Unskilled and Bumbling

My wife’s first night home from another rehab center was uneventful, more or less. The event I was expecting—the arrival of a person to look out after my wife from 8 pm last night to 8 am this morning—did not occur. A no-show. So, the duties fell to me. I remain unskilled and bumbling.

Earlier, though, shortly after my wife arrived home, I was able to transfer her from a wheelchair to the hospital bed. That was despite the fact that the sling was poorly positioned in the wheelchair. I managed to adjust the sling (which had been effectively “tied” to the wheelchair with the straps of a purse and an overnight bag) enough to attach it to the Hoyer lift. Though the process was neither pretty nor smooth, I got it done. For the sake of safety, the process is and should be a two-person job.

A few hours later, a representative from a hospice visited with us for an hour or two. I was ready to sign up until I learned that some of the medications my wife takes would not be provided to her. Though hospice would provide medications and medical equipment, the provisions would be made under some Medicare per diem limitations that make it impossible to cover more expensive medications. I also learned that she would no longer be cared for by her cardiologist and her primary care physician. So, we opted to think about it over the weekend. In the meantime, she will not have access to nurses, etc.

In spite of the rather unpleasant surprise of a no-show caregiver and the reality of hospice, a pleasant surprise saved the evening (more or less). My wife’s friend/our neighbor called earlier in the day to offer to bring dinner. I gladly accepted. She brought us baked potato soup with condiments of cheese and bacon bits, toasted baguette, and superb chocolate cake. I had scrambled, earlier in the day, to buy frozen microwavable dinners. The homemade soup was so, so much better than what we otherwise would have had.

After dinner, my wife wanted to sleep and I wanted to relax a bit until the caregiver showed (or didn’t). My wife was not interested in having me take care of getting her ready for the night’s sleep, opting instead to wait for the caregiver. So I sat in front of the television to watch an episode of Unforgotten. As has become my custom, I fell asleep shortly after beginning to watch the second episode of the evening. When I awoke, it was too late to call to complain about the no-show. Instead, I roused my wife and went through the process of readying her for a night’s sleep.

I decided not to sleep in the twin bed, whose sheets I had changed earlier in the day, because I might need those sheets for the hospital bed today. Instead, I slept in the recliner. My neck and shoulders may never forgive me.

What today will hold I do not know. I know only that it will be unlike the days leading up to it.

Later today, at a time (but do not remember exactly when) I selected earlier, another post will magically appear on this blog. Its primary content is a video of an intriguing, oddly-appealing dance. I hope it is as pleasing to others as it is to me.

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes
This entry was posted in Health. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Unskilled and Bumbling

  1. Robin, I missed your comment earlier. And then things here went haywire. I am fortunate to have nice neighbors. And it was great to have Janine home, if only for a brief period before another hospital stay. I’m looking forward to having her back again. Thanks very much for your thoughts and for your comment. I am fortunate to have good people like you in my life, too.

  2. robin andrea says:

    I’m glad Janine is home. It’s the best place to be. I hope her caregivers arrive and are truly up to the task. Very kind of your neighbor to bring such a yummy dinner. Take care there… and get some sleep in a real bed!

I wish you would tell me what you think about this post...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.