Now the work really starts
My wife is out of hospital.
Hurray! I hear you all shout.
Unfortunately she discharged herself.
After nearly 5 weeks in hospital, dealing with a complete lack of information before her operation, and dealing with an attitude amongst the nursing staff after her operation that she should be better by now despite still being in a great deal of pain, she reached the end of her tether (did you understand that sentence? Reading it back I'm not sure I do, but tough).
The operation was successful in that it has halted the progression of her condition, the end result of which could have been paralysis. So thats good. The secondary aim was to remove the pain. That part has only been partially successful. Coupled with the inevitable muscle wastage of 5 weeks in bed, her mobility is severely restricted. But we can work round that. We may be restricted in the assistance we get from the State, as they don't approve of people discharging themselves. If she had waited, we might have got referrals to the appropriate agencies, but now we are working it out for ourselves.
We've applied for a disabled parking permit. That will go a long way towards making life easier - if you can park outside where you need to be then life is a lot less restricted. Anyone know how long these things take to come through? At the moment she can't walk any distance without discomfort, and that's with the aid of crutches. We don't know if there is going to be much improvement in this area.
Social Services should be coming to visit us at some point, but because of the self-discharge, they aren't rushing. We need things like ramps in the doorways (we've been given one of those little electric scooters that are so dangerous in the hands of the untrained!), and perhaps extra hand rails on the stairs, though climbing stairs is far in the future at the moment. We've also been given one of those snazzy electric beds that help you sit up, so that is in the lounge at the moment.
What her being home does mean is that the kids will be able to come home. I haven't seen them in over a week and it's far too quiet without them. They are staying with their grandparents until next Tuesday evening. I'm on holiday from Wednesday so I can spend the rest of the week doing nice things with them. The park, the bikes and the bird sanctuary beckon. It will probably rain.
