He's Home

 Dad's appeal to stay in rehab was rejected, so he was sent home - probably a few days earlier than he should have been.  While everything went swimmingly at the rehab, it hasn't been quite so easy once he got home.  

Dad's a big man.  He lost nearly 50 pounds while in rehab, but he's still a big guy.  He's also tall.  And he has bad knees.  The standing process requires that he push up on one knee to standing, shifting the center of gravity and kicking the straight leg back under him so he can stand.  This means that whatever he's standing up from needs to be at least as high as his bent knee.  Not much of that in our house.

The wheelchair needed extra pads to get him close.  We've got STACKS of cushions in his recliner.  And a hospital bed was brought in because his bed is only 23" high.  

I spent the night his first night home and it was an exercise in frustration for him.  Added to the inherent difficulties of a first night home, we had severe storms pass through which caused massive power outages throughout the city.

After his arrival, he toured the house to see what all had been done to accommodate him.  We discovered that his oversized wheelchair couldn't get through the bedroom doorway, so he'd have to be on the walker to go to bed or use the bathroom.  After the tour, we had dinner and got him into his recliner.  He was happily about to watch the last couple of episodes of Ted Lasso when the power went out about 9pm.  Using my phone, I found the flashlights and took care of as much as we could by flashlight.  The power was still out at bedtime, so I put a throw over him, the urinal at his fingertips and he fell asleep in his chair.  I sacked out on the sun porch where one of the beds had been relocated (in favor of the hospital bed).  I lay there watching the lightning dance around the sky and wondered how much crazier things could get.

The power came back on around 2am, so I got Dad out of the chair (a Herculean effort as we hadn't discovered how much padding he'd need there yet) and got him to bed.  No sooner had he settled and put on his CPAP, the power went out again.  This time, it stayed out until 11am.  

Morning came and he slept in quite late.  Lois was with me, so I had to get up much earlier.  I worked on what I could and when he woke up, I helped him out of bed and to his recliner.  We chatted a bit and the power finally came back on.  Breakfast was pulled together along with coffee (yay!), and when we were done, he got in his wheelchair and went to visit his computer and the rest of the world out there.  I went home after assurances he'd be okay.  My brother Matt came to spend the afternoon with him.  

We have storms coming through for another week at least according to the forecasts, so we may be looking at a number of powerless adventures.  Trying to think ahead for that eventuality.  As long as there are storms, Matt and I will take turns staying with him.  Visiting Angels have been arranged for to be there in the morning and in the evening.  Dad says he can be on his own with their help, but I think the precaution of staying overnight until this storm system wears itself out is a wise one.