Home is now Dad's Nursing Home
Friday, December 23rd, 2022 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioYesterday was a little sketchy with Dad, but we got him from the bed into the kitchen twice, using the walker and the gait belt, and he ate a little and drank a little, and smoked a cig or two.
I had to change a diaper, and that was sketchy too.
But we made it through his first day home.
Today, at 8:30AM I got a call from home hospice saying somebody would be over to admit him into the program between 10:30 and 11:30.
I got downstairs around 9:30 and hung with Dad in the bedroom for a bit, then took Yvette for a quick walk. It was -6F out there, and windy, so we weren't out long. Luckily it only snowed about 2 inches, so... much less than predicted.
Back inside, Dad wanted to go sit in the kitchen but I had to give him his Tylenol first and it needed time to kick in.
I shoveled the walk to the side door and salted it. Then inside, I did a quick vacuum of the downstairs.
It wasn't long after, that Gina from home hospice arrived.
--<>--
This is going to be the best thing for him! They're bringing him a twin-size hospital bed, and an overbed table, and they'll be providing all the meds, dipers, etc, and it's all paid for by Medicare.
He'll be visited several times a week, and they'll bathe him and do other stuff, but unfortunately, it's still gonna be on me to change him most of the time, and feed him.
As you'll know, that's exactly what I wanted to avoid, but... all things considered, this is way better than a nursing home, and I'm not completely on my own with this.
He's much happier, just to be home, and Yvette is also much less of a hassle, because he's there to keep her company, even if he is in bed most of the time.
--<>--
I started getting smarter about things today too. I busted Mom's old foldable wheel chair, out of the porch closet. We tried it afer Gina left, and it works MUCH better for getting him to the kitchen table.
It's way easier to get him up and into the wheel chair by the bed, than have him travel with the walker into the kitchen to sit on his normal kitchen chair, which had no arms.
I also put the Alexa in his room, right by the bed, so that if he needs me when I'm upstairs, he can tell her to call me. We tested this and it works.
I'm slowly rearrangng things in his room for all of this to work better. His clock is now in his view, instead of behind him, for example.
--<>--
There's gonna be a lot more streamlining of the routines over the next few days. Once we get the hospital bed in there, it's gonna take up less floor space than his queen bed, an it's gonna make life a lot easier.
I don't think I'll move the TV in there, because the wheelchair can go down the hall to the living room, if he ever wanted to sit in there and watch AccuWeather, and look out the front window.
--<>--
I don't think he's ever gonna be walking the dog or driving again, but in theory it's possible that he might be able to get up and around by himself with the walker as time goes on.
I think in his current state, and with the hospice care, he could make it another year or two. But that depends on whether he ever gets the pneumonia the speech therapist was so convinced was inevitable.
Gina today, thought that was a bit alarmist, and said that if you aspirate stuff, usually just coughing is enough to clear it out.
He'll be able to eat and drink whatever he wants, including his Guinness, and he's free to smoke as much as he wants too!
Also, from this point forward, he'll never take another ambulance to the ER, ever again.
Whatever goes wrong now, they'll deal with at home.
This means no more prolonged periods of dog sitting for me! I may have to do a bit more Dad sitting, but I'll still have the time to work my janitor job, and have free time to myself at home.
When he's in the bed, especially that hospital bed, he can be left alone with Yvette for fairly long periods, safely. Because he's got a diaper, and a foley bag, and he'll have side rails to keep him from falling out... and he just sleeps a lot.
As I said, he's just so happy to be home... after the ordeal he's been through this time around... that I doubt he'll complain about me being gone for four hours a night.
--<>--
I also spent the last week down there in the back room getting malware off his desktop computer so I can use it down there.
It's a Windows 10 machine, so, fairly new, but it had malware on it that took forever to remove. But now that it's good, I can sit down there and write these entries, or work on the cards, or whatever.
------------{=0=}------------
6:55PM
At 6PM we got him out into the kitchen for a bit of Guinness and a smoke at the table. But by 6:40, he wanted to go back to bed, so we got him back in there.
The wheel chair makes these transitions a lot easier, because he doesn't have to walk any distance.
He said to me down there that he's never been happier in his life than when he came home two nights ago from that nasty rehab facility.
I think it would've been a criminal tragedy if he left here on December 2nd and never returned!
--<>--
Dad's lived in this house his entire life... since 1934.
He grew up here with his two parents, and his grandmother. And during WW2, when he was only 8, they all had to go live with his mom's ornery Aunt Maggie in Elmhurst, to take care of her, for nine long months.
He had to share a small room with his parents, while his gramma had the adjoining room, all upstairs in a cramped little bungalow. And he had to go to a strange school with kids he didn't know.
The experience was traumatizing for him... such that, when the finally did return here, he kissed his bedroom wall, and vowed never to leave again.
And he never did!
In his twenties he attended a nearby private collage, but slept at home.
Then he got married to Mom and she moved in upstairs with him.
When they had their first baby, his parents gave the house to them, and bought their own house across town.
Mom lived here the rest of her life, and now he's outlived her by eight years in Feburary.
Those nineteen days he was gone, here in December of 2022, were the longest he's been away... since Elmhurst, when he was eight!
He is like the Queen Elizabeth II of this house... longest occupant by decades!
His mother also grew up here, but only lived here 60 years... though she did come back for the last three years of her life.
Her father and grandfather built this house together, but her father only lived here around 58 years.
