Friday & Saturday on Saturday
Friday can be called "Is Jason going to be discharged or not?" day.
I believe very strongly, based on my hospice and personal family experience, that a patient and family should always meet with a discharge planner before one is discharged from the hospital, any hospital. I was told by various staff that "the RN on the floor is the discharge planner or a social worker, who said he doesn't have to meet with us is the discharge planner, etc." I had not completed my training to take care of Jason's needs and had not gotten information concerning the "backup system" when Jason goes "outpatient" nor had I gotten supplies to take care of Jason's needs. I had not "gotten any procedures for care after hours or on weekends or if there is a medical emergency" Jason had not been officially transferred to Med Hold (agency for soldier accountability) If Jason left without the paperwork, for the weekend he would be "lost through the safety net." No official patient slot or ID or food card, etc. I was told "call the front desk at Mologne House. They will help." Based on my room toilet flooding experience and Mologne House managment's non-response to my problem toilet, this was negative reassurance to the max. Lots of unanswered questions for me...SO...
at 8:30 am two privates from Med-Hold show up and ask "Sir, can we help you move?" I thought this is exactly what happens in the civilian hospital discharge world. Grrr... Jason and I both said, "We've got some work to do before I can move." The rest of the day was spent in finding out, getting supplies, getting trained, meeting with social work and Jason's lead physician Dr. Aquila trying to be as prepared for the changes via this transition as we could. Knowing that as Jason comes back into the hospital for about four more surgeries we need to "know the potential problems of this inpatient/outpatient transition and afterwards" as Jason was going to repeat this in/out again and again. I am not clear on the process as of yet nor do I like surprises, especiallly on my son's behalf; but I trust Monday the scheduled day for Jason's going to Mologne will bring more clarity to this process.
When we met with Dr. A Jason quipped, "I think a good time to have privates help me move would be about 6PM on Sunday (superbowl time)." We decided that Monday would probably work best for everyone as Med-Hold was shutting down for the weekend and this was late Friday afternoon.
Martha arrived with her coveted van at about 4:30 and we three headed out to Silver Spring. We bought tickets to Walk the Line, story of Johnny Cash and June Carter and the music. We watched the movie after dinner and all three of us enjoyed and recommend it to you. We perused Borders where Jason got PJ O'Rourke's latest book of political commentary; it is funny. We ate 0ut at Eggspectation as Jason had not eaten there yet. We however did not eat anything egg as Jason had had a bad experience with rotting eggs in Iraq and wants none of them! Jason and Martha ate huge hamburgers with French/freedom(depending on your view of the war) fries, while I ate potato latkes, nowhere near as tasty as the ones we used to make when I was young. (But I didn't have to grate the potatoes. ) Jason had blue cheese on his hamburger. It still surprises us and Jason that he can taste cheese, one of the few things he can. Martha gave him a sip of her wine and Jason could still only taste alcohol. Jason stopped at the Starbucks for a latte which he enjoys instead of his usual Jamba Juice. After our evening was completed about 9:30 we dropped Martha off at the Metro so she could head home and we headed back to WR for one more weekend before Jason's first move from inpatient to the 0utpatient world.
Saturday:
Jason planned on staying up late talking to Jodi on Friday, so he asked me to come at 9AM. I arrived but Jason had called PT to say he was skipping the session and rolled over and went back to sleep. A little after 11 AM a group of Steeler fans/vets arrived to visit with Jason. Jason got a Steeler tee shirt so now he has a pair; one from the Seahawks and one from the Steelers. He can change them depending on who is ahead? or at half time? Jason is not sure he will watch the game as his beloved Bears did not make it this year. :-( I thought that all of America watched the superbowl for its commercials and a possible repeat of Janice Jackson's "Let's see if males are watching shenanigans" From all I hear it is another "American Holyday." Don't know if Jason will attend the Mologne House superbowl party. Maybe he will come over for a while and meet some of the soldiers living here during their extended therapy. I imagine it will be like being in the bleachers at the game with food and drinks provided. I plan on watching the commercials from my room and the half time show, after all, I am an American patriot, too.
Jason's good friend John Butler from CA days is in town for a conference. John arrived about 1 and Jason and he took the van and headed for Silver Spring for the day of food and maybe another movie. I headed out to the room to work on deleting some of the 500 plus emails sitting in my inbox. Emails definitely multiply like rabbits.
