Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. Mattie was in the hospital recovering from a sternotomy. In which his chest was opened up to remove 9 lung tumors. That evening Mattie's day nurse, Sarah Marshall, and his night nurse, Ellen came in and gave him a kiss on his head. Notice that Mattie did not seem to notice! But don't let that fool you. Mattie was processing everything going on in the room and also multitasking with his coloring book.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 1,928,594
- number of people who died from the virus: 110,110
We are now done with all Virtual Walk admin work and are getting ready to board Sunny and Indie tomorrow. As Tuesday, we fly to Los Angeles. This isn't the best time to travel, but given that my parents need help, we are proceeding forward with our arrangements. For those of you just tuning in, my dad was rushed to the hospital on Friday, May 29 at around 10pm. He had fallen for a second time and when the paramedics came, his vitals were anything but stable. My dad did not want to go to the hospital, but the paramedics said they couldn't leave him at home. That he had to go! It was a matter of life or death.
Naturally with COVID-19, my mom was not able to accompany my dad to the hospital. This alone is a psychosocial stressor for all of us, including my dad. Because my dad was really too sick to understand what was going on and without family oversight, we do not have a good idea for how he was behaving in the hospital. Meaning specifically was he eating and was he disoriented/confused?
My dad was released from the hospital on June 3, at 5pm. This was contrary to what his family wanted, but he was cleared by all his doctors and his physical therapist. Therefore, we had no recourse to fight this decision. My mom picked up my dad at the hospital and then had a rough transition home with my dad, mainly because my dad needs a lot of assistance. The in-home care services prescribed by his doctor did not show up for two days and even when this nurse came, he only did a basic assessment and offered no help. So you got to love the hospital's decision to release my dad, regardless of whether his home environment was ready and able to assist him! Says a lot about our medical system and health insurers!
Since June 3, progress has been made. My dad no longer is hiccuping! That's a great milestone and he is now able to get out of chair and take a few steps unassisted by my mom. Another great feat! But the big obstacles are that my dad isn't eating, says he isn't hungry, and he reports being very disoriented. He can be talking to you, and mid-sentence he forgets what we are talking about. He is very aware of his confusion and naturally being cognitively impaired is very scary! But what accounts for this disorientation? Is it temporary or permanent!? A great question and no one seems to know the answer!
In the midst of all of this going on, my parents also have to move out of the house they are renting. As the owner wants it back! Got to love an owner who has NO heart or compassion, as these are older adults being asked to move during COVID-19 and while my dad is recovering from kidney stone surgery and a bad urinary tract infection. So Peter and I will be working around the clock to help stabilize things and to transition my parents to their new home.
To prepare to leave for Los Angeles, there is so much we have had to do. Everything from putting together food and treats for Sunny and Indie to creating the framework for 22 days of blogs while I am away. It is hard to leave Sunny, especially as he is still recovering from his own surgery, but we can't balance it all. I know the facility Sunny will be staying at has an on-site hospital if he should need medical attention of any kind and our vet loves Indie. I am told they are all awaiting Miss Indie's arrival!
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