Closing Out This Hospital Experience

We got back to Point Roberts around 3:45.  I expected the discharge to be more planned; I expected there to be a discharge planner.  What do I know?  There used to be discharge planners who would come around and explain everything.  But maybe there was nothing to explain?  They gave us a prescription for percocet which had to be filled at a local pharmacy.  Where, I might add, they charged us $5 for a week's supply.  Some kind of drug benefit there from Anthem-Blue Cross.

And then that's all the meds involved, other than OTC things that we already have like iron pills, Vitamin D, general vitamins, etc.  They gave him a final Toradol shot, and had him sign a paper and the Doc checked him out and told him to make an appointment to come see him in a week to ten days, and he didn't expect there to be any further problems via this surgery.  It was increasingly apparent the past day that there was barely even observation going on.  They still took his vitals every 4 hours, but he was making exactly the kind of progress that they expected and the kind that leads you to being discharged.  I think there is a kind of psychological aspect of this in which, against all rationality, you expect to feel cured (not in the larger sense, but in the recovered sense) before you leave.  Even though you know that recovery is a matter of 3-4 weeks.

Driving home from the hospital (60-90 minutes) was a rare experience for Ed because I drove and he didn't.  For 30 years, he drives and I watch out the window.  He bore up well; I bore up well.  We got home safely.  And he went in for a nap.  The hiccoughs are still with him off and on, and mostly on, which continues to aggravate.  But he can sleep despite them, and the doc says you just have to endure: they will stop.

There was never any indication of pressure to get him discharged, we were both happy to see.  In fact, the surgery unit we were on had barely half the beds filled on the weekend and he was occupying very little of anyone's time, so getting him out for the sake of it wouldn't have made any sense, really.  It is possible that, 5 days in a hospital, at least 4 of which you are conscious, is by definition the time when you and everybody else think that it would perhaps be better for you tobe somewhere else.

And, finally, another good note, especially for Ed.  There were signs on the walls at the hospital, behind the nursing station, e.g., that said, 'St. Joseph Hospital promises to provide its patients with safe, data-based, and compassionate care and treatment."  We were knocked out that 'data-based' had made it into the mix, although maybe they are not cultivating right wingers as patients, the ones who think 'data-based' means 'death panels' and 'the government getting between you and your doctor.'  Hooray for 'data-based' treatment. 

We are both happy to be in our familiar surroundings, and both grateful for the safe, data-based, and compassionate care and treatment and also consideration that we received at St. Joseph's.

And also thanks for all the emails.  I never felt alone during this experience because you all seemed to be nearby, helping us on.  Your prayers, thoughts, candles, good wishes, the overall affection and love surrounded us.  In one instance, I sent an email asking a question, and within a minute, the phone was ringing with an answer.  It seemed like magic at that moment.  We are grateful to you, too.