Dick's health: day 12

Tuesday.
Hurray!  The chest tube came out.  Tomorrow for discharge? 

Wednesday.
The morning was a flurry of activity. Get prescriptions, get discharge instructions, pack belongings. The goal was a noon departure. Finally at 12:30, I told the staff we were walking out at 1:00 whether they were ready or not. Oh!

Straub Hospital sends patients home wearing a "heart hugger" which Dick must unhappily wear for at least 6 weeks.  Any kind of motion or coughing, he is to grip the blue handles and squeeze to protect his sternum.

A chair by day

became my bed at night.  I won't miss it.

As we move into the next phase of recovery, we want to say THANK YOU to everyone for the many ways you supported both of us in the past two weeks.

Dick was wheeled to the hospital entrance where we got in a taxi that took us directly to the airport.  We boarded a late afternoon flight for Oakland.  We sure appreciated the wheelchair service provided by Alaska Airlines.  The attendant pushed Dick and pulled our luggage, I only had to manage IDs and tickets, and we went to the head of every long line.  Sweet!  It was a long exhausting flight.  We arrived at 11:45 pm and were picked up by Dick's sister and husband, Carolyn and Mark.  Whew!  Time for a good long rest.