For those of you who are trying to keep track, Tom has been home from the hospital since the 21st.  Is it sad that I totally had to scroll back through my facebook status updates to figure out exactly when we came home?  Yes.  I believe it is.

His surgical site is doing great, healing faster than expected, IMO.  He was allowed to do 20 minutes up in his chair, three times a day, for the first week after he was released.  For the next 3 weeks we can increase his time up by 10 minutes, still not exceeding 3 times a day.  After that, if all continues to do well, Tom should be able to stay up in his chair much longer without too much difficulty.

Pressure sores / bed sores / pressure ulcers (or whatever other name they are called) are a huge hindrance to Tom’s life, for obvious reasons.  This is the first time Tom has had surgery to repair a wound. This is the first time Tom has had surgery that involved a long term hospital stay afterwards.  I believe that was the hardest part about this last wound – the hospital stay.

I’m glad Tom was able to make it back to our house for his birthday.  Not that we did anything, mind you.  But, its much better to stare at your own walls instead of being forced to stare at hospital walls.

Tom’s also due for a new wheelchair, since we believe that the one he has currently is worn down, especially the seating.  I don’t believe it caused the last pressure wound.  But, I definitely think it didn’t help it any at all.  He has a PT evaluation on Tuesday, and hopefully we’ll get to see some new wheels by the end of this month.

Now, we just have to make sure he’s good and ready to sit up in his chair by the middle of September.  Yanno, it would super suck if the guest of honor couldn’t attend all of Fowler Fest in mid-September.  Mind you, if his body isn’t ready to be up in his chair throughout the event, we’ll set up his air mattress in the yard.  Ain’t no way we’ll let him miss out on any of it.

And, on a completely unrelated note:  The constant spam comments that I’m getting on my blog are driving my absolutely insane.  I mark about 20 as spam a day.  Its super obnoxious.  And, secondly, I’m getting frustrated at WP’s automatic updates not automatically updating.  I mean, how convenient, huh?  Oh, right.  Not so much.

Just a quick note while I’m home to get a shower…

Tom’s flap surgery went very well.  The incision is healing nicely and there has been no signs of infection.

There is no wifi at the hospital, which has been our biggest complaint.  Tom’s sister has an aircard which Tom has been able to use.  Personally, I’m out of luck.  That is, until Tom dozes off, then I sneak on his laptop and check my email and facebook.

We watched my mom’s neighborhood’s Fourth Of July fireworks via webcam, which was a lot of fun.  We weren’t able to see any fireworks out of Tom’s hospital window… I’m glad my sister thought to use the webcam.  It was nice to be able join in the fun from the hospital.  One year, though, we might actually make it over there for the Fourth.

I missed Shannon’s birthday.  I even have a card for her somewhere in this pile o’ crap on my computer desk… somewhere.

We survived Cub Scout Day Camp.  It was a rocky start, but pulled together and ended on a high note.

The hospital chair I’m sleeping in is not at all comfortable.  I’m a meaty girl, and I swear my tail bone is bruised from the concrete chair.  Of course, Tom’s sleeping on air, pretty much.  They’re using some form of sand bed, which we’re told is the closest thing to floating in mid-air that technology has developed so far.

Tom’s cellphone finally shot craps.  We’re looking into getting him a new phone, which hopefully will arrive to the house tomorrow.  Until then, if you wanna get a hold of him, try my cell or call the hospital and ask for his room number.

Uh… I guess that’s it for the quick update.  I’m super bored in the hospital.  I need some books to read.  Anyone close by that can bring me some would be great… As long as they’re not owners manuals or biology textbooks, I’ll read it.  Or at least stare at it…

Hope to update again soon.  Keep Tom’s fast recovery in your thoughts, please.  And, also pray that my back holds out from sleeping in this chair!  LOL!

Having Tom admitted into any facility creates a couple of important issues that need to be addressed.

First and foremost would be making sure someone is available to sit with Tom while he’s admitted.

The uneducated person would believe that since Tom is in a rehab, hospital, etc, that Tom would be supervised 24 / 7.  Sadly, this is not the case.  Any medical facility struggles with staffing.  I don’t mean that they have bad staff… I mean, they’re short handed.  Even in a small place, where there might be one nurse for 5 patients, that’s still not one on one care.

