Robert got to Heartland after lunch today. He was kind of disappointed to be sharing a room with someone. A grumpy old man who flirted shamelessly with the nurses but who, wisely, did not attempt to strike up a convo with Robert.

As long as Robert has been in the hospital, he has been isolated (i.e., been in a room by himself). We are not sure why this is, but because we love our privacy, we don’t question it. I get to stay over. I can come in later than normal “visiting hours” end usually around 9PM.

All those things are hard to do with a room-mate to consider. Plus, they have to share a TV. It’s a sure bet this GOM (Grumpy Old Man) won’t share the same viewing preferences as Robert. Well, all I can say is, “Life’s rough, ain’t it?!”

Kidding aside, he will need to concentrate on building up his strength and stamina, not laying about watching TV all day and half the night. Since I can’t stay over, and since Heartland is SO FAR AWAY from our home and downtown, our time together during the week will be sparse.

It’s only for three weeks, four at the most. Then he’ll be home and he can start living in earnest. Plus, he’d been hinting that he might want to check out a Sony Playstation 2. So I went out last night and bought one for him. Now I have to figure out how to hook the darn thing up. Shhhh!! It’s a surprise!

The doctor at Kindred Hospital had Robert undergo an echocardiogram to examine his heart muscle and valves to be sure there was no ongoing infection. That happened on Tuesday. The results were negative; the infection is gone.

This afternoon, after lunch, he will go to Heartland. It’s a bit of a drive, but I don’t mind because it’s an excellent facility. He gets good wound care there, a private room, nice meals, and it’s very conducive to recovery.

From there, three or four weeks from now, depending on his progress, he’ll come home. (Yay!)

The bathroom redo has stalled out as the contractor is waiting for some kind of special hinge for the pocket door he’s putting in. Once the hinge arrives, he can finish up laying the tiles back on the floor where the linen cabinet used to be, putting on the door, painting the trim and such as that.
Soon we will be ordering Robert’s wheelchair and shower chair.

Robert is still at Kindred. He’s days away from being moved to Heartland, a “sniff” (Skilled Nursing Facility a/k/a nursing home) for follow up wound care and IV therapy. He’ll undergo some more occupational and physical therapy to get him back up to a level he was at when he was at TIRR. But according to the insurance company case worker, he’s lost so much ground during his setback in February that he’s not yet a candidate to go back to TIRR. So he’ll go home and receive home therapy for awhile. Then (I believe?) he’ll receive outpatient physical therapy at TIRR.

We are in the process of ordering his wheelchair and accessories for the bathroom (transfer bench). The bathroom is being remodeled to widen the doorway and add a threshold ramp so a wheelchair can move easily over it.

The insurance company has said that they would provide (temporarily) a hospital bed until Roberto is strong enough to move himself about in the bed. So for now, I’m going to be storing our second mattress and box springs until we don’t need the hospital bed anymore.
As David Bowie sang, “Ch, ch, ch, changes….”