Almost a scare

Two days ago we noticed one of the surgery sites seemed red and swollen. We called the hospital, and since they felt it was better to be safe, they wanted to see Olivia yesterday morning at 8 a.m., in DC. She and I went up to Walter Reed bright and early (5:30 departure). I am still not allowed to lift Olivia, which meant that I needed a plan. Jack and Robin stayed with our friend from church, and all of the morning's appointments and arrangements had to be canceled.

My plan was to call into the information desk and have someone inside come out to the car to help me lift Olivia into her wheelchair. When I parked, I didn't have any cell phone reception so that plan was out the window. We had time to spare, so I literally prayed, "God, please send someone to help me... I have 40 minutes before we're supposed to be in the clinic, so I can be patient." Within 10 minutes a car stopped behind mine, and a man got out. He had been there to pick up the car that was parked next to us (it must've been left there over night). I asked him to help, and he said he was glad to. Pretty cool. I asked one of the security guards at the shack to help me lift her back in. Thankfully there is no shortage of helpful people on a military base.

So while we were in with Dr. Wilson (the resident who was part of the surgical team) he and another person (hadn't seen her before) looked at Olivia's leg and said that it didn't seem to be an infection on the inside, which was very good. It did seem to have a small bit of infection where the suture had been tied off, so they called Dr. Todd, who was in Baltimore, and he started her on an antibiotic. Once again, better to be safe than sorry.

We made it back to Leonardtown by 11:30, and I had to go home to get clothes to change into since I'm now doing physical therapy for my back twice a week. We went to lunch with Dave. Dave had taken Olivia home to sleep while I went to therapy. I picked Jack & Robin up after therapy, since they ate lunch at our friend's.

Today I figured out a way to use the Hoyer lift to get Olivia out of the car. I pulled up in front of the house, brought the lift outside and down the ramp, got her wheelchair out of the van, put the sling and Olivia into the chair, and then took her inside. I went back out to get the other part of the lift, and then again transferred her, this time from the wheelchair to bed (since it was naptime). It was a terribly slow process, but it enables me to get up and going, and back home again without having to make all kinds of arrangements. The lift really is a great thing.

We head back to see Dr. Todd on the 25th, so I'll post again after that if not before.

I'm going to bed since I still need to catch up on my rest.