Discharged!

As usual, the baby surgeons were the first in the room today. Wednesday is really coming around; she even made a quip about Amanda being tired of seeing her. Though her voice sounded as if a smile accompanied it, one did not! They seemed happy with things, and the NP said there was a small chance we could get out today. I wasn’t holding my breath, though.

The nephrologist came in with good news, the teacher leading the group. Amanda’s output had doubled; they seemed to be pretty happy about that. Her creatinine had leveled off and was holding. They thought it would trend downward with an anticipated climb in output tomorrow. 

Surgery was still running behind the normal early rounding time. They all stood in the hall doing pre-room rounds for a while. Handlebar, the surgeon, got Wednesday to laugh. I didn’t think that was possible and would have put money against that happening. She just couldn’t resist that immaculate stache, I guess! It didn’t take him long to make the call to let us go. He said, “Looks like we could get you out of here today; what do you think about that?” Well, let me start packing, I thought!

I ran home real quick since I was on doggie duty. Tank was curled up in the blankets, but on the sheets and kinda on a pillow, making the most of the king bed! The bed was destroyed, so my first order of business was to get laundry going. They had asked if we wanted a walker on discharge. I said yes because ours was buried in our little porch storage closet. The medical supply company called and said it may not be covered since we’d gotten one after the heart. I was too cheap for that, so I went digging for the walker! I straightened up a bit and was there long enough to get a second load of blankets going. 

Tank needed a bath, and so did I, so we just did both at once. He got little beard shampoo on him, and I got a little flea and tick on me. We had the Ring camera for the living room turned on since we were gone so much. I hope no one from the corporate office was snooping on us because I was trying to wrangle Tank to the bathroom while, let’s just say, fully ready to step in the shower!

I’d checked on Amanda on my way in, and all we needed was the transplant pharmacist to come by. They needed to do education and drop off a few days’ supply of meds. I grabbed lunch on the way in thinking we’d be there a while. I was surprised to see two big bags with the pharmacist supplies in the room when I got there. Amanda had seen the pharmacist and already gone through the discharge process with a virtual nurse who pops in via a camera on top of the TV in the room. We ate, but it wasn’t long before everything was finalized and they ordered transport. 

Transport is usually the longest part of the discharge process. There have been many times when Amanda and I have just been ready to walk out after waiting over an hour for the mandatory wheelchair ride. This time was one of the shortest waits. The transport guy had to wait for us while Amanda quickly got dressed. It was a surprise even for the nurse when she came to urge Amanda to get ready after she got word transport was on the way.

Vanderbilt hires various people on the spectrum as room service assistants and transport personnel; I’m sure there are other positions I’m not aware of. I really like this; they get a good-paying job with benefits, have a sense of purpose, and contribute to society. They are all great! Vanderbilt University has a ‘Next Steps’ program, a four-year higher education program for neurodiverse students and individuals with intellectual disabilities. I know about this program because one of my friends, Jack, from Hopdoddy, the burger joint I frequented, went through it. The program is designed to help them learn how to cope in a work environment, pick up social cues, and other things of that sort. They also have assistance with job placement. Many go on to work at Vanderbilt, such as Jack’s roommate. I am such a fan of this program and have never heard of one before; I’m sure there are plenty all over the country, but this was my first experience with one. Jack and his roommate both hold steady jobs and have their own apartment where they likely wouldn’t have been that independent without this program. 

Our transport wheelchair driver was a hoot! I began talking to him through the curtain as Amanda got ready. I quickly picked up that he had gone through the program. He asked where we parked; when I told him which garage, he got excited. Then he said, “Can I please take you to your car? I know a secret shortcut to that garage!” You had me at secret shortcut, buddy! He was quick to make sure I knew I didn’t need to carry everything and he could hang a lot of our bags on the wheelchair. 

He was quiet at first, wheeling Amanda. I told him, “Don’t get too far ahead; I don’t know the secret route.” “Roger that,” he replied! It was a way I didn’t know to get to the garage for sure! After I asked for his name and he asked for ours, he said, “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” That opened the talking door. He told us about a short film he was working on, then went on to talk about his thoughts on Marvel movies and how they need to bring back the classic three characters! As people got off the elevator, he said, “Have a nice flight!” When we arrived at the garage, he explained that I had made an excellent choice by parking there, and that he had saved us all kinds of time with his secret shortcut. I got the car to bring around since I was parked in a construction area with a big temporary speed bump. Our transport buddy quickly loaded the bags in the back as I helped Amanda in the car. I felt compelled to give him a tip; he did a great job and really did save us time. I wasn’t sure if that was allowed, but he took it either way. The speed at which he stuffed that bill into his wallet made me think it wasn’t allowed, though! “Have a nice flight!” he said, making his way back to the elevators.

Our get-out-of-jail/freedom snack remains the same and requires two stops: StarBs and Chick-fil-A. A refresher and waffle fries were in order. So we made our way to a nearby Star-Bs that had a drive-thru. I had opened Maps thinking there was a closer Chick-fil-A since we were on the opposite side of Vandy we typically don’t go to. There wasn’t, and the closest at 3.5 miles was going to take 20 minutes, the same travel time as it would take to get to the one on Brentwood, close to the apartment. So we traveled 4 times as far in the same amount of time as the closer one! It was late lunchtime, so busy, but the line moved quickly. Better than going straight home, and it was good to get Amanda out. 

Once home, Amanda was ready to get rid of the hospital. So, straight to the shower she went. I unloaded a million bags from the car that she had packed for the hospital. I don’t know what that woman was packing for, but she had enough for the longest hospital stay ever! To be fair, she did pack a few things for me since I was going straight to the hospital, but it was only a fraction of the 4-plus bags she had! Also adding the huge supply of meds from the pharmacist, including a new scale, a blood pressure cuff, a toilet hat, and a horde of extra dressings and whatnot.

A friend from our Sunday school class had signed up to bring dinner. It was so nice not to have to worry about cooking or ordering anything. She came bearing Mediterranean food, multiple desserts, cookies for Tank, and flowers for Amanda. She was so sweet, and we really haven’t even known her for that long since she was gone the first few months we had been going. We’ve had a good many more sign up to bring dinner, and we’ve received an array of food gift cards. We were blessed in finding this church, for sure.

We are both ready to sleep in big time tomorrow. I’m sure I could include Tank in that too! Amanda’s main rejection med is very time sensitive, and they move it to 6 am to be ready for the trough level, lowest level before next dose, blood draw. She is slowly moving that dose back to her regular later morning time. So, she mentioned she’d set an alarm to make sure she gets up to take it, since the first morning after hospital stays are usually sleep-in day! We have tomorrow off, then Thursday we have a renal transplant team follow-up in the morning followed by a rehab evaluation in the afternoon. Tomorrow will be a day of nothing but chill. I think I’ll get Amanda out for a bit, maybe so we can keep her active. We are almost out of coffee, so she was trying to make a ploy to go to StarBs for her outing anyway!