Tricia – How did you deal with the transition from hospital to home?

That is a little bit a point of stress, if you want to hear about some stress.  Coming from the rehab into our home, trying to get all the equipment that you need in your house, and knowing where to get it from, and then ordering equipment.   And, you’re in a rehab environment where they have the top of the line equipment.  They’re dealing with, you know, the shower chairs, and things that are top of the line.  My husband’s a big guy, you know we ordered a shower chair that comes in and looks like it’s going to hold a child, not an adult.  And modifying the house so that he could fit, you know, that he could fit comfortably, that he would be okay with everything that we had.  We’re very fortunate in the fact that we kind of designed our house when we built it, with a, like, relative living on the first floor, so we were able to accommodate that.  But you need a ramp to get into the house; you need the capability to have access to a shower and a bathroom.  That’s a little stressful as far as knowing where to go to get all this equipment—don’t get me wrong, the rehab people help a lot—but to walk in your house, and see a shower chair that, like I said, looks like it’s for a child when he’s been sitting in this nice custom shower chair here that looks nice and sturdy, and nice and cushiony, and to see this hard chair sitting there, you know, just panic—“He’s coming home tomorrow.  I need something that he’s going to be able to use, and this is going to give him bed sores.”  You know, that type of thing, that was a little hard.