Ladies And Gentlemen We Have A Date!

TUESDAY IT IS    :0)

Today was very busy...for Mom and I at least. Dad was VERY tired and he decided to catch up on some rest. They had him go down to X-Ray to do a last chest x-ray before discharge. At least it is a step in the right direction. While he was in x-ray Mom and I went EXPLORING!

The hospital has so many hallways, balconies, and really neat stuff that we never saw before. I took this photo standing on a balcony much like the one across the room in this photo. Lilly would have thought this was so cool! Very Princess like, I must say!

Next, we ventured to the Cafe for a cup of coffee. The have gourds at the door, ( by the way...I mean gourds not guards, no autocorrect needed ) that look like swans!

After coffee and a quick trip to the gift shop, where I bought Mom and Dad a few gifts, Mom and I went  for a walk around the neighborhood. We went to the Pan Mass Challenge Plaza to see the display. Then we "walked" The Pan Mass Challenge!        (well in spirit ) My Cousin Michael and Uncle Ruedi participated in the Pan Mass Challenge a number of times. Their rides raised money for Cancer Research! If it weren't for people like them medical research would be at a stand still.

When we finished the "walk", we went back inside so Mom could practice with the LVAD training kit. Colleen, the LVAD nurse, gave us the kit for the weekend to practice with. I have it down pretty well. I am confident that I can handle LVAD care and emergency situations. Mom just needed a little extra practice. We headed into the family room to run through the steps, and practice setting up the spare controller and batteries. This is in case we ever needed to change out the system controller due to malfunction. I am confident in this equipment and I do not think we will have any issues, but, it is good to be prepared.

Physical therapy came in and made Dad do the 6 Minute timed walk. What this means is how far can he walk in 6 minutes, without stopping. Well I am happy to report that Dad walked 1,000 feet in 6 minutes, so almost a quarter of a mile! He was out of breath toward the end of the walk, but, PT expected this and was not concerned. They said they didn't want to chat during the walk. They wanted him to save his breath for walking, not talking, during the PT session. She talked to us for a bit afterward and seemed thrilled with his progress. Not bad for two weeks and two days after surgery! After he walked, he was rewarded with a grilled cheese sandwich and some watermelon.  :)

After Mom and I practiced on our own, we had another training session with the Nurse. She went over numbers, emergency steps and walked Mom through the set up and break down process once more. She reviewed all of the household things Brendan and I have been doing in preparation for Dad coming home. She seemed pleased with our progress, and confident that the home was in better than average shape for release.  We have all of our check list items checked off already! I took my written portion of the LVAD test today. I passed the practical part yesterday when I demonstrated how to change out the controller and then change over to the power module. The night nurse last night, went through dressing changes and sterile procedures with me. After the stitches come out this will be easier for us to take care of on our own. For the first two weeks, we will have a visiting nurse.

All in all we are ready for Dad to come home! Our goal was to have him home by his birthday. His goal is to get out of there asap! So I guess we both win :)

Thanks everyone again for all of your cards, gifts, calls, visits, food, hospitality, rides, company, prayers and well wishes. We have a lot of people on our side which makes us one lucky family. 

Tonight I will leave you with a sunset photo I took out Dad's window. I call it, 

"Moon Over Mission Hill"

Until Tomorrow,

Laurie