May 17, 2016
I talked to Den this morning and he has 4 therapy sessions today, Individual OT, OT-Dressing himself, Group OT and Group PT. Almost all of the sessions are in the morning, so he will have his afternoon to himself. I am not sure if that is good or bad at this point.
When I talked to Den at lunch, he told me that Dr. Rydberg had been in this morning and his discharge date had been moved up to May 30th. She told him it was possible that he could be discharged next week, but our education with the LVAD team had to be completed before that could happen. All of Den’s therapists were extremely happy with his progress and he had met all of the milestones for his release already!
Den sounded very antsy to get home and I reminded him of why he was there and not to push too hard to “just get out of there”. Den’s weight is at 226.
May 18, 2016
Den and I talked as usual this morning. He has 4 sessions today…all individual PT. They are really working him hard to get him ready to come home!
When I talked to Den in the evening, he told me that he did some stairs today…first time since being admitted to the hospital! He felt that he did well for his first try. His mental attitude is getting better every day he get closer to coming home.
Ed, the social worker, called me today. He told me that Den would most likely be discharged the end of next week…sooner than expected. He said that he would contact out home health care group to set up continuing PT and nurse visits. He had also set up our education day with the LVAD team. Colleen, one of the team members, would be at RIC on Tuesday and go over everything that we needed to know before Den could go home! (Now I can start counting the days until we can all be under one roof again!)
May 19, 2046
Den told me this morning that he had some bathroom issues during the night. Nothing too severe, but he needed help cleaning up and getting back to bed. When the nurse was helping him clean up, they found a sore on Den’s backside. (Most likely a bed sore and they were treating it already.) Den told me that he had 4 sessions again today….3 OT and one PT. I reminded him that I would be up to see him in the morning and he asked if I would bring the manicure kit, since his finger nails needed some attention.
Den's LVAD 