The New Medtronic Pace/Defibulator

Well, Larry went last Tuesday for the procedure. They took out the old defibulator and put in the new Medtronic when they added the third wire. It took the Doctor over 2 hours to get the wire in place, but he said that it is placed in the best possible location to help Larry out. We won't really be able to tell for about 2 weeks if it is helping or not because your heart has to get used to the extra help that it is getting.
It was a really long day for Larry,the Doctor and for me. We got to Froedert at 7:20 and he didn't out of recovery to his room until 4:00 and then he couldn't move or sit up until 5:30. By the time he did try to stand, he was pretty wobbly and the nurses sat him back down again.
The, I talked to the Drs. and they said that they would get him all set to discharge by 10:00 am at the latest, so we could get to dialysis. They had thought that they would just do dialysis there, but since no one from nephrology came down to talk to us, they said that we should just go to his regular dialysis.
So, on Wednesday, I get up and go down to the hospital by 9:00 am- I know that if you are not on top of the situation, you sit there. Walk into Larry room and he is not there- he is down at x-ray. So a nurse sees me looking very befuddled that Larry is A. not there and B. I can see no evidence of them getting him ready to be discharged.
"Oh" she says "Judy Fox (The nurse practitioner who is supposed to do his exit check over) is at a dentist appointment until 11:30- Larry won't get out of here until at least 2:30."
Well....... this IS a problem because if we are not at Germantown at the very latest of 11:30, he does not receive dialysis. Now what?"
"Oh, well, we'll just dialyze him here." And nephrology sends someone down, they check him over, get his records faxed over and say he is good to go. They will pick him up at 11:00 ish and he should be done and ready to get out of here at 2:30 or 3:00."
GREAT!
So, I go to Menomonee Falls, because Jimmy Rother was getting sent home from rehab and his daughter Scottie was trying to get furniture out of the way because hospice was getting the hospital bed, etc delivered.
When I get to the Falls, no hospice- no equipment- no nothing. Scottie is fit to be tied. We took Jim's bed out and his chair out. There was nothing there to accommodate him and he was going to be transported any minute. When I left, Jim was there, sitting in Evie's chair (Because the wheelchair he was in was the transport companies)- no bed, no wheelchair, no potty chair. He was exhausted and no where to go. ( They eventually got the stuff there by 4:30-not very good)
At 1:30, I head back to Milwaukee and get to the hospital at 2:30.
No Larry. OK- no problem.
3:00- no Larry. The nurse walks by and says that he should be back any minute. OK- no problem.
3:30- no Larry. Nurse walks by again and says she will call up and see what is going on. She comes back a little while later and tells me that he is done, they just have to wait for transport. OK.
4:00- still no Larry.
4:15- they come to the room next to Larry's to take the woman up to dialysis. And Larry is still up there waiting to come down. NOW, I have a problem. So, I go out and the nurse sees me and says "Is something wrong?"
"Yes, something is wrong. An 81 year old man, who is weak to begin with and has been flat on his back for over 5 hours, is still up there laying outside of dialysis, flat on his back. This woman just got admitted and it took klless that an hour to get everything set and transport to take her up. HOW COME THEY CAN'T GET ONE OLD MAN DOWN HERE??? You saw how weak he was this morning, and now he has been laying there all day, even longer than he has to and I-MYSELF ALONE!- have to take him home and try to deal with it! I am getting pretty pissed off!"
And she says-"And what can I do to help the situation?"
"You can get him down here so I can see if he can even stand!"
"Well, it isn't as simple as that, the orders for transfers are entered in the computer and you have to wait your turn."
This statement really pissed me off because, I saw all these blue uniformed transfer guys standing around all afternoon! So, I said, well- I really don't care how you do it, but he better be down here soon.
She went up and got him herself.
Poor Larry! He was so thirsty and hungry! They gave him none of his pills. I just don't understand about this staying overnight for observation thing. You are supposed to bring your meds or they charge you, but they wouldn't let him take his pills!
Anyhow, back to Larry. So, I sit him up and he is really, really wobbly, but we get his clothes on and FINALLY she comes in and says that we can go at 5:30. I pushed him down (Yeah right! Like I am going to wait for transport again???) and we took off and stopped for Culver's on the way home. The Walmart Pharmacy was closed by the time we got there, so no pain meds and when we got home, I had to wheel him to his chair, then wheel him to the bathroom and finally, wheel him to bed. He was pretty darned weak. I asked him if he could now comprehend how quickly his strength and stamina go away if he doesn't use his arms and legs and he still does not get it. Thinks that I am exaggerating and that he is just getting weaker and weaker- no correlation to anything.
The next morning, we had therapy and he walked a little before and more as the day went on and by Friday night when we went for a fish fry with Jim and Elaine, he was doing pretty good, except his shoulder really hurt.
Then on Saturday, he threw up 2 times. Sunday, he REALLY threw up- like from his toes. Today, he is still feeling pretty putrid and weak and I really think he has the flu, but they took some blood and gave him a dose of an antibiotic just in case it is an infection.
I also don't feel real red hot and had a not so great day myself (A story for another day) and just feel like curling up and having a good cry. Just a little bit of mental stress on top of not feeling too great. I'll be fine later.
And the Packers won again! YAY! And Indianapolis got beat again! YAY!