I just hope Robert doesn’t have to celebrate his birthday in the hospital and that we have good news by that time. That would be a nice present.

Robert was only home two weeks before he had to go to the Emergency Room (Friday, April 23). He had a bad bladder infection and the damned doctor in the ER was going to send him home with some antibiotics had I not put my foot down about admitting him.

Why did I do this? You should have seen the way he was behaving. He was definitely not himself. He was in and out, very fuzzy. You know the old saying about “This is your brain on drugs”? (A fried egg.) Robert’s brain would have been oatmeal. I have known him a long time, a lot longer than that punk in the ER (I hate to sound disrespectfully, but the guy didn’t know squat about what was going on right in front of him!). And when I say he’s “not right,” you best believe he’s not right. I couldn’t have him back home in the state of mind he was in. I have to sleep some time. What if something happened during that period of time? At least in the hospital, he can be monitored!

So finally, after I explained that to him (for the Nth time), he consented to admit Robert. That was only after we’d both sat around the ER the whole day. We got there at 9:45 in the morning, they were making noises about discharging him at 2:30; I pitched my fit, and papers were written to admit around 3:00. Finally, around 5:00, he got a bed. I stayed overnight Friday night and he seemed to improve. He had dinner and a snack. Finally got some meds down him.

Saturday afternoon, I went home to do laundry and housework and was planning to come up in the evening and stay overnight, but it started raining really hard. I talked to Robert on the phone around 6:30 p.m. and he said he’d just come back from having an MRI and was having dinner. I told him to call me when he finished eating.

When he called back, he told me he said he would know the results of the MRI the next day (today, Sunday). At that time, it was pouring down rain and he said stay home tonight. So my plan is to head over there this afternoon around 4PM and stay overnight and just go to the office from the hospital.

When I spoke to him this morning, he told me that they thought he might have ANOTHER spinal abscess. They aren’t sure if it’s the same place, but they are talking about more surgery. (Mind you, the jerk in the ER was going to just send him home! Kinda makes you lose faith in some of these people walking around calling themselves “doctor”, eh?)

I’ll post more as soon as I know anything. His bedside telephone number is 832/355-3495.

Thursday was a hectic day. Not only was it the last day at my desk at work, but I had a Z Club of Houston meeting that I couldn’t get out of. After that, I raced over to Heartland to pick up Roberto for his ride home, a moment I’d been eagerly awaiting.

We got home okay, got him settled into the bed. Amazingly, he slept like a baby his first night home, partly because the air mattress that came with the bed cushioned him.

He was sent home with tons of pills and we have our schedule set up for taking them. I also have a schedule for mealtimes, checking/changing the cath bag (urine), and checking for stool. (A glamorous job, that one!)

So far, things have been going like clockwork. The temporary wheelchair the insurance company had delivered is a bit wider than the Quickie IIs that we were used to at TIRR. So it’s a bit harder to navigate them in the fairly narrow hallways of our apartment.
But we did have an outing yesterday (Saturday). We went to Walgreen’s to fill a prescription for insulin and then went “joy riding” around the neighborhood that Robert hadn’t seen since last September, almost seven months ago.

Today, Easter Sunday, we’ve just finished lunch, he’s had a small snack, has been up in his wheelchair for a few hours and is now back in the bed watching sports.

Part of his routine is getting up and sitting in his chair for several hours in the morning and several hours in the evening. Getting in and out of the wheelchair to the car is considered by both me and him as a workout. I don’t know if the physical therapist would agree, though!

Will write more next week. Happy Easter, everyone.