Goodbye Hospital!

Last night Mom was given the green light to leave the care of the hospital for the first time in over two months, as she was allowed to go to Becky's house.  The cultures from the IR procedure, even though they looked and smelled infected, did not grow anything, so the Doctors decided to allow mom to try living at Becky's house instead of the hospital.  Before they left the hospital, Mom and Becky were given all the information on "How to take care of Mom"...how to flush her PICC line, administer medicines, give blue dye tests, etc. on their own at Becky's house (YIKES!)  In addition, a home health nurse will come to Becky's house to help take of mom.  Becky is very medically-minded and has often considered becoming a Doctor, so we'll see if she still feels that way in a few weeks/months!  (We really have no idea when mom is going to get better.  Our big hope right now is that she will be given permission to leave Arizona to travel to our family reunion in Yellowstone this July.  Of course we know she'll be in a wheelchair and we'll have to bring all her medical equipment, but as long as we can have her there with us, we'll be happy.)  Mom is still NPO-nothing by mouth- because she still has one or more holes in her stomach, as is evidenced by repeated blue dye tests.  We are hoping that eventually those will heal, but have been warned that that may not happen.  She still has her PICC line and through that she is getting TPN (nutrition) intravenously and several antibiotics as well as other medicine.  She still has drainage tubes in her abdomen which hopefully will continue to drain any blood, infectious fluid, etc. from her abdomen.  Aside from the medical stuff, mom is very excited to be out of the hospital and living at a real home, even though it's not her home.  She is excited to use her spa certificate to get a manicure and pedicure and she can't wait to get a box of hair dye to color her hair!  Dad arrives on Saturday and he'll also be more than pleased that he can visit with her at Becky's house instead of sitting in a tiny hospital room day after day.  So, we'll celebrate this new news and hope it lasts!  Congratulations Mom!