Days 9, 10 & 11

On our first full day home, Tony slept so well that we slept in, which is a rare occurrence. I prepared his morning meds and gave him nutrition. He took a long afternoon nap.

I was giving Tony another bolus as Madison from Brio Home Health arrived. After seeing how seasoned we are with aftercare, she will check in weekly for a couple of weeks and then discharge Tony from the nursing portion. She will have a speech therapist meet with him to help him work on his swallow.

Later this afternoon, Madison left a voicemail with a hiccup. Apparently, it's been over a year since Tony met with the doctor he was assigned to by the VA as his primary care physician. That doctor refuses to cooperate with Brio until Tony comes to see him again. We can't use our doctor at the Huntsman because he isn't licensed in Idaho. We will go to the VA clinic in the morning to see if they can provide a primary care physician with better access to Tony's VA medical records.

Tony watched “The Chamber of Secrets” today. He enjoyed relaxing. He says he feels so much better now than he did in the hospital. He hasn't needed pain meds as frequently, either. After evening meds and nutrition, we took a stroll down the street and back. We snuggled on the loveseat and watched “Hocus Pocus” together. Tony reminded me that garbage pickup is tomorrow, and I had to race outside to keep him from dragging the overfull bin to the curb. He isn't supposed to pick up anything heavier than a gallon of milk.

Emily flew from Salt Lake City, UT, to Omaha, NE, this afternoon. I was too late seeing the email she sent while she was waiting in the airport, so we missed any opportunity we would have had to communicate with her today. The phone she was issued at the MTC was wiped as she left, and she lost access to her photo vault and Messenger. She tried to reach me on Google Chat, and it was deactivated on my iPhone. I haven’t used Google Chat since 2014. I miss the days of a good old-fashioned phone call.

We’re doing three rounds of nutrition each day, trying to mimic breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Tony has started slipping in a lower-carb, higher-protein shake as an afternoon snack.

On Wednesday, I had Tony sit on the edge of the tub and soak his feet while I gave him a sponge bath. He got dressed, and we went over to the VA clinic to see what they could do for us so that we have an Idaho provider to oversee the home health service. They had to bend over backwards, but they set up a next-day appointment for Tony to see a nurse for onboarding.

When we were done at the clinic, Tony asked to go to Walmart to pick up some distilled water for the humidifiers. I asked him if that would be overdoing it, and he assured me it wouldn’t because he would use one of the electric scooters.

The movie marathon continued with “Prisoner of Azkaban.”

Emily was able to reach out to ask for password help to set up her phone for Omaha, NE. We will be able to visit with her on Monday.

Thursday, we received another delivery of nutrition and medical supplies.

We met with the nurse at the VA clinic, and labs were drawn. Tony will meet his new primary care provider on November 6th. We are blessed that we were finally able to get him in as a patient at the local clinic. Open enrollment is rare, and spots fill up fast. This will satisfy the home health requirement and hopefully simplify Tony’s care going forward.

The speech therapist from Brio Home Health spent an hour with Tony discussing his situation and helping him with exercises to strengthen his swallow. She will come again next week to help him prepare for the swallow test he has to take before he will be cleared to eat or drink by mouth again.

I changed the dressing on Tony’s leg wound, and it looks rough in the area that hasn’t quite healed. Tony took photos and sent them to Dr. Monroe’s nurses. We got a call back immediately. I explained the gentle cleaning I had done with sterile saline before applying fresh Xeroform, gauze, and wrapping with an Ace bandage as shown by the surgical resident in the hospital. She assured me that I had done everything correctly and said what we were seeing is normal and they will do a debridement in clinic at our follow-up appointment next week.

The Harry Potter marathon continued with “The Goblet of Fire.” 🔥

After dark, Tony said he was ready for some exercise. We drove over to WinCo and walked the loop to pick up produce and dairy. I’m still astonished that he has such great mobility while missing the middle part of the fibula in his right leg.