Stroke Boy Reporting In

My last report from the hospital/rehab center

Stroke, October 10 vs October 28

I'm going home tomorrow.

First, please don't offer any advice about this. I'm being overwhelmed with so much information right now that I don't need anything else to add to it. I do appreciate the input and everyone's eagerness to help, but take a break. Please. That said, someone is still going to offer advice. I have talked to so many medical people today that at one point, there was a line out of my room.

I want to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this, whether you expressed best wishes, concern, or donated to my recovery effort. I want to thank the doctors, nurses, nurse techs, OT and PT trainers, and everyone else at Encompass Health. I would like to thank Gordon, Christian, Pattie, Chris, Nick, Rhonda, Martin, and Hana for visiting me while I was in the hospital and during my rehabilitation. I want to thank Kevin Necessary and Jack Ohman for starting the GoFundMe, which might actually pay the health bills (knock on wood) my insurance won't cover. I want to thank everyone who drew their own version of Pizza Rat.

Tomorrow, my friends, Laura and Bobby, are going to take me home. On the way home, we have to stop at the pharmacy and pick up 12 prescriptions. These are not all drugs, as some are needles and insulin and stuff, and perhaps the devices that measure my blood sugar and blood pressure. I talked to the pharmacist at the rehab clinic today, and he went over every single drug I will be taking. I talked to the pharmacist at the pharmacy, who wants to see me tomorrow to go over everything I will be taking. I actually just plan to follow whatever it says on the bottles and follow the doctor’s orders.

My rehab diploma.

I will also be taking a wheelchair and a walker home with me. Bobby's main mission will be to help me climb up the stairs or offer support as I climb them. A lot of people have expressed concern about this and have pushed for me to move to an apartment on the first level, but honestly, I need to climb the stairs.

This ordeal is not over yet. There is plenty of rehab to do at home. And yes, PT and OT trainers will be visiting me in my apartment. I have an appointment with a primary care physician in a month and a number to call to schedule an appointment with the diabetes doctor.

Thank you, Bobby, for making yourself available tomorrow. Thank you, Laura, for helping me with some of my financial matters and for being a great friend during this (she tried to help me get all my money back from my canceled Euro trip). Thank you, Melissa, for checking on my apartment, throwing out food from my fridge, bringing me shorts so my ass didn’t hang out at the rehab center, and for checking my mail. Thank you, Melisa, for taking me to the hospital when I had my stroke. And thank you, Barack Obama, for the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

I have not seen any bills yet, and I may be cursing at my insurance company down the line, but where would I be without the Affordable Care Act? It's stupefying that this nation voted twice for the asshole who tried to get rid of Obamacare. In other nations, even the conservatives don't vote against their national healthcare plans.

When I first checked into the hospital about two weeks ago, my blood pressure was 214/147. tonight, it was 124/81.

By the way, my flight home from Europe lands tomorrow.

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