Just Say "Yes" to Rehab!

Unlike Amy Winehouse, we are saying Yes, Yes, Yes! We got the word this morning from insurance that Alistair has been approved for rehab...and was so on Friday evening - right after everyone went home for the weekend! Oh well, a yes is a yes and it is happening today! All weekend everyone around here seemed fairly incredulous that he wasn't down there yet and were all on the same page about him going. It had been arranged yesterday afternoon that we would be moving down there this morning regardless of insurance just to be able to have rehab nursing. But if someone was approved for rehab ahead of us, we could be bounced. Nobody is bouncing us now and Alistair is going to begin to get the much needed help and rehab he needs to get back to HIM!

The weekend was fairly quiet. Mom and Dad survived their night with Alistair. Things went fairly smooth and when we came in, he was in his chair and all ready for the day. We had a nice, relaxing night with Gillian. We had dinner at home and put together some puzzles. In the morning Seth made us waffles and some eggs and ham. We got our stuff together and headed in. People hung out for a while and then they took off around lunch time to get south during all the Seafair melee. They took Gillian to her favorite restaurant, Red Robin, in Tacoma and then took her back to Ethan and Jen's for another week of day camp with Katelin.

We hung out for the rest of the day. Uncle Bob and Auntie Ann came by for a visit. We watched the Blue Angels on TV and the kept an eye on the hydroplane races. Eventually they took off and we let Alistair nap for a few minutes. Then we got him in his chair and took him up to the garden for some fresh air. Then we came back, gathered our dinner stuff and headed up to the patio for dinner al fresco. Alistair had a decent night sleeping, only a few agitations. 

We got up this morning and got our room packed up. Around 11am, we wheeled our stuff down a floor into the unit. We are currently in a shared room, but the unit just got the okay to have 10 single rooms if they are all rehab patients! So we are going to be moving into the other shared room, which is a nice corner space. Alistair spent from around 12:30 until 4:30 meeting with all the therapists and then rounded out the day getting his wound dressing changed on his surgery incision. It is healing nicely. Alistair rocked his assessments and impressed the therapists. We let Alistair nap and take it easy this morning so that he would be awake this afternoon. 

Alistair is going to be busy, busy. He has therapies in the morning and then again in the afternoon with speech, occupational and physical, then they fill in with recreational, music, pet, school and other therapies. As we get going, we will figure out when Alistair needs to rest during the day as I am not sure he will be able to sustain all day...but maybe he will.

I am feeling less stressed about him now that he is with people who are skilled to care for him and help him. It is still going to be a lot of work and this is far from ideal, but things are looking up. I can't say I don't feel like getting sick every morning at the idea of spending my day at the hospital. But I just cram down my Starbucks breakfast sandwich and latte and wait for the feeling to subside! Once we are done with all of this, Starbucks and McDonald's for breakfast is never going to happen again!