In Which We Are Saved Once Again In The Nick of Time

So thank goodness, disaster has been averted once again.

I pointed out to Jer that since it was a holiday weekend, if we had a problem with his pain management or something our only option would be taking an ambulance to the ER. He was going to bring this up with the foot and ankle docs when he saw them this morning, but I don't think he got the chance. Now I wasn't there, but from what Jer said I believe the conversation went something like this:

Jer: I was told that I would probably be sent home on Saturday, and I have some concer--

Orthopedic Surgeon: You were told WHAT? I'll fix it.

So apparently what had happened was that the doctor in charge of pain management had glanced at Jer's chart, seen "calcaneal fractures," concluded that the injuries weren't serious, and set him up to go home tomorrow. The foot and ankle guy has now corrected the pain management guy's assumption (I kinda wish I'd been a fly on the wall for THAT conversation). So not only is Jer not going home until some time next week, but an anesthesiology team came by to talk to Jer so that they could start figuring out what he'll need to have for pain management at home, since the "take a couple of aspirin" approach isn't exactly going to work for him. Thank goodness he'll be there a while longer! He's still in way too much pain for them to send him to be an outpatient right now. This also gives us a few more days to figure out the car problem, which is still an issue.

We went ahead and had all of Jer's home health equipment delivered today. I disassembled our big bed, and it's now leaning against the wall waiting to go to a storage unit. I'll be sleeping either on a cot or a single bed-- whatever will fit and still leave Jer enough room to maneuver in and out of the area on a wheelchair. I tried tooling around the house in his new chair-- it's going to be tough. The carpet pile is really too high for the chair to move around easily, and he won't be able to turn the chair around anywhere but the living room or the bedroom. We'll make do for now, though. We have a Hoyer Lift sitting in the room now along with the infamous commode chair and a sliding board. The bath transfer bench will get here on Tuesday.

The hospital bed looks pretty much like a regular bed if I put the rails down, as long as you discount the trapeze hanging from the top, the bed crank at the bottom, and the remote control. I made a run to the store today and bought an extendable shower head, some really nice twin-size bedding (since he's going to be spending quite a bit of time in that bed) and a whole bunch of extra firm pillows. Jer has to have his feet propped up on them.

The bed crank is kind of funny-- I didn't realize they even made beds with those any more. It controls the upward and downward movement of the bed as a whole, and you can use it to adjust the angle of the bed if the power runs out and you can't use the remote control. It reminds me of the children's book, Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans. Remember?

"Madeline soon ate and drank.

on her bed there was a crank,

and a crack on the ceiling had the habit

of sometimes looking like a rabbit."

Of course, everything reminds me of something in a book. Oh well. I couldn't help but check the ceiling, though. No rabbits, though there is one section of bumps that could remind you a little of a goat if you squint really hard and are on a lot of painkillers like Jer will be.

I'll be sure to point it out to him.

~Jess