On Sunday morning we get a call from Mom that she is being discharged! Totally unexpected but that's how we roll.
We had the NH Hotel for another night and had booked the other Best Western with three beds, closer to the center of town starting Monday night, thinking that would be the earliest she would get out. I quickly called BW and asked if we could come a day earlier. No problem. Hooray! But then, just a little tiny bit of panic! It worried me that we hadn't practiced walking with Mom very much and I was concerned we wouldn't know how to manage. Karen was a lot more confident than I was - reassuring me that it would be fine. That's why there are two of us here for sure.
We grab the wheelchair and head out to look for Fabio (not really) but do get a taxi pretty quick. Once we get to the hospital, Mom is all smiles! She says the doctor took pity on her when she told him she couldn't sleep there and really felt fine. Honestly, all the doctors and nurses have been amazed by Mom. We've showed them pictures of her paddle boarding and standing on her head and they just can't believe it. Complimento! Complimento!
The doctor did an exam and then we waited for several hours, while they ran a few final tests.
I ran down for coffee and quickly realized yet one more area in which America has a lot to learn. Hospital cafeteria food. I mean really, look at those beautiful rolls and pastry, gelato and espresso!
Seriously, how hard can it be? Anyway, we got everything packed up and after some goodbyes and advice from nurses, the doctor finally came in to discharge her, give her a prescription and hospital records (all in Italian but hey, Google translate...!) tell us to come back tomorrow, Monday to pick up the films from radiology and pay the bill, shake her hand, and we were OUTTA THERE! Unbelievable. Mom even said, "You mean you're just going to let me walk out of here without paying?!"
It was pretty great to stroll out of there. The taxi ride home was just fine. All the taxi drivers seem extremely well versed in packing up the wheelchair and sticking it in the trunk. We checked in and settled Mom into our nice big room, helped her take a long hot shower, and left to let her nap. Ahhhhh.
Now that she was all cozy, we took the opportunity to run down to our other hotel, pack everything up,
(SUBSTANTIALLY more stuff than we moved in with three days prior,) and roll it all up the street to the Best Western Capello D'Oro - no small feat, we probably should've brought the wheelchair!
Once back, Mom was up and hungry and we took her to our favorite little bistro across the street for dinner.
It was delicious of course and she was then up for a little stroll through the street market which was ending that night. It was incredibly crowded - a totally different scene from the daytime strolls we had enjoyed so we just stayed a little while.
The main thing was we had made some serious progress. We can do this! We got Mom out of the hospital, she was safe in our nice hotel room, we took her in the wheelchair out for dinner and we have a plan to get home. Or at least we thought we had a plan......
2025-02-14