Discharged

After Amanda was feeling better, I went to let Tank out and grab a heavier snack to hold us over till dinner. We have been watching Grey’s and are to the covid era. We’d watched a few episodes today. Amanda’s immunocompromised state has us using covid protocols now, too. So when I left, after our new protocols and watching covid Grey’s, I went to grab a mask! I guess I had a 2020 flashback. I was running late to let Tank out, so I checked the Ring. I caught him mid howl followed by a few boofs! Good thing he was by the TV and not the door. Maybe it blended in with the Paw Patrol episodes he was watching!

Tank got a lot of awwws from girls on our walk, but no pets; he was disappointed! He is getting used to the schedule, and I am getting my steps in with walking him and all the back and forth to the hospital. It was a bad time to wear new boots; if they haven’t blistered my feet by now, they’ll be good boots. I took off after our walk to grab fires and sunjoys from Chick-fil-A in the Children’s Hospital. I’ve never come from the outside, only the hospital side, but I found my way in and over the sky bridge to the food court no problem. Then it’s over a different sky bridge, and another sky bridge, past three sets of elevators, down three floors, over to our hospital that connects to another set of elevators, and up 25 floors!

The fries and sunjoys just made Amanda hungrier! So, the afternoon refresher came earlier than usual with an added falafel wrap for Amanda. I was so used to getting the regular, a refresher, a cup of ice, and a side of cold foam for me to go with over coffee that I almost walked off without the wrap! I got a kid’s meal from the next-door Chipotle for myself.

The nurse came in after our late lunch, saying that she called the doctors about Amanda’s low blood pressure, and they wanted to give her a bolus of fluid. Amanda was overloaded with fluid, so we were going to refuse that. She came back in later, and we were ready to fight the bolus, but the doctors changed their minds, or more than likely, the cardio team stepped in and said no to the hospitalist’s order. Amanda told the nurse her BP was probably higher since she’d been up and around. She wanted pain meds, but the nurse balked because of the low BP. As Amanda said, it was way higher, so she was able to get a dose of morphine before being discharged.

The nurse was asking where we lived and about dogs. We told her Tank was waiting for us, and she mentioned she had a boxer, too. I was like a proud dad showing her the Ring of him sleeping and the howling pic! We are going to be actively seeking another boxer soon. But we think one will come our way organically as Tank and Zoey did. Before I even said we’d be looking, my aunt had already told me about a boxer mix with the same coloring as Zoey. That dog was on a Vermont rescue page, but it showed to be with a Louisiana family, so my aunt could grab her for us. I think we’re ready to get another one, and Tank is really ready for a new brother or sister.

The nurse returned with discharge papers, and then the ENT resident came by with his fellow. They took a look up Amanda’s nose and said she had a slightly deviated septum. Where it is bent, the blood vessels can be thin and cause bleeds. They said to keep it moist and use a saline nose mist and gave instructions if she were to have another bleed. Amanda quickly blamed me for the deviated septum from over 20 years ago when she hit her nose on a fire extinguisher I had mounted on the roll bar of my jeep. She should have had her seat belt on anyway! 

The nurse said the transportation people wouldn’t take us to the hotel. She asked how we got there last time, and I mentioned the nurse took us. She said she would ask the charge nurse if she could take us. I’m more of the ask for forgiveness later kind of guy. So, I loaded up all of our stuff and went to get the wheelchair. I had my small backpack on my front, Aamdna’s backpack on my back, and bags in both hands. Amanda said I looked pregnant with the black bag on my black sweater! I had to leave everything in the Yukon because I didn’t want Tank to get anxious about me coming in and leaving immediately. I saw the hotel van driver on the way over with all my bags. He rolled down the window and hollered, “Your baby coming home?” He looked genuinely happy for us. He’s only driven us once but always greets me with a smile and a fist bump when I see him. I wheeled the chair over and got Amanda. Transport still hadn’t shown up by the time I was to the garage and back.

Tank hasn’t wanted to eat until I take him out. So, I thought the same for today, but he didn’t want to eat when we got back from our potty run. He wanted to lay with his mama, though! He did want our dinner, too. I put some brussel sprouts and a little pumpkin pasta in his food, and he sure ate it then; I think he played me! The birthday cake I was eating piqued his interest, too! I didn’t even bother with a plate and just ate right from what was left of the cake!

We settled in making Tank choose which of us he’d sleep with since we had a double and had our own beds. This was the same during transport days, and the dogs had to pick how they slept. I’d try to get them to stay with Amanda, and sometimes, they’d still come over with me or sneak over after we were asleep! They liked my binkie better than Amanda’s. Zoey always laid with me on it at home, too; that’s the blanket I buried her in. They would also sometimes get the midnight zoomies and jump back and forth from bed to bed! Tank was looking like he might jump over with me tonight. Amanda told him he was too old to be doing that now!