Planning For Home Care

Last few days have been rough for Dad, and for all of his fam watching him go through it. He's still in the hospital being treated for Phneumonia and a collapsed lung. They stopped his dialysis for now, as his breathing seems to be doing okay. And another good thing is he no longer needs the BIPAP during the day as his oxygen levels are fairly good and now he only requires the two plugs in the nose delivering normal doses of oxygen. He's kept on the BIPAP at night in an effort to get rid of a build up of mucus, which caused one of his lungs to collapse, with treatments of meds that are administered through the breathing aparatus. I know all of this sounds grim, and it is, but he is doing better. Yesterday he was able to walk down the hall with his cane, with Tamara on one side of him and the nurse on the other...just in case. I couldn't help notice how rediculously small his ankles were. They were normally three times the size they should be. This was apparently the work of dialysis with the removal of excess fluids from his body. He's doing pretty good putting down the grub too, which is a definite improvement from when he was admitted to the hospital. The social worker paid a visit to talk about the usual things, who's taking care of him when he gets out, services available to assist him and family and the fact they think he should go to a facility...the usual stuff. Dad assured them his family could take care of him and reittered the fact that he was not going into a facility.

Is it normal for me to be so anxious? I worry about how we're going to make things work so Dad gets the at-home care he needs. Each time Dad has one of these episodes he returns home with at least one or two more issues. For example, one, two or three additional medications, at least one more ailment...this time, oxygen deficientcy, which means he has to have a machine in the house, which he will probably need for the rest of his life and dialysis treatment which he will have to have at least three times a week at a facility -- again, for the rest of his life. Oh, and I think I mentioned in one of my posts that he swore he would never have the homehealth people in his home again. Yeah, well, unfortunately since Dad plans on rehabilitating at home, Home Health Care is a must.

Dont' take this wrong, but I feel so much more comfortable and at ease with Dad in the hospital. We know he's being taken care of while he's there by professionals who actually know what they're doing. Anyway, we're still standing. Ciao.