After 11 days, hubby is out of the hospital. However, his IV-delivered medicine has to keep happening every morning. The first day home a nurse came to show us how to prep the lines and flush them, then do a bunch of stuff like mixing the meds into the bag, prep the tubing, hooking that up into the bag, and hanging the bag. The meds take 30 minutes to get into hubby’s bloodstream. Once those are done, everything is unplugged and taken down and the leads get flushed out and capped. Until the next time.

  And yes, it is as complicated as it sounds. Each step is easy on its own. When you must do all 40 of these steps in the correct order, in a timely manner, with the patient and his sister watching every move you make, it is overwhelming. Did I mention that the IV tubes on the outside of his arm, that I work with, do not feed the veins in his arm like the typical IV does? The tubes were surgically planted into his heart to deliver this crucial medication. I rather not know that detail, but it’s too late now.

Three days after his discharge I am still filling out paperwork for the home care and the infectious diseases doctor. Each medical entity has its own form, so I got one to fill out at urgent care, one in the ER,  one in ICU, and one for the physician. One for the Home Care people, the Home Care pharmacist, the visiting nurse, and now for the new specialist we see two days from now. 

Has no one in this town ever heard of a xerox machine?

My daughter asked me how I was doing, and it was right then I realized I was depressed. A typical reaction for me, once the emergency or danger passed, is to fall apart. I allow all the fear, panic, and emotions to finally hit me.