DH was discharged from the hospital on Thursday evening. With him came a big basket of flowers with a balloon (from my parents), a basket with green plants and an African Violet (from my work), about fifteen cards from LFH’s cards site (from all of y’all), three cards from friends that visited, and a bag of his essentials (books, toiletries, etc.) that were still in the room when we left.

They removed the chest tube on Wednesday evening, and within an hour, DH was looking great. His color came back, and his breathing improved. When we took a walk around the hospital on Thursday, his pace was near normal. By mid-day on Thursday, the nurses had disconnected him from the IV tower, as he hadn’t used morphine at all since they took the chest tube out. That allowed him to have freedom of motion. He put on undies for the first time in several days, and he was pretty much able to do anything he wanted to do, albeit slowly. So, when the doctors came to check him out on Thursday, we agreed with the assessment that he was ready to go home.

Of course, Thursday was the day that a rabbi came by. The hospital’s chaplain had visited DH in the ICU, and it was kind of awkward because if he’s anything, he’s Jewish, so DH had mentioned that. Accordingly, the hospital had notified the rabbi to stop by, but the rabbi was Orthodox. The fact that DH looked perky along with the obviousness of him not being Orthodox, nor really strict at all (evidenced by his redheaded bride standing nearby), made it a bit awkward, though the rabbi himself didn’t do anything to make it that way. The rabbi gave DH a little gift pack with some grape juice and two Challah rolls, along with a summary of the day’s Torah reading. He also offered to say a prayer with DH, but DH politely declined.

On Friday, I had to go into work briefly in the morning. I set DH up with a homemade coffee drink (regular coffee mixed with milk and Cinnamon Spice flavored Splenda, with whipped cream on top and cinnamon sprinkled on the cream), a banana, some Jell-o, and the TV remotes. He was moving okay, but getting up and down was slow and painful. While I was fixing him coffee, I spilled some water on the floor. Then, I forgot that I spilled water on the floor, slipped on it, and did an almost-split in the middle of the kitchen. One leg went out straight, and the other bent so that I banged my knee and thigh on the floor. I was fine, aside from hurting, but it scared DH. He was afraid we’d both be injured, with no one to care for us! Fortunately, it was just some bruising.

Still, today, I’m in more pain than he is! I strained my thigh muscles, and I have 3 big bruises on my leg. My lower left back is hurting a bit, too. So, it’s funny. I’m on ibuprofen just to be able to climb the stairs without yowling, and DH isn’t taking anything!