ride home from the Jersey shore won't be too bad traffic-wise. They are giving us the pills he needs to cover for tonight in case we don't get to our pharmacy before they close at 6pm.

Okay, got to get off the computer so David can go back to watching the Yankees (it's a close game!).

Will update you all later tonight or tomorrow.

Nadine:)
 
AH, a shower (with 2 women no less :)

Clean, comfy clothes,

and a BaseBall Game,

Life Goes On,

Just as it should be.

ENJOY !

Burma Shave
 
Nadine and David, sounds so familiar since I did so much the same thing as David. 14
day stay, an hour and half drive from LA and etc. He will be glad he had that shower
at the hospital, having a big enough one you can sit down and the spray nozzle
really helps, and he won't feel like it this evening at home. I sat in my easy chair
and went to sleep and never heard a thing for over two hours, was shocked when I
awoke and my husband had even ran to the store around the corner and I never
knew anything, he will be tired after very little sleep in the hospital and then the
trip home. So happy for your both, sounds like you are feeling better also, good!
Thanks for posting. Laura B.
 
We're home!!!

We're home!!!

Our twins decorated the front door and David's den with welcome home signs. I took lots of pictures and will post them in an album later tonight or tomorrow.

David is now all set on his favorite couch with lots of comfy pillows all around and our two cats keeping him company. The Yankees may have lost today (actually they got killed!) but tomorrow is a double header!

Life is good:)!

Nadine
 
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