January 17, 2016, marked the 255th day of my Dad’s healthcare odyssey. Now seemed like a good time to take a timeout to review some of the major challenges of his journey. Also, I’m taking a bit of a timeout myself to prepare for Christmas 2017. I’ll continue with Dad’s healthcare story in my next post.

• May 6, 2015: Dad enters the hospital for arterial valve replacement. The procedure went well.
• May 15, 2015: After my mother returns home from a day at the hospital visiting Dad, she suffers a stroke. Now both of my parents are in the hospital.
• May 18, 2015: Instead of being discharged from the hospital, the doctors inform me that Dad has bacterial pneumonia and severe sepsis with acute organ dysfunction. The drugs won’t be able to address the infection so the surgeon will reopen Dad’s chest to wash out the infection. Mom is discharged from the hospital, but cannot be alone for a period of 30 days.
• May 28, 2015: Dad’s kidneys are starting to fail. Today is his first day of dialysis.
• June 8, 2015: Dad has a tracheostomy.
• June 25, 2015: Dad is transferred from Scott & White Memorial to Scott & White Continuing Care Hospital (CCH).
• July 14, 2015: Dad is transported to the X-Ray department at S&W Memorial for an MBSS, which would assess his ability to swallow. Unfortunately, the test that we had yearned for yielded some disappointing results. In short, he was diagnosed with a high risk for aspiration. Adan, Dad’s speech therapist at the CCH plans to continue working with Dad.
• July 15, 2015: On Dad’s 71^st day of hospitalization, he and Mom are told that Dad cannot be discharged from the CCH until he is deemed to be dialysis dependent. To obtain that diagnosis, he would have to be hospitalized and on dialysis for a total of 12 weeks.
• July 22, 2015: Dad aspirates on his tube feed during dialysis. Early the next morning, the doctor calls my parents’ home to tell me that he can’t do anything more for Dad. He could have Dad transferred back to S&W Memorial hospital, but due to Dad’s age and illness, we’d probably opt to let him die.
• July 30, 2015: The doctors tell Mom and me that Dad’s situation is grave and that he has no more than a 10% chance of survival. Two days later, the doctor increases Dad’s chances for survival.
• August 7, 2015: Nurses start administering antipsychotic drugs to control Dad’s agitation.
• August 13, 2015: Dad’s 100^th day in the hospital. Dad’s delirium now causes him to be restrained most of the time that Mom and I are not with him.
• August 19, 2015: Dad gets his speaking valve and the pulmonary fellow requests a meeting with Mom and me to consult with us about Dad’s bleak future.
• August 20, 2015: Dad is discharged from S&W Memorial to the CCH.
• September 1, 2015: Dad’s delirium seems to be worsening, prompting the nurses to keep him restrained.
• September 8, 2015. We’re becoming concerned about Dad’s Medicare hospitalization coverage, which will expire in 23 days.
• September 18, 2015: It’s been 136 days since Dad’s surgery and the attending physician tells Mom that Dad has Candidiasis and will die. We are told to make nursing home or hospice arrangements.
• September 24, 2015: We switch gears from preparing for hospice to preparing for home care. The nurses start training me to be a caregiver.
• September 29, 2015: On Dad’s 148th day in the hospital system, and two days before Dad’s Medicare coverage is due to expire, Dad is discharged from the CCH to home care. The struggle to return home is successful, but Dad’s journey is far from complete.