Day 520

When I'm at the hospital I watch hubby's physical therapy. It's nerve-wracking, especially today. Since we have five steps to get into our house they worked at getting him to use a walker to get up steps.

One step. With two people helping lift him as he held the walker, he struggled to make it up one step. One step and then he had to sit down and take a break. But even more nerve-wracking was watching them get him down the step. Yesterday when they had him try to go down they wound up having to put him back in the wheelchair and bring him down.

Today he did it. With two people holding onto him tightly and him holding tightly onto the walker he made it down. As scary as it was for me to watch, I'm sure it was even more scary for him.

Maybe the flowers in his room will brighten things up. His school district send a gorgeous bouquet his way. I'm partial to the sunflowers myself.

Day 519

With hubby being cared for in the hospital I know this is probably the easiest part of the journey. When he comes home and I start back to school it'll probably be the hardest. But he's not coming home yet.

The biopsy revealed that an anti-inflammatory medicine a doctor prescribed a while back caused the kidney failure. He's on a multitude of medications and now that they've added steroids to the mix his kidneys are showing some improvement. He's lost close to 30 pounds of excess fluid but still has more to go. They are working on him using a walker, but he is still really weak. The doctors and therapists had a big pow-wow today to review his case and make a decision about discharge. At least two more weeks.

What will life be like for him when he does get home? They'll be no cleaning, cooking, gardening, taking out trash. Nothing. He'll need help bathing, dressing, toileting, getting out of bed and up from a chair, will need a walker, and may need a home health aide. And when does he get to go back to work? 3-6 months is their best estimate. Looks like we're in it for the long haul.

Guess at least I get to go out for a meal each day. Blimpie's French Dip sandwich for lunch today. Yum, yum.