Greased lightning-ish

    Boy, for a while there it was looking like that discharge would go really smoothly. And it did, eventually. As usual, communication was a little on the minimal side, so I had no idea when to go pick him up. I had to laundry though, so I got it in the dryer before going to investigate. When I got to the hospital was when Dad called to say that the nurse said that he would be going home about noon. So I started home.
    However, today is a rainy day, but at that moment it wasn't raining. So I figured, what the hey, and stopped at the Canal Park to take my daily walk. When I got home, the nurse called to say that they were running early and Dad was ready for a pickup. When I got back to the hospital, Dad was still in his chair, still in his gown and still hooked up to monitors. Eager to get home, he wanted me to dress him. I was certainly willing, but wasn't sure what the procedure was. I hunted down a nurse who tracked down Dad's nurse while I got him in socks and underwear at least.
    They got his wires disconnected, finished dressing him and gave him his discharge instructions. These were to watch his salt and fluid intake and watch his weight. He also had some new prescriptions that he wanted to pick up before going home, but actually leaving the hospital was pretty straightforward.
    The prescriptions were a bit less so. Since it's a new year, he should have had a new insurance card. I waited about 20 minutes before the checkout person (or anyway, the person not in a white coat) told me that that was the holdup. I explained that he had been in the hospital all year, that he hadn't in fact been home yet, that he was waiting in the car, that he was nearly 93 years old and that it was raining and asked if the matter could somehow be expedited. I'm finding more and more that by smiling and asking politely instead of yelling and screaming and throwing things that service gets a lot better. Regardless, roadblocks magically and mysteriously evaporated and suddenly I was checking out.
    Dad is home and very glad to be. Hopefully he won't have too much trouble with low salt and low fluids. The desire not to return to the hospital ought to provide a lot of motivation.