Update on Hubby

Well, my husband is now out of hospital – sort of. He’s been “transferred” to the “Hospital in the Home” program, which is an initiative of the State Government to get people out of actual hospital beds and into their own beds while still providing a “hospital level of care”.

Couple of observations:

1. He’s not been discharged, he’s been “transferred”. Discharges are done first thing in the morning at hospitals and you’re out by 10am. The “transfer” process took ALL DAY and he didn’t get out of Freo hospital until after 4pm although he was moved out of his bed at 10am.

2. Even though he’s been “transferred” he’s not eligible for ambulance transport between the hospital and home. Given that we’re an hour from the hospital and he has a sore hip the drive was excruciating for him.

3. Having him home is FANTASTIC and the girls are just over the moon.

4. He has a nurse who comes each day and a physiotherapist who comes every second day. Both of those who came over the weekend were lovely and very helpful. However the rest of his “nursing” then becomes the responsibility of the family. He is trying to get around and do as much as possible himself but he can’t carry a cup of tea or anything like that (he’s using a zimmer frame to walk). In our case this isn’t too bad, but I think this could be very challenging in some family situations.

5. He has to go back to the hospital weekly (might be fortnightly later on). This is going to be difficult – not only the hour in the car each way that is going to be painful - but fitting this into my day as well. While going to the hospital each day after work wasn’t the easiest I could still visit when it “suited” me, work and family. The appointments, of course, are only in office hours so now I need to take additional time off work to take him to his appointments. The first one isn’t too bad (it’s at 10am, so I can get the girls off to school first). However, the second one is at 8.30am, meaning I’ll need to leave home just after 7am – I can’t drop the girls off that early at school! So I’m either going to have to see if we can change the appointment or if I can find someone where I can drop the girls off and they can take them to school.

Apart from all of this, it is great having him home and much better for him too – being in a hospital room for 5 weeks just isn’t fun! At least now he can get outside and get some sunlight :) Miss (now) 7 was extremely pleased to have him at her birthday party on Saturday.

And in other news ....

Here’s the leader …


Here’s the article

Boy, 11, shot in Cranbrook hunting accident

· From: AAP
· September 06, 2010 5:24AM
A BOY was flown to a Perth hospital yesterday after being shot by a friend in a duck hunting mishap on a farm near Cranbrook, 330km southeast of Perth.
The 11-year-old victim had stayed with his friend overnight, and the boys took a .22 calibre rifle to a nearby lake.
WA Police Inspector Jeff Ellis said the boys were standing at opposite sides of the lake when one boy shot the other.
"One of the boys has shot at a duck and the bullet has ricocheted off the lake and hit the boy on the other side,'' he said.
The boy's injuries were not life-threatening, he said.
The wounded boy's friend took him to the nearby Mount Barker Hospital shortly after 2pm and he was taken from there to Albany Hospital.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service then transferred the injured boy to Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth for surgery.
RFDS director of public affairs Lesleigh Green said the bullet lodged near the boy's left armpit close to his heart.
"(But) he hadn't lost much blood and was relatively stable," she added.
Police are satisfied the shooting was an accident, Insp Ellis said.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/boy-11-shot-in-cranbrook-hunting-accident/story-e6frg13u-1225914579038

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Nice rifle you’ve got there :)

Apart from that – bit concerned that the “boys were standing at opposite sides of the lake” when shooting.

But again it is important to remember that when shooting near (at) water ricochets do happen!

[update] Obviously “someone” pointed out the discrepancy … here’s the new leader ….

[/update]

Good News

WELL we got told today that he will be discharged tomorrow morning!!!

So pleased about this - and Miss 6 is over the moon, she's so happy that daddy will be there to celebrate her birthday.

He still has limited mobility and needs intravenous antibiotics for another couple of weeks - so we'll be under the "home hospital" program that is run by the state government. Will be interesting to see how it works.

Thank you all for your support over the past couple of weeks.

Progress

Hubby can now walk 6m using the zimmer frame! Which means that he can get to the toilet on his own - progress!

Apparently he'll be in this hospital for at least the rest of the week and then hopefully transferred to Armadale Hospital before being discharged at the end of next week or so.

He's a bit happier now that he has some mobility, but he's really "over" the whole hospital experience.

We were hoping that he would be out in time for Miss 6's birthday party (this coming Saturday), but unfortunately that doesn't look likely :(

Mmmm

Well saw hubby last night. He's in quite a lot of pain again so wasn't the brightest.

He thanks everyone for their words of support.

However, I'm not sure what is actually going on at the moment. He had an x-ray of the hip yesterday post-op and they are just wheeling him off to do another one now. Also he's been told that he will need to use crutches between now and the second operation to finish the hip replacement off. Apparently the plastic spacer they used won't support the full weight of the hip!

Please keep those thoughts and prayers coming.

[Update]Apparently they needed to redo the x-rays as the original ones weren't showing enough of his leg. So nothing to worry about there.[/Update]

An update

He went into surgery around 4pmish yesterday and was back at the ward by 8pm.

The drs are happy with how the operation went - and yes, the infection had got into the bone so it was the right thing to do.

I've not seen him yet, will be going down after work and will pass the messages of support onto him.

So fingers crossed that all will go well and that he'll be out in a week or so and be semi-mobile by then.

Still waiting ....

He's having the operation today, apparently ...

Not sure what time.