Current Situation
Carole and Carole Ann are Facetiming
Coming Home Today!
Carole has been discharged and they are just waiting for the reconciliation of the medications. Dr. Katie and Harry are at the hospital.
In other great news, Carole has been accepted for intensive outpatient speech therapy at Northwestern Medical’s Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago These folks have a sterling reputation AND a 6-hour-per-day program which is more than she would get down here in Florida. (Fun fact, Val shared a grad school apartment with Shirley’s niece, Carolyn Phillips, back when the dinosaurs roamed)
Accommodations are being worked on, but the current plan is to have a rollicking road trip up to Chicago in John Bock’s RV this weekend. Harry and Carole will be guests at the fabulous Museum Park Place condo of Val and Jim, while their new Chicago area home is being spun up.
I hope to post a nice pic of Carole in her own digs this evening.
Holding pattern
In developments totally par for the course, no rehab beds were available today. Meanwhile Carole made progress, saying her own name, which is actually kind of a big deal because that “k” sound is way back in the mouth and not something easily demonstrated or mimicked. So she found it in her own memory which is pretty cool.
Family has been discussing a range of options if rehab is not available tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Progress
Carole has been medically released for transfer to the rehabilitation facility. Unfortunately, there are no beds there at the moment. We are hoping this will change on Monday.
…Or not…
Due to an error in communication, Carole was given morphine IV last night. For obvious reasons, rehabilitation facilities want their patients stable after 24 hours of oral medication only. So she may be discharged tomorrow, but Monday is more likely.
On the runway…
Carole has been cleared by Cardiology – her heart is working as they want it to. We are hoping for a transfer to rehab, possibly as soon as today!
Procedure is a Success!
Carole’s pacemaker is duly installed and performing properly. They want to watch her for a day to make sure everything is going well, and perhaps then we can talk about moving on to a rehabilitation facility.
Pacemaker Day!
Carole was taken down to have her pacemaker inserted around 9:25 EDT.
Looking forward to updating folks later, but have a bunch of things to do in town first. Stay tuned this afternoon!
Wait!
The surgeon had an emergency surgery to do so Carole’s was put off a day.
She put the time to good use, though, working hard in therapy.
Ready, Set …
Carole is looking forward to the pacemaker placement tomorrow. She’s getting some cool new tech, which will actually be inserted through an artery (like a cardiac catheterization) and threaded up to her heart.
Carole Ann will hand off to the next crew, Melissa and Colin, tomorrow as well.
I look forward to reporting on a successful procedure tomorrow.