Bill, Friday August 2; no doc at rehab facility

Well, no transfer today. Short version: no doctor on site for the location we thought Bill was headed -- so he would have to 'bring his own' to follow him, track orders, etc. And we have no way to make that happen.  Trust me, we made a TON of calls today.

So lots of time sitting in 'the chair' today, and occupational therapy (OT) worked with him. We're still hoping to see physical therapy and speech therapy, but it's getting a bit late : (

On the good side, OT talked with a social worker (Kerri) who, believe it or not, was very helpful.  The title on her card is "Rehabilitation Navigator." She asked if anybody had talked with us about skilled nursing facilities versus inpatient rehabilitation. Nope.

As Kerri explained, inpatient rehab sounds like a step backwards; it is, in fact, at a hospital. I will refer to inpatient as RIO, the Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon (at Good Sam hospital). At skilled nursing, he will get daily PT, OT, and speech.

At RIO, he has to be able to handle a minimum of 3 hours of therapy, though not necessarily all in one block. But it's get up in the morning, daily hygiene and getting dressed, practicing 'household' and work movements, strength/flexibility, speech. They will begin the process of determining what he will need at home, set up a mock home (measured to their real apartment), and work towards whatever his special equipment needs might be.

Bill might go to a nursing facility for as little as a week. Wow. We were prepared for two months.  It still could be a long period. Now we have a much better vision of the upcoming steps, with HOME at the end.

Ayn reports Bill has vocalized, "I love you." And he was saying something about "funny." "Tell me what happened with Squiggy and Granimal."

Oh, and the nurse taught Ayn how to flush the feeding line after a round of food has finished.  Eventually that line can come out. Our understanding is it will be in place another four weeks.