Day 4 at Cleveland Clinic

Hospital life is a list of unending changes depending on the latest doctor or therapist’s visit. Both the surgeon and resident agreed that Larry could go home today as far as surgery and vitals were concerned.

HOWEVER, the physical therapist said that Larry is not ready and he would not recommend that he leave the hospital. The difficulty of the surgery and effects of past recent surgeries have left him weak in the upper bodystrength area. So it has not been possible for him to use enough muscle strength to stand and walk with the walker, while not putting any weight on his surgery leg. He has 3 months ahead of him doing just that, not putting any pressure on the surgery hip area while the new bone forms and heals.

So since insurance companies frown on staying in the hospital “only” for therapy reasons, they have been trying to arrange a transfer to one of the Clinic’s Rehab centers for a 5-10 day stay. There are 2 here that are used by Larry’s surgeon, but this being a holiday week there are difficulties contacting insurance people and lack of staff at the rehab centers until Monday.

To all our friends in our computer clubs, you shouldn’t be expecting to see Larry as soon as he planned. Although this time the drugs do not seem to have affected his mind as much as other surgeries, so you will hear less complaints about forgotten passwords.

Family and friends who want to communicate with us can email me (you know my email address) as I read my email daily. The cell phone reception is iffy in some parts of this enormous place, so that really is not an option.

Finally, I cannot say enough about the excellent care Larry has received here. His surgeon is a genius, his main physical therapist is a young Nigerian man who is also remarkable. The nurses are all excellent and caring, and of course Larry has charmed them with his banter.

5:00 p.m. Update…..they could not find an opening at the Rehab Center, so unless Rehab calls over the weekend that they suddenly have an opening and doctors on staff for admittance of a new patient, we will be here at Cleveland Clinic at least until Monday. What an exciting and nerve wracking week this has been so far!

Judy