Thank you, John Reid

Yesterday, a good friend of ours, John Reid, called me to find out what was going on with Tom. After I filled him in on everything, the hospital discharging Tom too soon because of Tom's lack of insurance coverage, the amount of pain Tom was in, how much work it was for me, etc., he got very frustrated and angry with the way Tom was being shuffled around. He suggested I call an ambulance and take him back. By the time he would be discharged the second time, the insurance would be in place and he could be placed in the transitional nursing facility like those hospital doctors originally wanted to do.

Shortly after we ended our call, my father-in-law called and suggested the same thing. So I called an ambulance and had him taken back to North Fulton. I didn't know which hospital to take hime to - N. Fulton, who had discharged him too early, or Northside, which is where he has been treated over the last four years. I chose N. Fulton for the fact that they had the most current records on file for Tom, and the fact that they wanted to place him in a transitional facility. I didn't know how Northside would feel about a facility.

The nurses in the emergency room at N. Fulton where very surprised that Tom had been released without an anti-biotic for his shingles. One of the nurses said that he was also released from the hospital with elevated liver enzymes and no medicine to treat it - said that was dangerous. Once again, this hospital, N. Fulton discharged him in a poor condition.

I took him to Northside and waited with him in the ER for a few hours. I finally had to leave because it was 1am and Katie was at home alone, sleeping. She would rather stay alone than with friends - she's hard to figure out sometimes. When I got home I quietly went to her room, turned off her bedside lamp, curled up with her, and fell asleep.