Tropical Storm Elsa

 

As if we needed more rain, tropical storm Elsa went over Windermere during the early morning. Rain is supposed to fall all day. The Cuban tree frogs are croaking away.

I had planned to buy bagels from Jeff’s Bagel Run, a new shop a couple of miles away in Ocoee. From a home business started from their kitchen in August, 2019, the owners have set up a brick and mortar shop which claims to have New York style bagels. They sell out by 9:00 each morning which either means the bagels are good, or locals don’t know any better. The only good bagels we’ve had south of NYC is at Sage Deli in Hallandale, which brought their oven, brick by brick, from their northern location. Unless the rain let’s up in the next hour, I’ll put off our test to another day.

Grant ending up spending 36 hours in ER while cat scans were done and teams of trauma, neuro, and cardio doctors conferred. A second scan showed his subdural hematoma had not grown, but all agreed he should be admitted as soon as a bed were available. The ER room was clean but Spartan. The highlight for me late afternoon Friday was when a person from Guest Services asked me if I’d like him to bring me a meal. Yes, absolutely. I was starving, but so many medical people were coming and going, I didn’t want to leave the room and miss anything. Grant seemed fairly coherent, but we’ve agreed we’ve reached the stage where both of us need to be present for medical decisions. When he was still in ER at lunchtime Saturday and was offered lunch, I asked for one too. A heart-healthy meal with no salt and no sugar, but actually quite tasty. I’d taken Molly to the airport in the morning, so I don’t know if he got breakfast. We’re watching their cat Pippin for a week while she and Spaulding sign papers for their new house in Salt Lake City. 

Finally, late Saturday afternoon, Grant was moved to a gorgeous private room on the neuro-step down floor in the brand new North Tower. More discussion and conferring among the teams. He’d already received vitamin K to reverse his blood thinners to prevent more brain bleeding. Now it was waiting to see what happens. A 4:00 AM scan Sunday showed no hematoma growth. He certainly could go home if the neurosurgeon allowed, who would agree if the trama team gave their okay, and if the cardiologist plus heart valve specialist signed off on when to restart blood thinners. It was the Fourth of July. People had been setting off fireworks and hurting themselves all weekend. I feared getting caught in the chaos.

Grant got breakfast, he got lunch, he got dinner and put his order in for Monday’s meals. I went to the cafeteria and bought a prepared salad. All the while, doctors came and said, in their opinion, he was good to go. Someone just had to press “send” on the discharge orders. Nurse Nicole had all the paperwork ready which Grant shakily signed, and she’d given me a CD of all his tests and results. At 7:00, Edgar came in and announced he was our new nurse. Oh, no, it’s the shift change. All the doctors will be going home. But I guess the last thing the trama team did was click that button, because right then the discharge orders popped up on Nicole’s screen. She found an orderly to load Grant in a wheelchair, and we were gone.

Five days after his fall, his ribs and hip still hurt a lot. His head aches, and he wakes up a little fuzzy. The pain all responds to the several different meds he was prescribed. He claims the fuzziness is getting less. A wake up call we didn’t want. Perhaps recumbent bikes should be in our futures. Neither of us need anymore falls. But I do need a rain gauge to see measure how much rain has fallen.