June 9 – RELEASED!

On Friday June 8^th we traveled to OHSU (Oregon Health Science University Hospital) for more blood tests to evaluate my Graft vs. Host disease that has affected my liver. I have been taking drugs to reduce iron, increase potassium and magnesium, plus steroids, and lots of fluids to keep the liver flushed. Drinking a minimum of 2 liters a day does not let you get too far from a toilet! Also on insulin for steroid-induced diabetes (seems like it’s always something, as Gilda Radner used to say!) The Medicare coverage for the rehab facility expired on June 17 so we were hopeful to see improvement and be released from the rehab center where I have been for over 3 months now! We travel to OHSU in Portland for the blood tests and Dr. evaluations of progress and changes to my liver. We got off to a shaky start with my breakfast coming late, Nancy running late and documentation for Dr. not ready to send with us. The I-5 Bridge over the Columbia was open but reported moving slow as it was commute time. We did arrive at OHSU nearly on time and the nurses drew lots of blood samples for the required tests and the results showed continued improvement so the Dr. stopped the 1 hour infusion and changed a few medications but did require me to continue drinking 2 liters of liquids a day to keep flushing the kidneys and liver. The best news was the doctor ordered me to be released me from Rehab! Being Friday we expected I might be released sometime the following week. When we shared the news at the rehab facility they said it could take until Sunday or Monday to be released. We decided to go for Sunday if possible. Then on Saturday my day started with the nurse saying I was leaving that day. I called Nancy and she was not aware of the change and indicated it was happening too fast and she was not ready. On further discussion we decided to give it a try as it would be easier to go to church on Sunday morning in Ridgefield Methodist where we were scheduled to transfer our membership from the Roseburg Methodist. We were hopeful of going to Roseburg to attend a gathering but thought that might be a long shot to make the trip.

Sunday morning was a bit stressful as I now needed to take my own diabetes test and we had been trained, but had not yet done it ourselves. Our first attempts kept reporting errors until Nancy noticed in the small print that we were inserting the strip backwards. It worked fine when we inserted the strip correctly! We realized we were going to be short on syringes for a trip to Roseburg and almost cancelled the trip but we both needed to have a trip out of town after being cooped up for 3 months! We decided to go for it. We hurriedly finished packing after church and stopped at the rehab center where we were able to get more syringes. We arrived in Roseburg about 5 PM and luckily everybody was able to stay later. We had a nice dinner and then sat around a fire pit and visited, which was great! Talking with friends and being in a new environment was just what we needed! It felt like we were camping and just the environment we needed. It was not until we were getting settled for the night that we realized we had somehow overlooked getting the diabetes test kit packed. We knew the basic injection needed and knew the warning signs to look for so decided to stay the night and return on Monday as originally planned, with stops in Roseburg and Eugene to check into some financial situations that had been put on hold because of my being in rehab and not able to complete. We were able to meet with the required people on short notice and accomplished the tasks, arriving home about 8 PM, missing the Portland rush hour! The tester was right where I had packed it, next to my chair.  A quick test showed I was in the safe zone and did not require a different dose of insulin at this time. That was a big relief to both of us for sure. You can imagine we were concerned since we discovered we had no way to check my glucose level since Sunday evening. We had a quick dinner and went to bed exhausted after the quick trip to Roseburg and back which is about a 4 hour drive each way. I should mention that Nancy did all the driving and did a great job!