It’s 10:40 pm and they just brought her pain killer and her muscle relaxer 2 hours and 40 minutes late and they still haven’t brought me any diapers for her even though I asked about that at 8pm also. It’s a good thing I have some diapers in the diaper bag.
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Culture shock!
OK so, here’s what we left at ACH, a nice maybe 20 x 20′ room with a pull out couch, a pull out chair, a fridge, access to drinks and snacks for Nica 24/7, a safe, a large counter area with a sink and sprayer, a 40″ LCD TV with internet and video on demand loaded with kids movies and preschool channels,a second TV for non patients to watch, a full bath, a large bay window with a view, our own adjustable thermostat, a beautiful, spacious, open concept wing and hospital with amazing sound proofing, a fantastic staff, and the list goes on and on. What we have now is about 8′x 12′, with a small window with no view a really small bathroom with a triangular shower that is maybe 30″ on each side. I have enough room to stand still in it, not sure about showering. and I’m scared to leave my car here so my mom took it to my house and now I’m stranded here. they no longer let patients park for free in the garage and I can’t see paying for what our new doctor said could be 2 to 6 weeks depending on her progress. The attending nurse said it’s unusual for a rehab patient to be placed in the wing we are in. I have no bed. Instead, tonight I get to sleep on a pull out lounge chair. It’s not looking very comfortable. The nurse practitioner said they’ll try to move us tomorrow into a bigger room. I hope so.
On a fun note, we rode over in the biggest ambulance I’ve ever seen. Instead of being built on some kind of heavy duty truck chassis and converted, this thing was converted from a full size Freightliner sleeper cab semi. It had 4 doors up front to carry whomever and room for 2 gurneys in the back. Nica was a little apprehensive at first but like the rest of the ACH staff the transport team quickly had her calmed down and singing while watching A Bug’s Life.
They’re planning on doing her full PT eval in the morning in order to work up a case plan. Let’s hope for the best. Her reputation has preceded her and some nurses have stopped in just to see her and say hi. We went out roaming the halls looking for something fun to do but apparently children aren’t allowed to play after 5pm which is when they lock all the play rooms in the children’s medical center. Something about that seems odd to me. We will probably be able to check Nica out for a few hours on Saturdays and Sundays, but I have no car to go home and we’re not sure what we can do. We do have our MOSI passes and I don’t think it would be a bad drive from here so we’ll have to see. Dr Kornburg did say they occasionally take the kids to the Florida Aquarium and the kids museum for outings so we may get to do that.
I’m still feeling a little apprehensive of the place but some of the staff I’ve met seems nice. Some seem stand offish or unapproachable. I’m hoping we get more of the former. I’m trying to think of it as training to go to a second world country.
In short, so far I’m not impressed and it’s not very kid friendly. I will keep an open mind tomorrow and hope they change opinion for the better. I could continue my ranting but let’s start over in the morning.
Getting ready to move!
I signed the consent to transport earlier. I thought I would be posting some more videos this morning but it looks like I need to get packed up to go to TGH. We have a bed assignment but we’re waiting on the hospital social worker to sign off and for everyone to decide which hospital is going to handle transport.
The in house PT and OT stopped by again today to actually work with Nica for a little bit. Their assessment was that Nica was doing great and that the only problem the rehab center was going to have was getting her to stop. Uncle Pastor Tim is on his way for a final ACH visit and Nica is excited to see him. We’ll keep you posted as more develops.