Dad holds the record, at 88 years. And I don't think anybody else will ever break it, now that the house is so ancient.
So he really does need to die here. And after that, I have no doubt he'll haunt the place for as long as it stands.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
I had to change a diaper, and that was sketchy too.
But we made it through his first day home.
Today, at 8:30AM I got a call from home hospice saying somebody would be over to admit him into the program between 10:30 and 11:30.
I got downstairs around 9:30 and hung with Dad in the bedroom for a bit, then took Yvette for a quick walk. It was -6F out there, and windy, so we weren't out long. Luckily it only snowed about 2 inches, so... much less than predicted.
Back inside, Dad wanted to go sit in the kitchen but I had to give him his Tylenol first and it needed time to kick in.
I shoveled the walk to the side door and salted it. Then inside, I did a quick vacuum of the downstairs.
It wasn't long after, that Gina from home hospice arrived.
This is going to be the best thing for him! They're bringing him a twin-size hospital bed, and an overbed table, and they'll be providing all the meds, dipers, etc, and it's all paid for by Medicare.
He'll be visited several times a week, and they'll bathe him and do other stuff, but unfortunately, it's still gonna be on me to change him most of the time, and feed him.
As you'll know, that's exactly what I wanted to avoid, but... all things considered, this is way better than a nursing home, and I'm not completely on my own with this.
He's much happier, just to be home, and Yvette is also much less of a hassle, because he's there to keep her company, even if he is in bed most of the time.
I started getting smarter about things today too. I busted Mom's old foldable wheel chair, out of the porch closet. We tried it afer Gina left, and it works MUCH better for getting him to the kitchen table.
It's way easier to get him up and into the wheel chair by the bed, than have him travel with the walker into the kitchen to sit on his normal kitchen chair, which had no arms.
I also put the Alexa in his room, right by the bed, so that if he needs me when I'm upstairs, he can tell her to call me. We tested this and it works.
I'm slowly rearrangng things in his room for all of this to work better. His clock is now in his view, instead of behind him, for example.
There's gonna be a lot more streamlining of the routines over the next few days. Once we get the hospital bed in there, it's gonna take up less floor space than his queen bed, an it's gonna make life a lot easier.
I don't think I'll move the TV in there, because the wheelchair can go down the hall to the living room, if he ever wanted to sit in there and watch AccuWeather, and look out the front window.
I don't think he's ever gonna be walking the dog or driving again, but in theory it's possible that he might be able to get up and around by himself with the walker as time goes on.
I think in his current state, and with the hospice care, he could make it another year or two. But that depends on whether he ever gets the pneumonia the speech therapist was so convinced was inevitable.
Gina today, thought that was a bit alarmist, and said that if you aspirate stuff, usually just coughing is enough to clear it out.
He'll be able to eat and drink whatever he wants, including his Guinness, and he's free to smoke as much as he wants too!
Also, from this point forward, he'll never take another ambulance to the ER, ever again.
Whatever goes wrong now, they'll deal with at home.
This means no more prolonged periods of dog sitting for me! I may have to do a bit more Dad sitting, but I'll still have the time to work my janitor job, and have free time to myself at home.
When he's in the bed, especially that hospital bed, he can be left alone with Yvette for fairly long periods, safely. Because he's got a diaper, and a foley bag, and he'll have side rails to keep him from falling out... and he just sleeps a lot.
As I said, he's just so happy to be home... after the ordeal he's been through this time around... that I doubt he'll complain about me being gone for four hours a night.
I also spent the last week down there in the back room getting malware off his desktop computer so I can use it down there.
It's a Windows 10 machine, so, fairly new, but it had malware on it that took forever to remove. But now that it's good, I can sit down there and write these entries, or work on the cards, or whatever.
At 6PM we got him out into the kitchen for a bit of Guinness and a smoke at the table. But by 6:40, he wanted to go back to bed, so we got him back in there.
The wheel chair makes these transitions a lot easier, because he doesn't have to walk any distance.
He said to me down there that he's never been happier in his life than when he came home two nights ago from that nasty rehab facility.
I think it would've been a criminal tragedy if he left here on December 2nd and never returned!
Dad's lived in this house his entire life... since 1934.
He grew up here with his two parents, and his grandmother. And during WW2, when he was only 8, they all had to go live with his mom's ornery Aunt Maggie in Elmhurst, to take care of her, for nine long months.
He had to share a small room with his parents, while his gramma had the adjoining room, all upstairs in a cramped little bungalow. And he had to go to a strange school with kids he didn't know.
The experience was traumatizing for him... such that, when the finally did return here, he kissed his bedroom wall, and vowed never to leave again.
And he never did!
In his twenties he attended a nearby private collage, but slept at home.
Then he got married to Mom and she moved in upstairs with him.
When they had their first baby, his parents gave the house to them, and bought their own house across town.
Mom lived here the rest of her life, and now he's outlived her by eight years in Feburary.
Those nineteen days he was gone, here in December of 2022, were the longest he's been away... since Elmhurst, when he was eight!
He is like the Queen Elizabeth II of this house... longest occupant by decades!
His mother also grew up here, but only lived here 60 years... though she did come back for the last three years of her life.
Her father and grandfather built this house together, but her father only lived here around 58 years.
Dad holds the record, at 88 years. And I don't think anybody else will ever break it, now that the house is so ancient.
So he really does need to die here. And after that, I have no doubt he'll haunt the place for as long as it stands.
°¦}
