It’s been a busy 24 hours for Bob. He had his team care conference yesterday where they determined that his estimated length of stay is 6-8 more weeks at Magee. This is great news because he is already showing great improvements after just a week of intense therapy. What’s rough for me is that it is an “estimate”. He could show more progress more quickly and that time is shortened. The goal for him (right now) is for him to do 75% of his own care, walking, and transitioning from one place to another with 25% assistance by the time of discharge. He will also need 24/7 supervision when he leaves Magee.
One great thing is that he is cognitively gaining insight into what has happened. And because of that, his mood will decline the more enlightened he becomes. The doctors already have a plan in place to combat anxiety and depression without putting him on more meds for that. I am doing my best to reassure him and make him understand that his role as “provider” has not been usurped by me, that we absolutely want and need him home, but that at the same time we are doing alright without him and he needs time to heal. It is very hard to convey that to someone when there aren’t too many short term things that “stick”. We were talking about the accident and he seemed really with it, until he started to talk about the Corolla. He thought he had crashed the Corolla. That was the car we traded in for the Rav six years ago. Now in his defense, he did get into at least two accidents with the Corolla.
There are also three options for his care after Magee. While I struggle with what decision to make, I have to remember that so much has changed in 5 weeks and that even more can change in the next 5. So that decision is very temporarily on the back burner. And I am going to trust my gut and the professionals caring for us. Please pray that I make the right decision when the time comes.
Terry and I went up to see Bob tonight and I was very happily giving her a tour of the facility. There was a birthday party for one of the patients on the 6th floor tonight and it seemed so festive. Tomorrow we celebrate the one year anniversary of Michael’s adoption. When I tell Bob about it he says, “That’s nice. He’s such a good boy”. It’s hard for me not to be able to sit with him and recount every moment of that day. We’ll have more parties to look forward to in the future with our family intact.
I will be at Magee for at least part of the day for the next four days. It will be a whirlwind of activity but I can’t wait to see how he is doing with his therapies on Friday.
He is making more and more jokes and is smiling even more lately. I had him sign some paperwork tonight for me and after signing he said,”I didn’t even read it first. I don’t know what I signed”. I jokingly informed him that it was divorce paperwork. He said,”I’ll never divorce you. I love you.” He’s stuck with me too. For better or worse.
Shirts are in! Pretty good deal at $5 each. 