Welcome home, Young father... welcome home!

Andrea made an uber-yummy lemon birthday cake for me last night, and we'd decided that we should share the calories as far and wide as possible. What better place to unload sugar and cholesterol than at a hospital!

Over the course of the day various reports came in. The dispatch nurse was getting his paperwork in order to ship him home. The cardiologists weren't sure, but thought maybe he should stick around. In the end, the physical therapists cast the deciding vote to kick him off the island... er, hospital.

We took the cake over to the house and puttered around cleaning a few critical pathways for him, and before we knew it, the car was pulling into the driveway. He was looking very well, and seemed pretty good on his walker, if maybe a bit shaky. He figured out the porch stairs quickly, and went straight back to the TV room and flopped onto the couch. Okay, so the flop was a bit less graceful than he was aiming for. More of a face plant, really. It was into a big pile of cushions, but it still hurt quite a bit. Lesson one: No face plants.

Several minutes and some birthday cake later, he decided it was time to move into the dining room. More spotting, but he was managing pretty well. His right foot isn't quite as responsive, so he kind of veers off course every now and then. Veering is particularly scary when he's on a tile floor, but fortunately he learned his lessons on flopping and managed to sit down properly in a chair.

After more cake he figured it was time for bed, so I watched nervously from behind as he brushed his teeth, leaning over the sink for balance. It was a pretty amusing posture, especially as he was going down to rinse his mouth.... on a side note, mom, get a cup in there for him to use! He shuffled carefully into bed, took his drugs, and fell fast asleep in his own bed.

Shortly after that, mom went off to a party with her friends! She totally deserves to go to a party, so it was nice to see her get out of the house. On her way out, mom turned to Janell and said it's now her job to keep dad alive. No pressure, Janell.


So.... the question people will be asking is, "Can we see him?" The answer is... ummm... sure? He was really looking forward to a couple of days of pure rest with no nurses poking him in the middle of the night, but he'll probably be up for company at various times through the day. We honestly don't know, so if you happen to stop by and he's asleep, don't be offended. At least you didn't drive all the way to the hospital! And who knows, if you're lucky there could be a slice of yummy lemon birthday cake involved.

Dad keeps threatening to throw a party one of these days-- something about near-death experiences tends to give people an extroverted streak for a while. When we know more about how he's getting around and how long he's able to stay awake, there may be more vague mentions of said party.


On a purely medical note, the doctors say the swelling in his cerebellum is going down gradually. His eyes are now pointing the same direction, which is usually a good thing. Physical therapists will be coming by tomorrow to torment him in various ways, and some sort of schedule will be worked out with them. He gets tired a lot faster than he thinks he should, but I think he's only a week and a half out of nearly dying and is expecting a bit much.

And thus concludes the hospitalization episode of Extreme Makeover: Cardiac Edition.

Monday's Big News

Randy is in his OWN bed sleeping right now. He came home and had some celebratory lemon cake, courtesy of Tyler and Andrea. He came home around 6 PM, complete with a walker and all the cookies and treats that had been brought to the hospital, plus his juice cup and Jello, and was in bed by 7 PM, in sync with his grandson Scott. Once he was in bed, Barbara went out to a party, because she deserves it! (Hence, any of this information could be lacking, as our primary source is still partying as of 8:15 PM.)

Randy can move the walker pretty fast along the kitchen floor, but is still weaker on the right side and has some coordination issues, so he isn't ready to compete in the walker derby. His walker is also not outfitted with tennis balls like we see on most "little old lady" walkers. We figure they are the real professionals, so maybe Randy needs tennis balls too.

He is happy to be home. He will have some physical therapy with Home Health Care this week, which he is looking forward to. He says he is ready to throw a big party, but Barbara says he has to wait until after Christmas.

So, why is he home after we just said he would do inpatient rehab for a week? Just because someone said so. We are not sure what the criteria were or who made the decision, but here he is home. Since everyone else left town and Barbara is back to work, it is up to Janell to tend him. Barbara told Janell that her job was to keep him alive. No pressure Janell. Randy says, "if I'm still alive in a couple of weeks, then we'll have a party."

That's all we know for now. Janell will keep you posted, since she will have the inside information. We are sure Randy will miss the hospital food, particularly the meatloaf. Visiting hours are as yet undecided, but may closely follow Randy's and Scotty's napping schedules.