Tuesday 12.23.2008 He's Home

It's been another long day. I called the hospital when I woke again just before 0600 to ask the night nurse how Dan did during the night. She said he was good, that the Physician Assistant was there writing out the discharge stuff. I thanked her for taking good care of Daniel and went back to sleep. Or, I tried to.

Dan called about 7. He said that he had been awake most of the night, and when he had fallen asleep, someone came in to check him or draw blood or something. And the PA went in and woke him at 0600. I tried to doze again, but of course my mind was going a hundred miles an hour figuring out how to arrange my day...

I called the therapy place to verify that Ike had canceled the appointment for today, so that freed up my morning. I called Dan back to let him know. He said that the nurse was going to stop the IV's at 8, and that he could go home shortly after. Ok. I got up and started moving.

Dan called back again to say that Dr. Karve had just been in and wants him to have another dose of Integrelin, so he has to stay until 2pm. Oh. Ok.

So, I had my morning--breakfasting, checked the computer some, and got ready to go pick up my new glasses.

It is another winter advisory day--cold, low teens, snow, and blowing. Ok, I know how to bundle up. The roads were another story. They had not been plowed and were a mess, and traffic was heavy.

I went in and waited for Bob. Ten minutes or so, and it was my turn. The new lens is much better. He did some minor adjusting and fitting of the frames and I was on my way. Thanks, Bob. These lenses work very well. I can tell that my brain is working with them, and it's different than the lenses being "not right".

My next stop was groceries. Yes, I know that the store would be busy today, and I hoped that it would be better sooner than later. It wasn't. The store was very congested and it seemed I had to pause in every aisle at least twice to wait for other shoppers to make their selections and move on. And then I had to wait in line to check out.

I had just pushed the cart through the snow to nearly the end of a row when my phone rang. It was 1:48. Daniel. Wondering if I was ok? Yes, it's a zoo out here. I'll be there at 2, depending on traffic. I called him when I was in front of the hospital; they were still waiting for a wheelchair. Maybe 10 minutes or so later, there he is. He got in the car.

We came home, unloaded groceries, and he was restless, pacing around. I told him to sit down, be still. He did, after a while. We noticed that his groin is horribly bruised. That wasn't there yesterday. He's got bruises all over, like he fell down the stairs or something. Big ugly blueish purple things. I told him we'd watch it.

It became more uncomfortable, and since I couldn't tell if the discoloration was spreading, I drew an outline on it. An hour later, it is more "full", with only a couple of areas outside of the lines. I called Kathy at the hospital to ask her if that was there this morning--she reassured me that it was normal, just to make sure that there's no firm lumps under it. Ok, thanks. I looked at it again and offered to make an ice pack. He wasn't ready for that yet.

Dan was reading some of the patient info he was sent home with, then we got into the cupboards and read labels. He said the cardiac rehab guy recommended 2000 calories and 1500 milligrams (mg) of sodium. That's going to be a big change for Golfer Dan. I was impressed that he was doing the discovery of the label research himself. (Yes, I've tried to educate him these last couple of years, but evidently the time wasn't right...) He put together something to eat using his new awareness and did a good job.

He finally settled down and put ice on the swollen purple groin. After a couple of hours the swelling was lessening and he said it felt better. I ended up taking a brief siesta on the sofa, maybe 20 minutes or so. He still had the ice on when I left to go pick up the few things that weren't at the first store, and also his prescriptions.

The temperature was a little warmer, 20 degrees (woo-hoo!) and it was still snowing and blowing. And the roads hadn't been plowed yet either. Sad.

This Meijer store was busy, too, but not as much. The parking lots were still a mess, though. I got what I wanted and stood in line again to pay.

Over to CVS, then home. Dan was in bed. He said the groin thing is not worse, maybe better, but he was cold and tired, to he went to bed. Ok, sleep well. I was putting stuff away and trying to get organized for the next couple of days when his phone rang. He got up and answered it. When the call was over he came out of the bedroom and I looked at the bruising. It's better, less swollen, still ugly, no lumps. He went back to bed, finally sleeping.

I got my lists made and a little organized, and wrote here. Tomorrow I'm scheduled 3pm-11pm. Yippee.

I know this post got a little long, I think I'm tired and ramble-y. Thank you for reading. Hugs.