Regular Room--Tuesday

Regular Room–Tuesday

            When I finished getting ready I was still a little early (they said breakfast was served around 7-7:30 and I wanted to eat with him–or I at least knew he would be awake then), so I called Mom and let her know everything was okay.

            I headed over around 6:45 and he was still sleeping when I got there, so I tried to sit by his bed and take a nap.  I was fairly awake, though, and my chair made a loud squeaking every time I moved.  So, at 7:10 I left him a note that I was going to eat breakfast (I had bacon, tator tots, and a yogurt parfait).  When I got back he was still sleeping and hadn’t had breakfast yet.  Before long a woman came to check on his roommate–she flipped on the lights and spoke to the man like he was deaf–her volume hurt my head and I could tell by the pained expression on JohnDeere’s face that he couldn’t stand it either–I finally stuck my head through the curtain an asked her to lower her voice.  I would have thought someone who worked at the hospital would have been more aware of other patients–but, the neighbor’s nurse was loud, too.  I was getting frustrated.

            Breakfast came and JohnDeere ate ½ piece of toast, a strip of bacon and all of his eggs.  Then he went back to sleep and I wrote.  I was worried I would forget some things, but so far I think I’ve done okay.

            Soon, Tom, Emily, and Alex came to visit.  And, not long after they left, Grandma and Grandpa stopped by.  Grandpa had an appointment for his pacemaker, so they were in town.  We chatted in the waiting area while JohnDeere slept.  Grandma told me about Emily’s troubles she had had with pregnancy and Grandpa talked to some woman about the medical helicopters.  She said her son was training to be an air medic–you have to have at least five years of ER experience before you can work in the Samaritan.  They went in to say good-bye and I stayed in the waiting room.  After a few minutes, Grandpa came out and motioned for me to get up.  “They’ve got him up,” he said as I saw an IV pole followed by JohnDeere and the therapist coming out of the room.  I followed as he walked all around the nurses stations in our wing of the hospital.  He walked pretty quickly and without holding on to anything–I was surprised.  He didn’t seem weak or dizzy at all.

            They had him sit up in his chair when he returned from walking, and he stayed sitting up to eat his spaghetti for lunch.  Soon after he was finished, he went to the bathroom and cleaned up some.  Then he took some medicine and went back to sleep.

            This seemed like a good time for my lunch and as I headed out to the lounge I met up with My mother-in-law, Mater, Heidi, and Randy.  We all had lunch together, then My mother-in-law and Mater had to leave for work.

            I visited with Heidi and Randy for a while.  In the meantime JohnDeere met with a speech therapist who gave him some cognitive tests.  Then, because I knew there would be visitors in the evening, I went back to English Hall to take a nap–it was about 3:45.

            I got back around 5, checked on JohnDeere, and sat with him while he ate his cheeseburger that I had special ordered for him.  Then Randy and I went to eat dinner while Heidi stayed with him.  While we were eating, a woman from the hospital called asking me about who was driving so they could inform our insurance of any “third party liability.” I lied and told her I didn’t know who it was, so I would have more time to think about it.  The idea of our insurance “going after” Andrew didn’t seem fair–I was so distraught over this that I could hardly finish my Panini.

            Right away, Randy and I went to talk to this woman in person.  I told her, “I know I may not be the one who makes these decisions, but my husband decided to sit on the tailgate of a pick-up.  If he had decided to sit in the front seat we wouldn’t be hurt.  I don’t think the driver is any more at fault than my husband–so I do not wish to pursue his insurance.”  She said, “Ok, I will note that in your file,” and I was relieved.  Then, another woman in the office, who had been listening in asked “Who’s your insurance company?”  “Anthem,” I replied. 

“Ok, just to let you know, they are notorious for saying they won’t pay if they think someone else is at fault.”

“Oh, they’ll pay–I’ll do whatever I have to make sure that happens.”

            Later, I realized that Randy had used his fancy cell phone to record the whole conversation and he said he was proud of the way I said I’d deal with Anthem later. 

            Still slightly riled up, I headed back to the lounge and prepared for lots of visitors: Heather Hannan, a friend from college, came to sit with me.  Then Kyle brought Irene (the exchange student who had lived with Sherbahn’s and was visiting from Ukraine for CJ’s wedding), Chris and Martha Trier came, JohnDeere and Mindi Landrigan, and Bill and Priscilla showed up later.  It was nice to see so much support especially from Chris and Martha.  A few year’s ago, Martha’s brother, Daniel Bolinger, fell on some ice, his head, and stayed in the same section of the neuro ICU that JohnDeere was in.  At Christmastime her family had to decided to take him off of life support.  I know it was difficult for her to be there, but her personal understanding was very comforting.

            My in-laws came later and visited a little with everyone.  Our visitors cleared out, My in-laws checked in on him.  I filled them in on what happened that day and informed them the we would hopefully be going home the next day.

            They saw me off the English Hall and told me that since we were planning on coming home the next day, no one was planning on coming up–but they would meet me at home.

            I took a shower and went to sleep with far fewer worries than the night before.  I was ready to go home–it had been a grouchy day for me.