Today was all about getting mum out of hospital. After breakfast, we headed out to Canberra North Hospital (CNH) to collect mum's belongings that were not transported with her to The Canberra Hospital (TCH) for the pacemaker revision, because they thought she would be coming/going back to CNH after the procedure. The nurses were all over it and knew exactly where the case was. Off to TCH to deliver the case, that had the all important phone charger in it!! In the meantime, Mum had texted Wendy to say the doctor had been in and said she could go home. So, Wendy went up without the case, thinking Mum would be ready to leave. Wendy really should have known better, having worked in hospitals, and been a patient in many, that just because the doc says you can go home today does not mean you can leave immediately. Mum didn't quite understand the difference and really did not want to be in the hospital anymore. Long story short, 4.5 hours later, we left the hospital, without a discharge summary and without critical pain meds that we were not made aware were required. Another long story short, the pharmacist at the hospital is a very quick thinker, and decided that it would be best she spoke to one of the ward doctors to have the ward scripts cancelled and normal ones issued. She then emailed them to Mum's local pharmacy for dispensing and collecting. Wendy rang the Hawker pharmacy, who know mum, to let them know the scripts were incoming. We knew the pharmacy closed at 6pm, so were not worried about the scripts not arriving in time. One thing Wendy learned on our last visit to Canberra when Dad was in an out of hospital, is that if you have a Webster pack before you are admitted, it is the hospitals responsibility to advice your local pharmacy that person is in hospital. It is then the hospital's responsibility to notify the local pharmacy the patient has been discharged and if there has been any changes to the medication. Hawker pharmacy were onto it, and had not only dispensed the extra pain meds, but also prepared new Webster packs.
We since found out the reason for the delay in the proper discharge - an MRI report on Mum's brain was not reported on, and the ward doctors were waiting on that before sending her home, which is good practice, so good on them. However, they could have told us that at 11am instead of saying "soon" too many times. Mum was even served lunch, and we both shared it with her. Wendy had the pumpkin soup, while Greg and Mum shared the tuna mornay with mash, pumpkin and broccoli.
So, Mum is home and happy to be in her own bed, with Dad by her side. We are so lucky and blessed to live in this amazing country.
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