Going Home

At this moment, I am Home. We arrived home about 7: 00 PM on Wednesday eve. We had tentative approval to go home on Tuesday, but there were lots of loose ends to deal with, so we waited until yesterday, and even then there were some issues. Here is a summary of how things are supposed to happen:





I need about 8 weeks of an anti-biotic drip, before all infection is supposed to be gone and the normal knee replacement fixture can be installed. We had a choice between driving to Palatka Hospital every day, or having a home service come to the house and perform the service. The choice really depended upon insurance. Our insurance covered the home service, 100% so we chose it. Supplies will be delivered here, and a nurse will come to the house, to adminster the first doses. The nurse will train Laura and she will do the actual work, unless there are problems, when the home service nurse will be called in. Having the home service gives us more freedom. They installed a PICC system which is a dual port intravenous system for administering the anti-biotic directly into the Heart.



Anyway to escape from the asylum, we had to have the approval of the infection specialist, our orthopaedic specialist, and the GP assigned to us. All of them ok'ed our escape, leaving it up to the hospital staff, with their computerized info, and the home service to make their arrangements.



All of this came together about 6:00 PM and with some misgivings, as to whether we were making the right move, we left the hospital. We had a couple of prescriptions to pick up on the way home. We have a ton of medications to deal with, some changes, in strength, etc.



So now we are home, using "canadian" style crutches, which do not reach the upper shoulder. As soon as the PICC system was installed they told us no more conventional crutches. Laura saw somebody with the "canadian" version, talked to somebody with the home service , and by mid after noon, we had a brand new set in our possession.



We also have two sets of walkers, one narrow one which fits our doors and hallways, and one which does not.



This afternoon, we did our first anti biotic drip. Laura, Lester and myself . It amounts to ensuring that the ports are clean, the drip is properly hooked up, and the equipment is properly cleaned. We have to do this everyday for at least the next 20 days. So during the the hours of 3-4 PM ,we will busy doing "the Drip"









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