Now, Tom doesn’t need 24 / 7 monitoring.  But, he does need immediate attention when he requests it.  Coughing, for one, is miserable for him.  He needs assistance to get a full productive cough out.  If he needs a drink, or spills his coffee, it needs to be taken care of pretty damned fast… not when a nurse gets done with her 4 other patients.

Have you ever pressed a call light in a hospital?  Sometimes their reaction time is pretty impressive.  Other times, you’ve got to press the call light several times before even getting a response from someone who then says they’ll tell your nurse you need them.

And, that’s if they’ve remembered to put the call light within Tom’s reach.  There have been times that Tom has had to call me from his cell phone and have me call the front desk to send someone to his room since his call light has been just out of reach.

This terrifies me.

The next major issue comes down to numbers.

Every day that Tom is admitted into any facility, I lose $42.25.  Being paid by the State to take care of Tom is our main source of income.  It pays our mortgage.  It pays Tom’s van payment.  Losing $42.25 each day Tom is admitted greatly affects our already paycheck to paycheck living.  I don’t currently have a way to ‘make up’ this money.

There’s a possibility Tom could be admitted for a week, or two, or even a month.  We won’t know until we get in there and start the healing process.  Hopefully Tom’s body will cooperate, and things will move fairly quickly.  But, realistically, if Tom were to have surgery on this wound, we’re told to expect 6 to 12 weeks of recovery time.

That doesn’t mean Tom will necessarily be in the facility for that length of time.  But, I suppose its a possibility.

These are two huge factors that we have to deal with each time Tom gets admitted anywhere, for any amount of time.  It adds stress to both Tom and I.  We hate it.  We’d much rather he be at home; not only for the obvious reason of being at home, but because of these two problems.

Turns out Tom’s hip bone is infected.

I finally heard the results of the MRI that he had suffered through for two plus hours on the 14th.

Yeah, someone called us today to confirm admitting Tom into their care facility tomorrow.  Which prompted me to ask, “Huh?  What in the world are you talking about?”

To which they replied, “Uh, I dunno.  I just know I’m supposed to call you and confirm that y’all are coming tomorrow.”

Right.  Of course.

(This is where I started to recite in my head, “Don’t kill the messenger, don’t kill the messenger, don’t kill the messenger….”)

Thus began the rapid succession of phone tag, being put on hold, and talking to other ‘messengers’ that didn’t know what was going on.

Finally, I get a hold of someone with Tom’s chart which has the results of the MRI.  Which, greatly impacts our decision as to what plan of action to take, of course.

So they want to admit him tomorrow to start IV antibiotics, increase protein levels, possibly use hyperbarics and perhaps even do surgery.

Of course, we’re not thrilled that this was sprung on us so suddenly, what with the MRI being done over a week and a half ago, and us having to hunt someone down to tell us what in the world was truly going on.

Tom’s not happy.  He has no desire to be admitted tomorrow to hang out until next week before they decide on surgery or not.  Obviously, there are benefits to going in tomorrow, but I don’t blame Tom a bit for wanting to wait til Monday.

I don’t know what our definitive plan is yet, but we’ll be going into Kindred sometime soon.

And, just to make my life a little more… uhm, complicated?  Next week is our Cub Scout Day Camp.  Usually we’re staffed well enough that I’m just filling in blanks, answering questions and being an extra set of hands.

This year, of course, we’re short handed.  I was expected to fill the First Aid position.  Not teaching first aid, mind you.  Being the First Aid officer.  Gah.

I haven’t quite figured out how to be both places at once yet.

Isn’t it about time for Tom to get some good news?  Or at least some not-bad news?  Please?  We’re both starting to sink here…

I’ve learned that, even though you might be a quadriplegic, you will still feel miserable after abdominal surgery.

I have learned that I should definitely NOT take a nap before making sure I’ve filled any prescriptions sent home from the hospital for Tom.

I am still aware that sleeping in a hospital sucks. No matter how comfortable they attempt to make the patient and guests feel, sleep is a luxury.

