Visiting Dr. Baragi

Dad had a 9:30 appointment with Dr. Baragi at Kaiser Moanalua today. When I arrived at Maunalani, Dad was at the Nurses Station eating breakfast. I like how they have the station set up, like it was a kitchen in a home. Nurse Mindy had taken his temperature about 15 minutes earlier and found it was 100.6 degrees F; she gave him Tylenol to bring it down. Although Dad has had the flu vaccine, Nurse Mindy also did a nasal swab to check for flu since its still possible to get the flu when you have had the vaccine. Just before we left she took his temperature again, it had gone up to 101.0 F; they gave us an ice pack to try to get his temperature down.

Dad at the 3rd Floor Nurses Station. The kitchen window in the background looks out in to the hallway.

Anna, who is the 3rd Floor Ward Coordinator at Maunalani, made the transport arrangements for us a couple days ago. Ron from Wheelcare was right on time to pick us up. Ron used to be an engineer in Texas but got laid off, moved to the Philipines, got married, moved back to Hawai'i, then worked as a driver for another transport company before being able to start his own transport company. We had a great time with Ron.

Ron wheeling Dad up in to the van.

Ron and Dad in the van.

Ron got us to Kaiser Moanalua right on time, 15 minutes prior to the appointment with Dr. Baragi, so that we could check in and get to the Infectious Diseases department to see Dr. Baragi. We got in to see her right on time. Nurse Lyn took Dad's vital signs; his temperature was down to 98.2 F! Yay! Dr. Baragi checked out Dad's leg (it looked better) and his white blood cell count had come down, but he was still feeling pain in his leg. It is likely just the arthritis, but Dr. Baragi is having another blood culture done to see if anything shows up. I talked to her about the pain at the back of his head/top of his spine; she is having an x-ray done to determine whether it is also arthritis. We were going to do the x-ray and blood draw today while we were at Moanalua, but Dad's butt was too sore from sitting in the wheelchair, so we decided to get him back to bed in Maunalani and do the x-ray & blood draw on another day at the Honolulu clinic.


Traffic was a little heavy on the way back and added about 5 minutes to our return. Ron said he had no appointments tomorrow so we could set up a transport at any time; I told him I would call when we found out what time physical therapy & occupational therapy were scheduled for tomorrow. Since Ron was driving I was able to take a photo showing how far up the hill Maunalani is located.

Maunalani Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is the large building in the center of the photo.

On the way up the hill we ran in to a traffic jam! Because there are some sections that are only wide enough for a single car sometimes there is a delay.

This is a one way section of road going up the hill.

When we returned, I talked to Nurse Mindy; she was glad that Dad's fever had gone down, she said his flu swab would be back tomorrow. She also told me that they have the capability to do x-rays and blood draws for blood cultures at Maunalani so Dad won't have to go to Kaiser Honolulu. Winner! That will be a lot easier on Dad. I left as soon as Dad was done eating lunch.

I returned later in the afternoon about 4 pm, just before Zhanna came by to start Dad's physical therapy. Since occupational therapy had been scheduled for 2:30, they gave Dad the oxycodone about 2 pm. Now they could only give him Tylenol to reduce any pain before he started physical therapy. It wasn't as effective, but it gave him enough relief that he was able to handle most of the PT with little pain. Just before Zhanna started, Karen the occupational therapist came by. She said Dad wouldn't do any work with her. Tomorrow we will try having Dad do physical therapy at 11, lunch at noon, then occupational therapy at 1; Curtis & I will be there for both so that we can encourage him to do both therapies. Dad is currently scheduled to be discharged on April 20th, when the intravenous antibiotic regimen is completed; the hope is that the therapy that he does will have him back on his feet by then. But if he keeps refusing to do therapy, that won't happen.

On the way out I saw Popokilani in the lanai area between the main building and one of the other buildings, which can be seen in the photo of Ron loading Dad in to the van. When I went to pet her at first she walked up to me, then she walked away from me but looked back to watch if I was following. So I followed her and found out where she gets fed; it must have been close to dinner time for her!

Popokilani's food & water dishes are under a protected area near the elevator.

When I got home there was a box waiting by the back door. I thought it was the Purple seat cushions I had ordered for Dad, but the box didn't look large enough. It also wasn't heavy enough. It turns out it was a vacuum insulated stainless steel bottle that Suzanne had sent! The box says it keeps cold drinks cold for up to 24 hours and hot drinks hot up to 12 hours. It has no BPA or phthalates and 2 different caps; a solid one and one with a sealable travel cup spout. Mahalo, Suzanne!

When I got up this morning the refrigerator control panel had a message on it that was not normal, "Er       dH". The inside of the refrigerator was cool but not cold; the freezer appeared to be working, the penny was still on top of the ice. I called Sears after lunch when I got back from Maunalani. Nathan at Customer Service talked me through resetting the control panel; it sounded like something was working. Nathan said the 1st repair opening they had was April 4th, so that's what I have reserved. He did also tell me how to check on-line so I could try to get an earlier reservation. He said I could also cancel if it started working again. I checked again this evening, the thermometer said it was 60 F, it should be 36 F. It turns out that air from the freezer flows in to the refrigerator; since the freezer is working it seems to be keeping the refrigerator cooler than the ambient temperature. I'll have to get on-line and see if I can get an earlier reservation. In the meanwhile, I am moving things that really need to be kept cold to the other refrigerator.

My low tech method to find out if the freezer is not keeping things frozen.

Happy Birthday to Tom, Laura, Pedro, & Jeannine!