Hospital - ity

Am reclining in the lazyboy at Mum's having played a few games of wordtwist, and now having a coffee with a hot cross bun after several hours at the hospital sorting out Clive's discharge which is likely to be tomorrow.

Having stayed up probably too late last night, I was woken to the dulcet tones of the lawn mower as one of the local Lions turned up at 8am to mow the lawn prior to building a ramp for Clive to access the house. This will be a permanent fixture rather than the temporary one the community bods would provide, which now frees that up for someone else. By the time I surfaced there were three keen blokes digging turf, unloading wood, removing some vegetation and it was all systems go. By then the community occupational therapist had rung Mum, so I got on the phone to see what was happening. She was less than enthusiastic sounding, answering some of the questions I had re Clive and Mum managing at home and then she gave me other numbers to ring to ask for an assessment!!!. I rang the hospital and spoke to the charge nurse, to arrange a discharge planning meeting as we had not heard from them by 10am and 11.30am was the time given.

Mum and I ablutioned respectively. She had commented that she doesn't use the shower curtain as it gets heavy when damp, and will eventually mould (won't we all, lol), so tried it her way the last two days. This is of course was fine until this morning when I used the hand held shower thingie instead of just standing under it and the need for the curtain became apparent. As I had swished with mad gay abandon, I turned to see that water in fact had sprayed all over my clothes lying on the floor waiting to be hopped into. Fortunately, it WAS only a spray as I hadn't lingered due to time constraints.

New Zealand must have as much money to get rid of on roadworks before winter as does Mullewa Shire and Geraldton. There is roadworks in four places within a 3 mile radius - the first is the road Mum lives on and the main street has been reduced to one lane in the top half. Have managed the motorway several times now and and there is more roadworks going on there as well. Best new job has been the laying down of a footpath in Mum's road which brings it into the 21st centuary. Can you believe, there was someone who lives down the street who got out with placards, ringing the council, to say that the council was vandalising the place by putting a footpath in!!!! It makes it much safer for all the walkers who use the reserve next door rather than using the narrow busy road.

We got to the hospital and met with the charge nurse, OT and PT and watched as they put Clive through his paces. It is unbelievable how much he is able to manage already - he was able to transfer from bed to chair, wheelchair to commode chair and back again. He did it all twice and then it was decided to give him a rest before trying a wheelchair to car seat transfer so I shot down to Manukau City to try and find Spotlight to buy some material. I know I am getting old, because I can remember Manukau City Centre being built when No 1 son was born, when it was just a Foodtown and a large mall. There was no Spotlight there but had a quick look around and made it back on the dot for the next stage. Had to park on level ground and Clive went through his paces again, transferring from chair to car and back twice using a board for assistance. That ticked off, Mum and I came back to Waiuku and Clive went back for a well deserved rest. He would have done the equivalent of a marathon today. He is to be delivered back by ambulance, most likely tomorrow as the ramp is not quite finished yet. The OT is sending someone out with blocks for under the bed as it is 10cm too low, and other bits and bobs that will help Clive being independent. Social work buddies - you would have been impressed - the old girl has still got it, as the OT thanked me for my contribution as I was leaving. It would appear they have no social worker there at the moment (is that a job opening?, lol). I was much relieved to see they all seemed to know their jobs, it was the putting it altogether that was lacking - I am very grateful to the late Ange and Kim who were very much present in my mind today, and how I learnt so much about discharge planning from them. Ange was the discharge Queen at Waikato Hospital, lol along with Maria and co who wrote the protocols on how we did the job back then.

Have postponed the trip to Auckland until tomorrow morning as there is some furniture to be moved about before Clive gets back and I will give Mum a hand tonight - will stop me getting more RSI from playing computer games, lol. Am coping with the temps as it was a lovely warm day today, getting cooler now so may put a pair of socks on and will need the extra blanket on tonight as well. Am thinking dinner preparation so will go and fossick in the kitchen.