My insurance company kicked me out of the hospital

I was doing well in the hospital. I was 2-days post op (yesterday) when I got the word in the early evening that my insurance company -- hearing that I was responding positively to physical therapy and was doing well -- decided that I was ready to transition to a home environment. Apparently they felt I didn't need the wonderful nurses at Sinai Hospital or the physical and occupational therapists who were helping me learn how to walk again (with a walker and crutches) and do simple things like putting on my socks with a nifty sock-putter-on-er.

I just accepted it and started getting my things together. I called Adrian to pick me up, which meant he was going to have to take 2 days off from work (unpaid) instead of one.

He got my stuff in the car, and I was wheeled out in a wheelchair and put into his Saab. My pain level was high, since I had to leave the hospital before my scheduled pain med time. I felt every bump and every turn of the hour-long car ride to Annapolis. It was too late to get my prescription filled, so I had to take the 5 mg Oxycodone pills I had taken before my surgery. They did nothing, though I ended up taking several. Adrian went out and bought me a raised toilet seat (very helpful) and some Tylenol (as a potentiate for the Oxycodone). I had to ditch the giant foam wedge I was supposed to strap between my legs for sleep; it was just too painful. I used a pillow instead. I was so upset, I thought of getting an ambulance to take me back to the hospital. But eventually I was able to sleep, and that seemed to help quite a bit.

My fear had been that I had somehow dislocated or fractured my hip during the move out of the hospital, but I ended up feeling a lot better in the morning. My panic is gone. It just seems ridiculous that a health insurance company to which I pay monthly premiums gets to say when I'm ready to leave the hospital. I ended up only staying one full day at Sinai. My surgery was at 4 pm on Monday; I spent Tuesday in a state of agony as an inpatient there; and by Wednesday was told to beat it.

2nd Day Post-Op - Learning to walk again!

I have a wonderful physical therapist here at Sinai Hospital named Christina. In fact, the entire staff is attentive and competent. They had me up walking with a walker yesterday and it was very painful, but I've kept at it, and today it's a little bit easier. Pain meds help, of course. They have me on 10 mg of Percaset every 4 hours. One of my big goals in life at the moment is to get off pain medications. I want my mind back! But for now, I seem to need them. But even in one day, the pain level is better.

They changed my bandage today and I got a look at the staples with which they sealed up the incision. They are smaller than I expected. I guess I had in mind one of those big staple guns we used to use to stretch canvas for oil paintings! They removed the drainage tube from the hip, so now when I walk around with my walker, I'm free of tubes and bags.

I'm doing basic exercises, trying to get the muscles in my hip and leg stronger. It makes me wish I could have worked on them before the surgery, but the last month or so, I was in such bad shape, I couldn't even imagine doing exercises! They had me try stairs today. My house has a lot of stairs and not much in the way of consistent care, which is why I'm going to stay at Adrian's for a couple of weeks.