Well, yesterday was a mess. Earlier in the week the social worker for dad had mentioned discharging him from the hospital to a nursing home for rehab. We told them that was not necessary because he could get rehab at Creekside like before. Then Thursday we learned he would have to be on IV antibiotics for at least another week. I called Home Health and was assured they would take care of reloading the bag for the 24 hour pump daily at least for the first week. Yesterday they called to let me know they were doing one more procedure then discharge him late. He was due another dose of medicine at 8pm. We had a company delivering it to the apartment at 7:30. A nurse was coming to set it up and then we were told we would have to be responsible for changing the bag ourselves. In the meantime we got dad home and found he could not get up by himself from the toilet or his chair because he was too weak.
We were under tornado watch all afternoon. When I left work to go by and pick up cloths for dad and mom I drove in a horrible storm. This storm was causing the medicine to be late delivered. The nurse showed up and saw how weak dad was and the medicine was not there to take him back to the hospital. In the meantime I called the answering service for his family health to talk with a nurse and tell them we wanted to take him back to the hospital and be readmitted. We did not know he was that weak.
While all this was going on Frances went to get food. She got back just as dad and I were leaving for the hospital. I quickly ate a few bites then took. On the way I got a call back from the nurse telling us he had been medically cleared to be discharge, we had refused earlier in the week to send him to a nursing home and that they would not treat him if we brought him back. I pulled into an empty lot, called Frances, and was going to take him back when I decided to hell with it and headed on to the hospital. I explained the situation to them. Finally by 9pm they had his 8pm dose of antibiotics going and did some other tests including drew blood. I then talked face to face with the nurse and told her we were not given a clear picture earlier in the week nor were we told we would have to take care of the IV antibiotic pump. She said they would admit him and I headed for home. It was not 10:15.
This morning I had a call from the nurse. He is back in the same room. She proceeded to lecture me that had we been visiting dad all week in the hospital we would have known he was only getting up with assistance, we should have sent him to a nursing home, and that we were negligent in not keeping better tabs on what was going on. I was furious, since Frances and I both have done above and beyond for both our parents over the years and especially the last two. He will now be in the hospital until I guess they can find a place to send him until he finishes the antibiotic and gets strong enough to get up by himself. We can’t change hospital now because dad’s doctors are all associated with Baptist but I will have a chat with his doctor when we go back about how all this was handled.
Bob and I sat up and talked awhile when I got home then got to bed late. This morning I went to the store then came home a mowed. This afternoon I will work on kit project. Bob has Frances and Al’s rebuilt PC connected to my the Internet connection on my desk. While my PC is out of commission he is building me a new one. For the time being I am using his to do my updates and check my mail.
Today is Frances and Al’s 11 wedding anniversary.
We had a lot of trees down yesterday afternoon and some power outages. I had mostly big limbs and sticks down. We only had about an inch of rain here. Today it is sunny and clear but chilly and windy with temperatures only in the low 60’s.