On Monday, we said goodbye to our friends at Newport Subacute, promising to come back for the occasional visit. Here is Vernon and his main nursing crew, Joseph and Ivy.  I’ll miss them too, they are wonderfully caring people.

I drove over to the new place, Mesa Verde (also in  the Newport/Costa Mesa area) to make sure he actually had a room waiting. Its been such a long process, trying to get him moved, that even though I had signed him out at one place, I wouldn’t feel secure until I knew he was tucked into bed at the other.

This is what I found waiting for him. I took the thoughtful welcome note as a good sign.  They may as well have put a chocolate on the pillow and champagne on the nightstand.

Due to his dialysis schedule and my own parenting schedule, I couldn’t be around for his arrival, but I made sure to get up there the next day with Justine after her pre-school let out. She was pleased to be greeted by three lovely ladies in the courtyard.

Aloha!

We missed the morning therapy assessments, but I was able to meet with the speech and physical therapists later.  It is such a relief to know that this time, with Medicare in place, Vernon’s work can start immediately. I had an especially good sense about the speech therapist, who already had come up with some unusual plans to get Vernon’s swallowing stronger so that he will be able to drink liquids without coughing and begin to eat more normal textures of foods, ultimately weaning off  g-tube feeding. She seemed to have a progressive approach to memory work as well.  The person I spoke to about physical therapy also told me some of her ideas, especially pushing to get him up with a walker.  Much of our conversation was about the hours that insurance will allow.  I was prepared for this, but it seems we still have a long way to go before he gets the amount of therapy that I believe he needs.  In the medical world, everything comes down to hours and pay, even if the staff is wanting to do more. So please continue to pray for favor of the doctors and the therapists.  I hope that someone important sees his potential is beyond the numbers on the paper.

An optometrist recently visited Vernon and supplied him with a new pair of spectacles. I think this is pretty funny as he used to talk about wanting a pair of classic NHS issue spectacles.  It’s the American version of a wish come true! One eye far-sighted, and one near-sighted? Let’s add that anomaly to the list of things that can occur from a blow to the head.

Justine liked that she could hang out in the new hospital bed with daddy.

I liked that too.

I haven’t met Vernon’s new roommate yet, but I could hear his voice from behind the partition and he sounded relatively young.  That marks a big difference to this place already.

Actually, that is what struck me most.  Mesa Verde is a lot more lively than the previous facilities. Of course most of the patients are in wheelchairs, but some are standing, and some can hang out unsupervised.  I was struck by a few patients that were definitely younger than Vernon.  This is an encouraging change, what we had wanted for him. But I will admit that I felt quite sad looking at him as begins his transition to a new place (never completely smooth.) Before I could say, “He’s so much younger than the others, surely he deserves a better environment.”  Now, he will have to struggle to catch up to the level of his peers.  Looking at him in bed yesterday, without much energy or interest in moving, forgetting my name yet again, I felt like the parent who has pushed for her son to skip a grade because he is too smart for that level, only to realize in his new class, he is at the bottom of the learning curve and no longer the sharpest kid on the block.  In comparison to the other younger patients here, I can see he has a long way before he catches up.  And though that will make this  a better environment for him in the long run, its honestly a little heartbreaking to recognize anew how far he has to climb.

Here is one more thing.that caught Justine’s photographic eye:

If that’s not a face that says: “WELCOME!” I don’t know what is.