November/December

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=50 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="0ab0ce82egerdp.png"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=95 BGCOLOR="#CC99CC" TEXT="#080000" background="0aa265f1ezuady.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Hynda and Nolan's  Rome and Other Adventures</B></FONT><B>  </B><B> </B><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hynda and Nolans Rome and Other Adventu"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id237.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Lonnie Chronicles"><U>The Lonnie Chronicles</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id238.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2010 May/June"><U>2010 - May/June</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id240.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August"><U>July/August</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id243.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October"><U>September/October</U></A>   |   <B>November/December</B>   |   <A HREF="id269.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2011 January/February"><U>2011 - January/February</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id271.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April/May"><U>March/April/May</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id298.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="June/July/August/September"><U>June/July/August/September</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id241.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Bad Bus Trip"><U>The Bad Bus Trip</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFF33" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>November/December</I></div> <div> <B>Tuesday, November 2, Wednesday, November 3</B>: Morgan and Brenan spend two days in New York visiting Uncle Lonnie. They both commented on how talkative he is and say that if they did not know about all that has happened to him since last May they would think he was just plain old Uncle Lonnie. They were the first ones to bring him some pizza and took him outside of the building in a wheel chair. Lonnie remarked it was the first time he had felt the sun in five weeks. </div> <div> We did call and tell our favorite bus driver John that the boys would be riding home with him. When they arrived at the bus there was a long line waiting and John poked his head out of the door and said `Where are the Danchik boys?'. He had reserved the front seats for them and made them come in front of the line. They were both embarrassed. John does that for us also and it can be a little embarrassing as the people stare at you and wonder why you are important enough to go to the front.</div> <div> <B>Wednesday, November 17</B>: Just spent most of the day with Lonnie. Hynda could not come - she had to go to Boston to make a presentation at a drug company and visit her sister Candy who had a heart attack…. Lonnie has made an amazing recovery.. mentally he is back to normal including being angry at me for various things like having his checkbook (I have been paying his bills while he is in the hospital), taking his socks off the air conditioning unit (he does not use) and putting them in his draw and not buying him a new phone like I said I was going to do. He is walking with a walker and really seems to very steady on his feet with it. Not eating hospital food - I brought a pizza in for dinner with him.. He wants to be home for Xmas and New Years... not sure how that will work since I do not think he will be able to walk unaided by then but I consider it a good sign that he wants out of Coler-Goldwater since most people there are long timers....He looks good - has put on some weight and they give him a midnight snack (sandwich and fig newtons) so that he can eat some more to gain weight. He complains about the care which I can understand.</div> <div> On Tuesday when I asked him if he wanted me to bring him his cell phone from the apartment he wanted to know if I had gotten a new one - his old one fell and the battery was bad. Since I was not sure that he was ever going home I did not get him a new one but told him I would get one and cancel his old service with Sprint. He was paying about $50 per month and making no calls so I went to the T-Mobile store and got him a pay-as-you-go phone. When I got to the hospital in the morning and gave him the new phone he said that he did not like it - the keys were too close together and his fingers are too fat. When I left him I went to the phone store and upgraded the phone and left it with Bob who was going to the hospital on Saturday.</div> <div> <B>Saturday, November 20</B>: Lonnie called and said he likes the phone. I finally did something right.</div> <div> <B>Wednesday, December 1: </B>Hynda and I took the bus up on Tuesday and stopped at the Italian place on Roosevelt Island to bring Lonnie some pizza. He had called several times this week - very unusual for him. Mentally, he seemed fine. Physically he seemed to be a little more unsteady on his feet. Although Bob brought him his cane, he used the walker only. We tried to walk with him the Subway restaurant at the other end of the hospital but he could only make it halfway there. He was walking very slow and was unsteady on his feet. He asked me if I was available to take him home on the 10<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of December because he was leaving. He did not want to be here for Xmas or New Years. I asked him if he had talked to the doctor and made arrangements and he said no.</div> <div> On Wednesday we did not talk to the doctor and when we were leaving he said that he guesses that he is now institutionalized for the rest of his life. I told him he had to go to the gym to get better and he probably could get stronger. The physical therapy is done - there are too many people who need it more than him. He has been recertified to go to the gym alone but he has not been going. </div> <div> <B>Thursday, December 2</B>: The social worker called and said that she and the doctor think that Lonnie can go home. I told her about the problems with his apartment and we scheduled a meeting with her and the doctors next Thursday.</div> <div> <B>Wednesday, December 8: </B>Lonnie was thinking he was going home on Friday, December 10<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT>. When we arrived on Wednesday he was in a very good mood. He is walking with the walker a little less steady than last week. I cannot see how he can go home - there is not room to walk with a walker in his apartment and his idea of leaving the walker in the first floor lobby will not work because of the 8-step stoop. He knew that we were having a meeting with the doctors the next day to decide if he could go home. He was also scheduled to take an `outside' test to see how he does in getting around.  He did tell us that last week he had passed the `kitchen' test. They have a full kitchen in the PT section and Lonnie had to make a cup of tea for the therapist. He needed to put water in a pot, boil it, pour the water into a cup at the table where the therapist sat (brave guy) and then retrieve a teabag from the cabinet. He was a able to do this.</div> <div> <B>Thursday December 9</B>: When we got there in the morning we asked Lonnie if he wanted to go to the meeting with the Social Worker and the doctor - he did not. While we were meeting he went out to take his `outside' test. Together with the medical staff we decided that Lonnie really needed some more physical therapy before he went home. They also said they he would need some home health care and some PT. Hynda and I are going away on the 20<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of December until the 28<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of January, Bob his upstairs neighbor will be away until after the 1<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >st</FONT> and Morgan and Brenan will also be away until after the 1<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >st</FONT>.  It would also be nearly impossible to set up the home health aide and the PT at this time of the year so we agreed that Lonnie should stay at least until the 1<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >st</FONT> of the year. It was left up to Hynda and I to tell him this. UGH!!!</div> <div> When we got out of the meeting Lonnie was already back in his room. He informed us that he had failed the `curb' test - he had to be able to step off a curb with his walker and did not do it correctly. They told him he would need two more weeks of physical therapy.  Next week when I go up I will try to convince him that no one will be around in two weeks and he needs to go home after the first of the year. This way we can be sure that everything will be in place for him at his apartment. </div> <div> <B>December 31</B>: We convinced Lonnie to stay until after the first of the year. He is back in Physical Therapy but not walking any better. He does fine with a walker but is a little unsteady with just the cane. He says that it is a balance problem. </div> <div> Hynda and I left for Florida on December 20<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> and will not be back in the DC area until January 29<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT>. We are hoping that he gets stronger while we are gone. </div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>