12/14 - a little Christmas at the hospital

Hi all -

Today, Mom and I visited the ICU at Gulf Coast Medical Center with a thank you gift for all the wonderful staff who took care of Dad during his 15 days there.  We brought them some homemade goodies, as well as some candies and crackers and cheese and sparkling cider in a basket, along with the photo of Dad that I posted yesterday.  They were all thrilled, especially to see him looking so well.  They said they never get to see their patients looking like themselves, so it was a treat for them.

Then we headed to the rehab hospital with gifts for the staff there as well.  All the nurses, aides and therapists have been great with us as well as with Dad.  He had some OT while we were there, and some PT as well.  We had lunch together, and Aunt Jean came for a visit.

At one point, while Dad's PT, Joe, and Mom were helping Dad in his room, I was checking out the big schedule board they have in the hallway, and noticed they've put a discharge date on there for him.  We talked with his case manager, who explained to us that they can only keep Dad there for 25 days unless they were confident that with a few more days he'd be able to go directly home from there.  We all see that Dad is making great progress, and his therapists agree, but it looks like he will need a little  more time than that.  So, right now it looks like the weekend before Christmas Dad will be relocating to a skilled nursing facility for a little while where he can continue to receive the therapy he needs to get strong enough to come home.  Mom and BJ had investigated several facilities before he was moved to the rehabilitation hospital, so we have a pretty good idea of the places we like and we talked with his case manager to get her recommendations.  Over the next week they have some goals they will try to meet, mostly in regard to Dad's safety.  Now that he's getting more mobile, there is some concern about him falling while trying to get out of bed without assistance.  He's becoming more and more alert and aware, so we're hoping over the next several days he'll understand that he needs to call the nurse with his call button if he needs help.  He currently doesn't seem to think he needs help, so that may be a challenge!  

Tomorrow morning Mom and I are heading up to BJ and Heather's place in Cocoa Beach to see the Christmas boat parade.  We'll be seeing Dad again on Sunday, so I'll post another update then.