Well, Chuck was with Linda all day today in Indianapolis, and he called me from the Indianapolis airport to give me a report on what he learned. Linda still has a chest tube on the right, and tomorrow they are going to put one in on the left as well, as she had a reaccumulation of fluid on both sides Friday and had to go back on mechanical assistance with her breathing as a result. She had been getting physical therapy three times a day at her own insistence last week, and maybe it was a bit much for her in her weakened condition. She won’t have any PT again until Tuesday. Chuck says the swelling in her arms and legs has gone away, except some localized swelling at her left elbow. She doesn’t have much pain except in her left shoulder which she broke in a fall at home in April. They are giving her Lidoderm patch pain medication for that. There’s nothing else they can do about the fractures in her shoulder until she is back on her feet.
Chuck says she is stronger, and that the physical therapist says she is making good progress. He gave her arm and leg massages, and he says she is gaining weight and her muscle density and circumferences are increasing. Linda did sign a new health care power of attorney for Debbie only, apparently at the request of RML to expedite her transfer there if Dr. Tector ever lets her go. There is no guardianship and no domestic violence order of protection. Debbie keeps a folder of my E-mails for Linda to read. Since that is the case, I completely don’t understand what all the fuss with our friend the respiratory therapist is all about.
Chuck did ask Linda to answer the four questions I sent down there with him, but he left the written answers in her room when his taxi arrived to take him to the airport. Maybe Debbie will be kind enough to favor me with a copy of Linda’s answers if she locates the sheet of paper in Linda’s room. Anyway, this is what he told me her answers were:
Do you want to come home? YES
Do you want me to be here for you when you come home?
Chuck says she cried when he read her this question, and she wouldn’t answer it one way or the other.
Do you want me to keep fighting to get you out of Indiana University Hospital? NO
Do you want me to call you in the evenings and read to you at bedtime like we used to do? NO
Chuck says Linda told him she wants me to take care of our home and have it ready for her when she is well enough to come back. Right now she says she wants to focus on getting better and stronger and well enough to come back to Chicago. Chuck says Debbie wants her closer to Chicago as well, but with all the complications with RML and BC/BS and their rules, that won’t happen until Dr. Tector signs a discharge order for Linda. So, I will honor Linda’s wishes and stop fighting to get her out of Indianapolis, and just wait for her to get well enough to come back to a place nearer to our home.
No one will say anything about how long they think that may take. According to what Chuck said, it would be several weeks or several more months. I don’t really know what I’m going to do with myself during such an extended separation from Linda. I hope the friends who do visit her, including Debbie, will give me updates about her condition and situation every day or two so I will at least know how she is coming along. Otherwise I won’t be able to keep the rest of you in the loop at all.
There’s nothing else to report today.
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