Damn. Almost there.

Today Adele got disappointing news that because her Coumadin level had gotten too high in the past couple of days she could not go home on Tuesday as planned. Her doctor said she had to have two good consecutive daily readings for her to be released safely. This was an unwelcome shock. Adele went through all the phases of coping with a loss- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance- in the span of one day. She is now resigned to staying until Wednesday in the hopes that she will have "good" Coumadin levels on both Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning so she can leave. Meanwhile the team is setting up services for her at home after she is discharged. The Brockton VNA will provide her with nursing and therapies at home for a while. She can then be referred by her new outpatient cardiologist to a cardiac rehab program. We are also looking into where she wants to see a dietician/ nutritionist for help setting up a new plan for eating in line with both a heart-healthy and diabetic diet. PLEASE help support this difficult change by not bringing her any food or candy that is not sugar-free and low in sodium and low in saturated or trans fat. She has a chance to come through this healthier than she has been in a while. She was very fortunate to have little to no damage from her initial, mild heart attack and it is our hope that she will be able to avoid any repeat problems in the future.