I’ve been told that Tom could still achieve 6 pack abs, if he worked on it. This is something that I didn’t know to be possible after abdominal surgery.

I’ve learned through google that it takes approximately 6 weeks to recover completely from this surgery. Information that might of been useful to know before hand…

I’ve realized that, even though I really do love my job, its much harder to appreciate when dealing with lack of sleep and being overly busy.

I’ve found out that no matter what I pack to bring to the hospital to entertain myself, I rarely am satisfied with my selection and wished I had brought something else.

I’m reminded that doctors don’t care if you’re completely asleep when they come in during rounds. They’ll still talk to you and give you vital information, whether or not you’ll really retain it. The sooner they’ve seen all their patients in the hospital, the sooner they can move on with their busy day at the office.

I’ve learned that once out of ten times smoking a cigarette on a non-smoking hospital campus will result in someone asking you to put out your cigarette. And, if you hide in your van, they don’t bother you.

I’ve noticed that hospital room doors are loud, and feel that should be changed immediately. No nurse can peek her head into your room without making a noise that will jar you awake.

I am not sure that the nurses are aware how quiet their knock on the door is, though. Most of the time, I barely heard them knocking… Give the door a nice hard thunk, would ya?

I’ve found that I have no issue perusing through cabinets and drawers at hospitals if I’m looking for a drinking straw, tape or a wash cloth. And, if there is no door to a room, it must be an all access area, right?

And, lastly, I’m again reminded that hospital pillows suck big butt, and need serious improvement. You’d think with the ability to put a man on the moon, we’d be able to create a hospital pillow that is actually… oh, I dunno, pillow-like?

Not that I post here regularly anyhow, but I thought I’d remind everyone that tomorrow Tom will be going in for surgery and could be admitted for up to a week. Of course we’re hoping he’ll be home by Friday. That would be ideal.

I might be able to sneak onto twitter or facebook sometime through this period, but will have to sweet talk Tom out of one of his devices.

I meant to go to the library to check out some books to fill my time, but I didn’t make it there. In fact, I’m not sure I even have enough clean clothes to pack…

So, uhm, yeah, maybe I should get outta here and start checking into that crap. Normally our hospital visits aren’t really planned, so I don’t necessarily have time to make myself a bag of clothes and stuffs… this might be a little entertaining.

Whoo-hoo, oh 6 AM, how I despise you. You better greet me happily and without troubles, otherwise you’ll have one pissy chick on your hands!

(PS – if I do twitter from my phone, I don’t get responses sent back. I don’t have unlimited texts, so thats probably wiser for me anyhow. And, I might just strive to update Tom’s facebook since its already all loaded up on his phone and everything. At the very least, I will be emailing Shannon, who has access to all my internetty crap, and ask her to put out a word for anyone who is curious.)

(PPS – OMG with the neighbors and the constant revving of their engines… Fun once, eh twice, all night long… overkill.)

Who doesn’t love waking themselves up to the sound of grinding their own teeth?  I mean, its better than waking up to any other noise, right?

Okay.  Just kidding.

I’m not exactly sure when this whole teeth grinding thing started for me.  I know it was a little while after I started my anti-anxiety meds, for sure.  I remember thinking that bruxism is a sucky side effect, if it were one at all.  And, I also remember thinking that if I had health insurance, I’d make a follow up appointment with the nurse practitioner and ask her about it.

But, as you probably know, that didn’t happen.

Instead, I’ve been buying mouth guards from Wal-Mart.  Which, in itself, isn’t a horrible idea.

Except they cost, at minimum, $25 a piece.

Now, technically, these devices are supposed to last for a great deal of time.  So, the cost shouldn’t be a big deal.

But – and of course there’s a ‘but’ – for some reason, while I’m sleeping, I must chew on the mouth guard like its bubble gum.

A mouth piece that is supposed to last 1/2 a year sometimes doesn’t even make it a month for me.

If I were to go without a mouth piece, the grinding of my teeth would not only wake me up, but it causes headaches, jaw pain and is just all around bad for your teeth.

I need to find a cost effective solution, and I’ve yet to come across any.

Perhaps if I just pull out my teeth out…?  Its not like I have dental insurance to care for them properly anyhow, right?!