Home at last!

Yes, Neal is home from 22 days in the hospital!  The home health care nurse just left.  He is all hooked up to his TPN (total parenteral nutrition) which runs for 12 hours.  Karsten thinks for sure it has kale in it!  The home health care nurse will come in the morning to unhook the IV nutrition, run his antibiotic, and teach us how to administer this ourselves. 

This morning when I arrived at the hospital the PA told me he couldn’t come home until tomorrow because they wanted to finish some of the IV meds.  We lobbied hard for him to come home today and they finally agreed.  The PA moved quickly to get everything together for that to happen.  An ENT came in a did some scopes up Neal’s nose because one of the scan showed some sinuitis.  This could be a breeding ground for a fungal infection so they needed to check it out.  They gave him the clearance.  The pharmacisit came in and gave us instructions on how to administer the nutrition and insulin.  (Neal’s blood sugar is up due to the steroids he is on.  It should go back to normal after he is off them.)  I squirted the ceiling a couples times in my practice but ended up doing fine.  The nurse will go over everything again tomorrow so she can watch and make sure I know how to do everything.  The PA came in and went over all Neal’s meds with me. 

We finally were opn our way home around 6pm Chicago time.  We went straight to Walgreens to pick up the 7 percriptions Neal needs.  Got home just in time for home health care to deliver all our materials.  A few minutes later the nurse came and just left at 10:30 pm.  What a day!  But Neal is home–yeah!

Neal says he looks like a prisoner of war because he has lost 30 pounds.  Now that he is home hopefully we can fatten him up a little.  When he would order something to eat at the hospital he had to wait about 45 minutes for it to come.  Many times it didn’t sound good or taste good when it arrived.  Neal’s mom made some homemade chicken soup for him which he enjoys.  He will have to eat bland food with little roughage for a while. 

Grateful Neal is home,
Trish