I got over to Rehab late today - around 11 am - because I had to wait until 10 to hear if I could stay another night at the little Cottage. Nope - which was actually fine with me, as I will be trading a very low rate for (I hope) a better mattress a real pillow, and a refrigerator and microwave.
I signed six books for each of the little cottages and they were enthusiastically received. Then I packed up my multitudes of stuff. Hey, I may not travel light, but I was the only one with a gigantic bath towel (because I brought it) and good coffee in my room (thanks to my little just-in-case 2-4 cup portable
Turns out, before I got there, Michael got the place a-buzzin'. The rascal was in the wheelchair when he grabbed a bottle of water off a table. By the time the therapist had turned around, he was drinking it! (I can just hear our friend Leslie saying, "Of course he did!" with a grin on her face.)
The Speech Therapist Elaine said she's not really worried about aspiration any more as much as she is his almost perpetual sleepiness. Well...I think he was pretty alert at the time.
However, when I got to Michael's room, I discovered he was struggling with intense nausea, which had started after they'd given him an antibiotic early that morning for a possible infection in his tummy tube. Typical of the medical mind, they gave him an anti-nausea med to counteract it.
By the end of the day, I'd asked for - and gotten him - a different antibiotic to start tomorrow.
This is why everyone needs an advocate when in a hospital!
In spite of that setback, we had some good new experiences and progress today. We spent a few minutes sitting in the interior patio for the first time, a pretty little place ...I showed Michael the gorgeous stained glass in the little Meditation Room right across the hallway from his room...and the front lobby, where I introduced him to Alice, the friendly receptionist.
I also showed him the dining room and the Swallow Group table, where he'll be sitting with a therapist and others coming off tummy feeds. Next Wednesday is his next Swallow Study- YAY! - so that may be when he begins sitting at that table and interacting with other people here, as well as eating real mush!
Big thanks to Michael's long time friend Alice, who lives in Goleta, for dropping off an airy and beautiful mixed plant. Here's a great story: Alice caught my revised post yesterday about losing my room, and not 5 minutes after it posted on the blog, a nurse handed me a note from her saying I could stay at her house! Talk about voodoo!
And I may take her up on it later - with gratitude - but I need to be closer than 20 minutes away right now. My new motel is two minutes away and I'll barely make it there when I leave tonight!
Sweet Closing Note: The therapists started training me today in the proper way to help Mr. B. from bed to chair and back. So he and I had a lovely moment where he was standing up facing me while I had my arms around him. To be in a standing hug with my sweetheart, our hearts beating close to each other, made me want to just sink into him. He felt like home, and I didn't want to leave.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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