Steve Enters the World of Rehab

After 89 days in the hospital -- in both the ICU and the Telemetry Unit, my husband Steve Williams was finally ready to move up two floors to the Inpatient Rehab Unit! He made the move this morning. It was a little disorienting for him, but he found his way as the day went on.

In order to be in the Inpatient Rehab Unit, you must be able to participate in therapies - usually Physical or Occupational Therapy - for a total of three hours each day!

For the first time since his admission in early March, Steve was moved into a wheelchair - by way of the Kermit-green sling and a variation of the old Hoyer lift. The remarkable thing is that he is almost able to sit up without support, and he can now support his head well enough so that our little tour around the Rehab Unit was a treat.

Rehab is a different world where patients wear clothes, not gowns. And the theme of the place is function - whether that means increased mobility, finding adaptive technologies, or gaining strength. The point is functioning in your world, whatever that may require.

And Steve needs all of this so badly! Now that he has a refurbished heart, and he's recovered from his acute cholecystitis and sepsis, he is ready to move ahead.

We have no delusions here; it's going to take a while before we can even entertain the possibility of Steve's coming home. But his medical problems have settled into the areas of End Stage Renal Failure and diabetes....familiar dragons we know!

As always, we are intrigued with the exploration of a new specialty area of medicine. What a different focus: function! But we wouldn't have gotten here without the miracle of Steve's heroic open heart surgery. We are most appreciative of this blessing.

Take care. Linda Gromko, MD