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As of this afternoon, my dad is now back at the assisted living home and doing well!

I had a nice visit with him at the hospital this morning. His new "roommate" was quite the character (apparently the other man had been discharged). He was slightly combative and paranoid, convinced that the hospital was fake and that he didn't need to be there. His wife came in at one point, and after he machine-gunned a series of accusations about the hospital and staff to her, he then asked in an accusatory tone,

"Is this a psychiatric hospital?"
She said, "They have a psychiatric wing here."
"Really?" he said.
"Yeah. And if you don't behave, that's where they'll put you."

Then at another time, after he had taken a drink of water, he asked if she wanted something to drink, and she replied,

"No thanks, I'm trying to cut back on my drinking."

She had a great sense of humor, and at one point, I couldn't stifle my giggle. I'm not sure if her husband had the beginning signs of Alzheimer's, or some other issue, but she sure seemed to be handling it well with humor. I did overhear her saying to him that he had been talking crazy lately and that they were going to do a scan of his brain to find out if something was misfiring. I said a little prayer for him.

It was my dad's birthday today, so I wished him a Happy Birthday, and, with a lot of effort to think about what he wanted to say and then be able to say it, he replied, "Thank you." I had a card for him in my purse, but with all the commotion going on in the room, I didn't want to give it to him there. Tomorrow I plan to take him his card when I go to see him at the ALH, and I'll also stop by to get a balloon for him on the way there.

He smiled at me again today and took my hand and kissed it several times. They took the catheter out, then cleaned him up and got him ready for discharge. They were also going to make sure he urinated on his own at least once before letting him go. I had to leave to go pick up my daughter from school before they discharged him, but my step mom called later in the afternoon to let me know that he was then settled in at the assisted living home, sitting up in the chair in his room, and doing well. She said he kept reaching for my daughter's picture next to his bed and looking at it, and then my step mom handed the phone to him so he could talk to me. He seemed to understand what I was saying and said, "Yes," in response to me one time, then didn't say anything after that, but my step mom told me he had been nodding when she got back on the phone with me.

What a relief to know he is back "home" and doing okay.