My doc gave me a day pass yesterday (Saturday 3/1/14) to go home and do a test run in our apartment. I’m supposed to be discharged next week and during the family meeting on Friday the doc suggested that I be allowed to go home and see what problems arise so they can be discussed and addressed before I leave. Awesome. Great idea doc..thought of it myself but didn’t think it was doable so I didn’t suggest.
Ben picked me up from rehab at around 12:30P and signed out for the day. I transferred myself into the car and we were off. As soon as we pulled away from the curb, I knew this wasn’t going to be like any other car ride I’ve ever taken before. Aside from the obvious of having to transfer myself from a wheelchair into the car and then having Ben fold up and store the wheelchair, I “realized” that if the car stopped short I didn’t have feet to catch myself. I also have a residual limb that’s just dangling off of the edge of the seat (don’t have full range of motion yet on that leg so it doesn’t fully bend) so that every time we hit a pothole (which there are a many b/c of this horrific winter) my leg “bounced”. Realizing this, I made sure my seatbelt was fastened tightly and held onto the handlebar. Fun times.
Once we arrived at home, I had to transfer myself back into the wheelchair and then enter our apartment for the first time in two and a half months and for the first time in a wheelchair. Entered without any major issues and then it was time to “tour” the apartment (which isn’t that big).
-Wheel through living room – check. Doable.
-Enter kitchen – check. Doable. Microwave, fridge, toaster, front of stove – all accessible. Sink – not so much. Able to put things into sink but not able to use it.
-Hallway maneuverable but not wide enough to do a 180.
-Enter 2nd bedroom – check. No major issues. Ben rearranged the couch in there so I can move about with more ease.
-Bathroom – doable but not so easy so still minor trouble shooting to figure out. Great.
-Bedroom – able to navigate into but area rug will probably have to go as it was constantly snagging on wheelchair. Bed waaaay too soft for me to transfer on and off from.
Segue into the next adventure of this outing. Off to Sleepy’s (which is 4 blocks from our apartment) to check out some mattresses b/c I’ll need it in a few days…which goes like this..
1. Transfer back into car.
2. Ben folds and puts wheelchair into car.
3. Drive 4 blocks and park in handicapped spot in parking lot.
4. Ben takes and unfolds wheelchair from car.
5. Transfer back into wheelchair.
6. Wheel myself down the block to Sleepy’s and enter store.
7. Be exhausted and ready to just lay down on one of their beds and stay there.
At this point I’m physically and slightly mentally exhausted. I tell Ben that there’s no way I’m trying out more than 3 beds (which involves 2 transfers each time) so find 3 that you like and I will try those. Long story short, I tried out the 3 he picked out and then narrowed it down to 2 but then had to compare the last 2 one right after the other. However, by the time I would’ve transferred myself into the wheelchair, wheeled over to the next bed, and then transferred onto bed I would’ve forgotten the feel of the first bed. And I was REALLY exhausted at this point. So, while in the Sleepy’s store, my cousin had to pick me up off the bed and carry me onto the other bed. Great. All in all, bed situation resolved and now we head back home…which basically involves completing the above steps of 1-7 all over again but in reverse order.
We head home to eat lunch and hang out for a little bit before returning to the hospital.
All in all the outing was productive. Hopefully it makes the day I officially go home a little less daunting or maybe more, depending on how you look at it I guess. This test run made everything very real. My life is going to be REALLY hard for a while…which sucks balls. But, I have no choice and I’ll have to get through it and figure it out. Do I want to?..of course not. Will I?..of course I will. What would have been the point of 12 operations and almost 3 months away from home spent in the hospital and rehab to give up now. Right?…