Dad Gets Out Tomorrow

Good News! I talked with Patient Care Coordinator Riza this morning. She said there was a problem with getting Dad back in to Maunalani Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (MNRC). Because he has had to leave twice for the emergency room in the 3 weeks he was at Maunlani, they're not willing to take him back at the skilled nursing facility (SNF) level. The only way they will take him is at the intermediate care facility (ICF) level. Dad was also not a good candidate for the SNF because he was not making enough progress with the occupational & physical therapy and he would not eat regularly. In addition, he can't go back to the emergency room if anything comes up. At the ICF level he will still be able to get blood tests and medications; but we pay out of pocket until the Veterans Administration coverage is approved.

We had talked with Dr. Collis, Dr. Kim, & Dr. Perera last week and determined that the best course of action would be for Dad to return to an SNF or ICF if he stayed fever free while at Kaiser. If the fever returned, then he would go to the Kaiser emergency room and they would draw the blood cultures before any antibiotics are administered. During the 3-day incubation period, Dad would receive antibiotics. If nothing can be cultured, the antibiotics would be removed, Dad would be placed in hospice care, and we would let the infection run its course. If something can be cultured, then it will be treated. The thing that changes is that Dad will not leave Maunalani for the Kaiser ER if he has another fever; MNRC is able to do the blood cultures and administer the antibiotics.

Dr. Collis with Dad this morning.

On my way out of Kaiser this evening I saw 4 of the cats near the sidewalk to the elevators. I pulled the cat treat bag out and threw a couple of them towards the nearest cat. All of a sudden there were 3 cats there; only the one with the gray bonnet would not come near.

More treats please!

The Momo doppelganger was the boldest one, he came within 3 feet of me.

Last night on the news I found out that there were a bunch of bison that were washed out of their pasture by the flooding on Kaua'i. Apparently there is bison ranch with about 200 head on the Hanalei River. The local high school paniolo group rounded up about 20 of them so far. This evening, while Dad & I watched the news, they also showed a lot of damage in the town of Koloa, where Dad grew up. Thankfully, he didn't remember any of that.

(Screen shot from KGMB)

I didn't come close to making my 14/14 hours today; I missed the 9 o'clock hour because I was talking to one of the Kaiser social workers about Dad's transfer tomorrow. Then I missed the 6 o'clock one because I got sidetracked by the cats. So my streak is 4 days. It might be a little tougher at Maunalani because there is no nice interior space to walk around in easily. I may have to walk outside or maybe even down to the park.

Happy Birthday to Linda!