I believe very strongly, based on my hospice and personal family experience, that a patient and family should always meet with a discharge planner before one is discharged from the hospital, any hospital. I was told by various staff that "the RN on the floor is the discharge planner or a social worker, who said he doesn't have to meet with us is the discharge planner, etc." I had not completed my training to take care of Jason's needs and had not gotten information concerning the "backup system" when Jason goes "outpatient" nor had I gotten supplies to take care of Jason's needs. I had not "gotten any procedures for care after hours or on weekends or if there is a medical emergency" Jason had not been officially transferred to Med Hold (agency for soldier accountability) If Jason left without the paperwork, for the weekend he would be "lost through the safety net." No official patient slot or ID or food card, etc. I was told "call the front desk at Mologne House. They will help." Based on my room toilet flooding experience and Mologne House managment's non-response to my problem toilet, this was negative reassurance to the max. Lots of unanswered questions for me...SO...
at 8:30 am two privates from Med-Hold show up and ask "Sir, can we help you move?" I thought this is exactly what happens in the civilian hospital discharge world. Grrr... Jason and I both said, "We've got some work to do before I can move." The rest of the day was spent in finding out, getting supplies, getting trained, meeting with social work and Jason's lead physician Dr. Aquila trying to be as prepared for the changes via this transition as we could. Knowing that as Jason comes back into the hospital for about four more surgeries we need to "know the potential problems of this inpatient/outpatient transition and afterwards" as Jason was going to repeat this in/out again and again. I am not clear on the process as of yet nor do I like surprises, especiallly on my son's behalf; but I trust Monday the scheduled day for Jason's going to Mologne will bring more clarity to this process.
When we met with Dr. A Jason quipped, "I think a good time to have privates help me move would be about 6PM on Sunday (superbowl time)." We decided that Monday would probably work best for everyone as Med-Hold was shutting down for the weekend and this was late Friday afternoon.
Martha arrived with her coveted van at about 4:30 and we three headed out to Silver Spring. We bought tickets to Walk the Line, story of Johnny Cash and June Carter and the music. We watched the movie after dinner and all three of us enjoyed and recommend it to you. We perused Borders where Jason got PJ O'Rourke's latest book of political commentary; it is funny. We ate 0ut at Eggspectation as Jason had not eaten there yet. We however did not eat anything egg as Jason had had a bad experience with rotting eggs in Iraq and wants none of them! Jason and Martha ate huge hamburgers with French/freedom(depending on your view of the war) fries, while I ate potato latkes, nowhere near as tasty as the ones we used to make when I was young. (But I didn't have to grate the potatoes. ) Jason had blue cheese on his hamburger. It still surprises us and Jason that he can taste cheese, one of the few things he can. Martha gave him a sip of her wine and Jason could still only taste alcohol. Jason stopped at the Starbucks for a latte which he enjoys instead of his usual Jamba Juice. After our evening was completed about 9:30 we dropped Martha off at the Metro so she could head home and we headed back to WR for one more weekend before Jason's first move from inpatient to the 0utpatient world.
Saturday:
Jason planned on staying up late talking to Jodi on Friday, so he asked me to come at 9AM. I arrived but Jason had called PT to say he was skipping the session and rolled over and went back to sleep. A little after 11 AM a group of Steeler fans/vets arrived to visit with Jason. Jason got a Steeler tee shirt so now he has a pair; one from the Seahawks and one from the Steelers. He can change them depending on who is ahead? or at half time? Jason is not sure he will watch the game as his beloved Bears did not make it this year. :-( I thought that all of America watched the superbowl for its commercials and a possible repeat of Janice Jackson's "Let's see if males are watching shenanigans" From all I hear it is another "American Holyday." Don't know if Jason will attend the Mologne House superbowl party. Maybe he will come over for a while and meet some of the soldiers living here during their extended therapy. I imagine it will be like being in the bleachers at the game with food and drinks provided. I plan on watching the commercials from my room and the half time show, after all, I am an American patriot, too.
Jason's good friend John Butler from CA days is in town for a conference. John arrived about 1 and Jason and he took the van and headed for Silver Spring for the day of food and maybe another movie. I headed out to the room to work on deleting some of the 500 plus emails sitting in my inbox. Emails definitely multiply like rabbits.
posted by Katy (Scott) Zatsick | 2/04/2006 05:10:00 PM
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