True Friendship
Ken and Rita Ortman got up in the dark this morning to hug Carole and Harry good bye and to wish her well with her speech therapy. It was such a lovely send off.
On the Road!
We were up at 0-dark-thirty this morning so that we could get on the road.
Kim has outfitted the RV with everything a person might desire – the coffee was ALREADY BREWED when we climbed aboard. Carole and Harry are snoozing in the back bedroom, Kate and I are at the dinette. John is at the wheel and Kim and Bob are riding shotgun.
When we turned on the radio, Tom Petty’s “Don’t Have to Live Like a Refugee” came on, and looking around this deluxe accommodation, that would seem to be the case.
The organization of this team is impressive. We all worked our checklists, and we think we’ve got everything, though I guess we’ll find out. I’ll post some pix when we’ve got a bit more connectivity.
Carole was in good form this morning. We find that when she’s relaxed and not thinking too hard about it, bits of speech just zoom out. She said “I love you too” to Jim in phone convo last night, and we heard “What!” coming out of the bedroom this morning. Can the exasperated version HAR-RRRRRY!” be far behind?
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!