Skip to main content

I was transferred to Santa Cruz Post Urgent Care. I’ve been here ever since.


Follow up visits to both Smith and Abidi showed positive results. Smith installed a catheter and foley, and Abidi’s asst Ray said the knee looked fine and just needed time for healing.


The staff here is great. They take me to their gym, where they work me hard, as I want to be worked. The more I work the closer I get to being able to go home.

   Progress is slow and sometimes exhausting, but I do make progress every day, so I’m confident that I’ll be going home in the not too distant future.

   The knee will take some time to heal. And by and by the catheter and foley will be able to be removed and I’ll be able to pee on my own. Meanwhile, there’s no pain, just some discomfort when I move in certain ways.

   And there are lots of sleepless nights, or nights with only very partial sleep. Ambien and other meds give me about five hours of good sleep before they wear off. Then I toss and turn with discomfort, lots of thoughts, and an occasional bit of sleep. In all, I get perhaps six hours of sleep a night, short of the 7 to 8 hours a night that I aim for. I compensate by drinking coffee and dozing a bit during the day.

   I’m getting lots of visitors. Xan visits me every day. She’s here by my side as I’m writing this. Eric, who lives only three blocks away from here, comes at least once a day, sometimes twice. Gail is here frequently. And there are others. They brighten my day.

   The MMC community has been wonderfully supportive. They’ve provided transportation for getting Xan down here to see me each day and for getting her back up to the MMC at the end of the afternoon. Arpita does a great job of coordinating all that.

   The food is pretty good and I get plenty of rest when I’m not working out at the gym. 

   I am so, so looking forward to being back with my sweetheart. And that will happen before too long. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday, June 18

 Another landmark success day — appointment with the urologist. Bottom line: I can go home with  a catheter-foley, then return for minor outpatient surgery to install a more permanent catheter port. Skipping over the details, the important thing for me is that from the urology point of view, I can go home. Since that’s also true from the surgical point of view, now that the fixator was removed, I’m good to go home medically. The only remaining requirement is that the physical therapy people here at the Post Acute Care facility put me through some paces to the point where they’re satisfied that I can be home safely — e.g., that I can navigate the wheelchair, execute transitions, take care of my toileting and self-care needs, etc. — that I can do safely all the things I’ll need to do at home.  There’s more to the process — insurance authorization, ordering and getting the wheelchair, training on getting into and out of the car, prescriptions for various meds, etc. All of th...

Wednesday, June 12

     Greg, in an outraged storm of anger, blame, and long story-telling, finally decided to leave AMA. Fighting with most everyone to the end. (Not with me; we stayed positive).       At the same time, my urine didn’t go down the catheter-foley, but dribbled out from the catheter-penis connection onto by body and pants. Nurse Hector had me push the catheter in a little, then wait-see. It happened again, but Hector doubted me — told me next time don’t stop it, just let it go and there’ll be clear evidence one way or the other — and then we can consider what, if anything, to do.       Waiting to see.
  I have appointments to see Doctors Abidi and Smith on June 17 and 18. I’m hopeful – no guarantees – that both will say I’m ready to go home. We’ll see.